It’s the weekend. What should you do?
Follow Michael Scott’s advice:
But first, pour yourself a mug of something and find your favorite reading spot. It’s time to invest in your DTC future.
🤳 The last push you need to activate your UGC strategy.
✨ TikTok and Email inspiration to help kick a$$ and take names.
🤫 The Pilothouse team on the company-wide strategy that’s boosting all departments.
👻 A how-to guide on Snapchat’s SMS feature.
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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The Pilothouse UGC team shared five stats that’ll have you on the UGC train ASAP.
People are generally wary of direct marketing methods because they feel inauthentic or overproduced.
Since UGC is made by genuine consumers, the messaging will resonate with other consumers and engage them in ways that branded or proprietary ads never have.
Your product or service will gain credibility and approachability like never before.
Consumers are wary of direct marketing for a LOT of reasons.
When a brand talks about itself, it reads like a sales pitch. When a customer is talking about a brand, that’s an endorsement from a peer.
The ideal piece of UGC content looks like a post from someone in your friend group.
27.5% of global social media users list "Researching Products to Buy" as their primary reason for logging in.
UGC expands your reach and exposes you to new communities that are actively looking to buy.
If you’re looking to increase activity and followers on your brand’s social media channel, utilize UGC.
Consumers love to see real people just like them featured on social media.
It’s the perfect way to pull potential customers into your community while keeping them engaged with your content.
When it comes to millennials and zillennials, UGC and peer recommendations are the way to their hearts.
These demographics actively look for UGC when researching a product or service.
A whopping 84% of millennial consumers claim that UGC on company websites has influenced the way they do online shopping to some extent.
A strong, consistent UGC program with a steady flow of fresh, authentic content is the main factor to stronger customer acquisition and scaling brands.
Earlier this year, we launched a three-day challenge with Pilothouse to help our readers learn to build presales pages.
At Pilothouse, presell pages are an essential component to scaling brands.
After the recent iOS14.5 updates, creating engaging presell content is more critical than ever to profitable paid social growth.
Send your link (below) to a teammate, friend or anyone you think would benefit from this awesome course!
When one person signs up, you both get access!
http://directtoconsumer.co?utm_source=sparkloop&utm_medium=newsletterplacement&rh_ref=1ed4b700
It’s crucial to help consumers understand WHY they should subscribe to your product/service.
Take it a step further and create various types of "Why Subscribe?" emails for different segments on your list.
The emails should include specific messaging for each segment, making it a more personal connection. 🤝
A feature that’s extremely undervalued within Snapchat is the SMS tool and its ability to help grow your list.
Snapchat has a type of ad that allows users to "Swipe Up" and learn more.
It usually leads to a website, landing page, or product page.
Instead of directing to a website or landing page, there’s an option to populate a predetermined text for users to send.
It’s perfect for any type of promotion or giveaway.
Here’s an example of the user experience:
Here’s how to set it up:
Growing your SMS list creates further ownership of your audience, which has been even more crucial since iOS 14.5.
With text message open rates at 95% and users rarely changing their phone number, it makes a lot of sense to at least TEST this strategy.
This is a simple tip but, for some reason, not utilized by many Google Ads practitioners.
Whenever you look at your overall account at the campaign level, you’ll see the default screen with the graph at the top:
Hidden within this graph section is a little tool that will help manage your ads account(s).
If you hover over the graph for a particular day, then you’ll get the following pop-up:
For example, use notes to mark the switching of bid strategies
This way, you can use the visual representation of the graph (pictures do speak a thousand words!) and see that there’s a note signifying some sort of change.
If the chart shows some significant change, you can quickly and easily tie it back to the change you made.
You can also add and view notes by clicking on the three dots above the table of results at either campaign or ad group level and then clicking Open Notes Panel:
The final way of adding notes is by selecting a campaign or ad group from a list and then clicking Add Note from the options in the blue bar that appears:
We’ll be back with more Google tips!
Our latest All Killer No Filler zeros in on an essential but under-reported aspect of any brand or agency: Cross-departmental learnings.
Cross-departmental communication reveals extremely valuable information.
🚀 If there’s a specific angle converting on Facebook ads, bring that angle to TikTok, Google or even your UGC strategy.
💪 Take creative that’s crushing on YouTube and modify it for TikTok.
😎 Share keyword strategies between Amazon and Google.
🚀 Use Slack channels to share winning content to inspire content and brainstorm ideas across departments.
It all comes down to communication – making sure everyone is talking to one another and in the loop.
Listen to the pod to learn why cross-departmental communication is so important, and the big wins Pilothouse has had because of it.
💄Glossier lands $80M in funding as it looks toward international expansion.
🤳 Popshop Live raises about $20M at a $100M valuation for its live stream shopping platform.
📱 Video chat company Mmhmm raises $100M.
🛍 Authentic Brands files IPO as it chases more growth.
🛒 Instacart hires Facebook executive as new CEO ahead of expected IPO.
💕 Sexual wellness startup Maude surpasses $10M in funding.
🍴Chobani files confidentially for IPO.
💇♂️ Beardbrand’s Eric Bandholz and the DTC Long Game.
👀 Top 3 UGC mistakes with the Pilothouse team.
🌴 Product/market fit with Canopy Humidifiers' Eric Neher and Michael De Santis.
🧻 Battling big TP with Goodwipes CEO Sam Nebel.
💥 Building a bold brand with Ugly's CEO Hugh Thomas.
DTC Newsletter is written by Thomas Schreiber, Eric Dyck, and Sadie Evans.
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