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Do we think Candy Crush predicted its demographic?
In this newsletter you’ll find: 👇
📦 Instagram chronological order is back?!
📦 Matching your campaigns with the right influencers with #paid
📦How to automatically pause Google Ads Campaigns when a product is out of stock
📦 TikTok ads explained: 3 elements to glow-up your TikToks
📦 A first-party data party with Black Crow AI
Read ‘til the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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If you’re a small business tired of getting crushed by Instagram’s 'preferred’ algorithm, we’ve got some news for you.
Last week, Instagram announced that the beloved chronological feed is back! 🥳
Instagram users have the option to pick between three feed preferences:
If you’re sick of being bombarded by meme accounts and influencers, the chronological timeline just may be a perfect fit for you.
Brands love chronological feeds because Instagram shows users the posts in the order they were posted, rather than the ones the algorithm wants them to engage with.
The return of the chronological feed also means you have the ability to time your posts to boost engagement. Think about when your followers are on the app and when your content would most resonate with them!
This is your moment! Tap the Instagram logo in the header of the app and scroll away!
Are you happy about the return of the chronological feed and what it could mean for your on-app engagement? Reply to this email and let us know!
Finding the right TikTok creators for your campaign goals is a dream come true!
Having to deal with the endless back-and-forths, the haggling, and worst of all, being left in the dark about performance is every brand's nightmare. 👻
Let #paid be that comforting cold side of the pillow. They make connecting with creators seamless and straightforward.
Spark Ads, monitoring multi-channel influencer marketing campaigns, reviewing progress, third-party apps for payment.
If typing that was exhausting we couldn't imagine managing it.
It's much easier just to type #paid.
👉 Make it easy for yourself and connect with the right TikTok creators here.
With so many brands entering the TikTok space, it's hard to stand out from the crowd.
TikTok’s content format rewards organic authenticity, so it can be a struggle for any brand to stop the consumer in their tracks.
All it takes is some ol’ fashion storytelling, dipping those toes in some testing, and making it easily replicable. So keep that chin up, soldier!
People love an underdog story, especially when TikTok is that temperamental bully who doesn’t appreciate your brand's quirks, braces, and glasses. 🤓
📝 Cue the glow-up montage
Let your brand be its quirky self; refine your brand story, and make sure it's concise and digestible. Nothing too complicated so that it can fit in a 10-15 second video, but also nothing too simple that people lose interest.
Trends are great, but it’s hard to hop onto that brief wave. Remember that people love a good story, and trend-chasing isn’t storytelling.
When you’re feeling out what content works, don't get too attached to an idea.
It’s like pottery. You might think you’re making a vase, but you end up with a bowl… But hey, the bowl works (and could even be your new best-selling product)! 🤷♂️
Short-form testing allows for quick and accessible feedback on multiple varying subjects.
When you are starting to think about what type of ad testing you want to use, narrowing the ad down to three elements:
Isolate those elements and forge an understanding of what wins and what loses. Apply the winners moving forward, and leave what is lost behind.
Source your content to allow recycling. Request content without any background audio and adding that in afterward. That allows you to isolate each of the three elements independently.
Then? Replicability. You’ve found audio that works, visuals that usually hit, and a voice-over that always trends. None of that matters if it’s difficult to replicate consistently.
Generation fidget toys 🐿
In TikTok, the first three seconds are vital. The app's structure makes content easy to pass over.
So how do you draw the eyes and slow the scroll?
The three-second starter pack (we’ll make it brief):
Looking for more insider tips and trick to glow-up your TikToks? Checkout this episode of All Killer No Filler with the Pilothouse TikTok team.
...to a first-party data party 🎉
Who's going? Your best potential customers.
To find their best potential customers, brand Bearaby installed Black Crow AI's plug-and-play platform into their website to help them utilize their first-party data to create high-value audiences on Facebook, Google, and Snapchat for retargeting.
In just the first 30 days of using Black Crow AI, Bearaby generated 100% more conversions from their retargeting campaigns while increasing their ROAS by 120%.
You don't need to have ROAS FOMO.
👉 Learn exactly how Black Crow AI works here. (Don't forget your party shirt.)
When a DTC brand has a handful of products, monitoring associated Google Ads campaigns is easy… But as more SKUs are added, it gets, well, not so easy.
One solution? Set up a Google Ads script that automatically monitors product availability and pauses a campaign or ad group when a product is out of stock.
Amazing, right? Here’s how to write that script.
If you’re not hands-on-keyboard with Google, make sure to forward this link to your Google Guru to see if you can implement it.
🛠 The Set-Up
In this article, which continues on our blog, you'll learn how to use a Google Ads script to discover if a product is in stock, check an associated campaign or ad group, and turn that campaign or ad group on or off, based on rules you’ve set up.
Even if your business decided to hire someone to write this script or one like it, understanding how Google Ads scripts work could help you identify other automation possibilities.
This example script is not something you can copy and paste. Remember the old saying, "give someone a fish and you feed them for a day, teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime."
We are not handing you a fish 🐟, we're describing the concept of fishing.
🔎 Google Ad Scripts
To find the Google Ads script environment, open your Google Ads account, click the "Tools & Settings" menu, and navigate to "Bulk Actions" and then "Scripts."
In a sense, Google Ads scripts are like jQuery or React.js. They use Javascript and a library of methods to make script writing easy.
📦 Get Inventory
In the example, we are using an inventory feed from Dream Pops. Most Shopify stores have a product feed available at domain/products.json.
The UrlFetchApp method allows Google Ads scripts to integrate with third-party data, like a product feed.
let response = UrlFetchApp.fetch('https://dreampops.com/products.json');
If you’re interested in learning how to find your inventory, set up the script campaign and toggle it, keep reading here ! 🔥
👀 Struggling to execute on your best and boldest ideas? This coached 20-minute weekly ritual helps marketers focus on high leverage work. *
🎯 Creatives are your target in 2022! Get Ecom World’s FREE Creative Strategy Masterclass & the chance to win tickets for Ecom World, the world's largest Ecom event. *
🤑 Triple Whale Columbus eCommerce startup raising VC round, SEC filing indicates.
🏬 Continuing with its DTC pivot, Nike plans stand-alone Jordan stores.
🚘 China’s driverless delivery startup Whale Dynamic targets US market with $2.5M funding.
*Sponsored
🏋️♂️ Why Personalization Might be the Biggest Opportunity in DTC with Eric Ji Sun Wu, Cofounder of Gainful.
💄The Fast Road to 8 Figures with Jones Road Beauty's Cody Plofker.
❣️ Molly Garraway on Growing a CX Team to 100, and Then Starting from Scratch with LoveSeen.
👟 Restructuring Google Ads for Customer Avatars with Sean McGinnis from Kuru Footwear.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Jordan Gillis. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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