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In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 Increase repeat purchases by 118% with Bluecore
📦 13 ways to generate endless content ideas
📦 The top 5 reasons you should have UGC in your playbook
📦 Engaging customers through SMS marketing with Yotpo
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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Oh sh*t, it’s already May. 😱
Have you already exhausted your new and exciting blog ideas? Running low on social inspo? Struggling to keep up with the never-ending content machine?
At DTC, we do this content thing on a pretty regular basis, so we thought we’d share some of our go-to tips for generating enough content ideas to last you an entire year.
(Thirteen tips, exactly. Because let’s be honest, ten is soooo boring.)
Bookmark this one for your next content brainstorming sesh! 👇
🚀 Tip 1: Create follow-ups to your top-performing content
One of the oldest tricks in the book, but it still works like a charm.
Try taking your top 5-10 pieces of content and brainstorm ways you can create follow-ups or expanded versions of those posts. You already know they’re popular topics with your audience!
💬 Tip 2: Read old blog comments
This is another way to get a sense of the content types that resonate most with your audience.
Do you have a blog post that received a lot of negative critiques or questions? Create more content that addresses those. On the flip side, if a piece got a lot of positive feedback, see if there are ways you can repurpose that content in another way to duplicate the success.
❔ Tip 3: Repurpose FAQs
Reusing FAQs about your product or service is a great way to create bottom-of-funnel content that answers common customer questions and reduces friction in the buying process. This type of content also tends to kill it with SEO.
Not only that, having a public place to send customers to get their questions answered can be a huge help to your CS teams! 🙌
📄 Tip 4: Utilize internal guidance documents
Do you have internal company docs like how-to’s, cheat sheets, product guides, etc.?
If the nature of your brand allows (i.e., the content isn’t trade secret or proprietary), those can be repurposed into customer-facing content that provides value and educates about your product.
⭐ Tip 5: Look at product reviews (and/or competitor reviews)
Reviews are an absolute goldmine for getting into your customer’s head. They tell you what customers like and don’t like, what they wish they could change, and questions or concerns they have.
Additionally, reading reviews on your competitor’s websites helps you understand if there are voids to be filled in your market.
💬 Tip 6: Social DMs and comments
Another gem for finding content inspo? Look within the dark depths of your social comments and DMs.
Social media is where customers tend to ask questions and voice their opinions most freely (sometimes to our dismay). You can find a lot of great ideas here!
Keep reading for 7 more tips on content generation! 👇
Having trouble reeling in repeat buyers?
You and CITY Furniture shared the same problem.
They wanted to bring the in-store 1:1 experience shoppers love to their digital strategy, but ran into some roadblocks.
The solution: They levelled up their tech stack.
By leveraging Bluecore's unified cross-channel personalization platform–CITY Furniture increased repeat buyers by an astonishing 118%!
Now, CITY Furniture has a tailored digital shopping experience that:
Make your digital shopping experience so good, it makes 'em wanna buy from you twice... and then again... and again... ✌️
👉 Find out how the CITY Furniture team did it here.
🧑🏽🤝🧑🏽 Tip 7: Chat with CS
Connecting with someone on your customer service team or even looking through support tickets can be a great way to generate content ideas that speak directly to your customer’s pain points.
CS reps talk to customers all day, every day. There’s no one else that knows your audience better!
💰 Tip 8: Partner up with sales
Another great department to connect with at your company is sales since they also have a direct line to customers.
Even better, are there recordings of sales calls you could listen to or live calls/demos you could attend? Then you can listen to exactly what potential customers are saying and the questions they’re asking.
🔎 Tip 9: Use Google Search Console
Understanding what terms users search for when they end up on your site can be powerful fuel for content ideas.
Are they searching for “blueberry popsicles,” but you only have a recipe for raspberry? There’s an idea right there.
Are readers looking for “how to clean a cast iron,” and you sell cast iron cleaning supplies? Bingo. You get the idea.
🔴 Tip 10: Browse Reddit
Reddit is a content bonanza. Just do a little browsing for terms related to your brand, product, or service, and you’ll get loads of ideas for content. Trust us.
You can also follow threads related to your industry to simply stay in tune with the latest trends and get a sense of what people are interested in.
💡 Tip 11: Get inspo from other brands
Now, we’re not saying to copy anyone here, but looking at content from other brands (especially in other industries for a fresh perspective) can help to get your creative wheels turning.
❓ Tip 12: Set up an account on Quora
Quora is literally a platform for asking questions, so it’s a great place for getting a sense of what people need help with and how you can provide value. Once you set up an account, you can follow relevant “spaces” to your industry, as well as ask and answer questions.
For example, if you run a baking website, you could post the question “What are your biggest struggles with baking sourdough bread?” and get tons of juicy ideas for future content.
🙋 Tip 13: Ask your customers!
Novel idea, right? 😏
At the end of the day, you create content for your customers, so directly asking them what they want more of is a surefire way to create content that resonates. Think about how you can regularly ask about your customer’s needs via surveys, social polls, email, phone calls, SMS, etc.
👉 Was this list helpful? Any other genius tips we missed? Hit reply and let us know!
👴 Kids these days... always on their phones!
Grandpa’s got a point… Mobile commerce is expected to double by 2025!
Is your brand meeting customers where they’re spending most of their time?
Yotpo SMSBump is breaking down how to choose the best SMS marketing platform – so you can build a stable, revenue-driving SMS program.
SMS can be a powerful tool for engaging customers — that is… if you have the right SMS marketing platform. Here's what you need:
👉 Don’t just settle for any SMS plan – read Yotpo’s in-depth guide and ensure you have a winner.
The value of user generated content (UGC) in recent years has skyrocketed. Most digital marketers have UGC in their arsenal to create high-performing and trustworthy content.
If you’re not already on the UGC train, here are five stats proving why you should be: 👇
🫂 78% of customers trust peer recommendations
Consumers are constantly bombarded with media competing for their attention, whether it be ads or organic content from those they follow. Viewers have become so used to seeing ads that they swipe past them immediately.
Generally, people tend to trust their peers, and UGC is a brilliant way to have peer recommendations reach larger audiences.
The more third-party endorsements a brand has, the most confident a customer will be in their purchase meeting their expectations.
Turning UGC into polished ads allows you to capitalize on the content your audience is already creating for you. If the brand, the content creator, and the viewer share similar values and interests, it creates an ideal environment for authentic content.
📈 UGC ads receive 4x higher click-through rates + a 50% drop In cost-per-click compared to average ads
Why does UGC perform better than your average ad? Credibility.
Traditional direct marketing methods can feel inauthentic and overproduced. Sourcing UGC from creators or customers engages your audience from an angle you may not have thought of!
Creating direct marketing content that helps overcome consumers' skepticism can be very expensive. With UGC, you save the resources from expensive campaign production and gain credibility with your audience. A win-win!
🔍 48% of customers claim that UGC is a great method to discover new products
27.5% of global social media users list "Researching Products to Buy" as their primary reason for logging in. The beauty of UGC? It has the potential to expand your reach and expose your product to new communities.
Paid or sponsored UGC posts (that are shared on the content creator's profile) have the ability to reach new followers that may not have been familiar with your brand. Not only that, but this exposure is coming in the most reliable way possible: a direct review from a consumer that has used your product.
👍 When users create and share content on social media channels, they get 28% higher engagement compared to standard company posts
If you're looking to increase your brand's social media presence (and followers), look no further than UGC.
Consumers love to see real people, just like them being featured on social media. UGC is the perfect way to pull potential customers into your community while keeping them engaged with your content.
👶 UGC is 20% more influential than any other kind of media for millennial buyers
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 they want to buy.
A whopping 84% of millennial consumers claim that the use of UGC on company websites has influenced the way they do online shopping to some extent.
Millennials and Zillennials are also more likely to purchase a product or service if exposed to that brand's UGC before in an organic setting.
Summary ✨
If you're interested in learning more about how to make the most out of your UGC, contact our friends at Pilothouse. 🤠
🛍 The Fascination is now part of the StackCommerce family.
💰 Amazon acquires India’s GlowRoad in social commerce push.
🤑 Alphabet-owned Intrinsic is acquiring fellow robotic software firm Vicarious.
😰 Facebook forecast points to a possible revenue drop for the first time after a decade of growth.
📺 Goldman Sachs buys minority stake in TV ad-measurement company iSpot.tv for $325M.
📸 Mavrck raises $135M, buys Linkin.bio maker Later in creator and influencer marketing consolidation.
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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Jordan Gillis, and Kelsey Hess. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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