Issue 005: boohoo launches influencer shops program, Threads turns 1, and much more social commerce updates

Happy Monday!

The LoudCrowd team has been hard at work despite the holiday last week. You may have even seen us in the news because of our massive and super exciting launch with boohoo! You can learn more about the launch below ⬇️ but first, your DTC news digest:

boohoo doubles down on social commerce with 1000s of Creator Storefronts:

boohoo announced its newest influencer program, the boohoo Collective, which will give thousands of its creators a personalized creator shop on boohoo.com. Powered by LoudCrowd 😉 Read more below, or in the news here.

noplace, a new social app catered to Gen Z, hits number 1:

noplace, branded as a blend of Twitter and Myspace, recently hit number 1 on the app store. The app promises to bring back traditional social networking through text-only communication. TBD on whether this trend will be sustained enough for brands to pay attention to.

Threads is now one year old with 175 million active users:

Threads, the twitter-like competitor from meta, hits its one year anniversary (that was fast!) with 175M active users (more than Reddit). Honestly, that number surprises me as myself and pretty much everyone I know has stopped using the app. Perhaps brands should start or continue investing in their Threads strategy.

Proctor and Gamble co-produces with influencer, Khaby Lame’s an unscripted series:

Khaby Lame is considered one of the most followed TikTokers. The unscripted series will follow Khaby Lame on his journey to the US – where he will explore a different city in each episode. Imagine a world where brands have to produce entire TV series and movies to stay relevant? Let’s hope we don’t go there.

Morgan Freeman clashes with TikToker who used an AI voice version of him:

Freeman’s social post read, “Thank you to my incredible fans for your vigilance and support in calling out the unauthorized use of an A.I. voice imitating me,” he wrote. “Your dedication helps authenticity and integrity remain paramount. Grateful. #AI #scam #imitation #IdentityProtection.””

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter!

Al & Alexa

🗞️ Industry News by Al

noplace (fka nospace) – what is it & first impressions

A new social networking app is swooping up Gen Z and recently even hit #1 on the app store 👁️

noplace (fka nospace) is a social networking app that mashes up the best parts of Twitter and Myspace. Its climb to the top of the app store is mostly driven by Gen Z’s appetite for a refreshing, but nostalgic take on social networking and friend-finding.

But what does Gen Z have against current social media platforms? Well, they’ve all become uniform… endless video scrolls, ads & sponsored content, and sends and shares rather than comments and messages.

noplace promises to change monotonous social media by leaning into text-based, interest-driven social networking. It’s a text-only platform the drives friend-finding through direct communication and connection.

It leans into the fun aspects of Myspace like having colorful, customizable profiles where users can share things like their relationship preferences, what they’re reading and watching, and much more.

I’ve included screenshots of my profile building journey below:

noplace reserves a lot of space for your friend feed, everyone feed, and messages. I found the feed to be easily digestible and even found something relevant to respond to within a couple scrolls. This is likely because noplace leverages AI to offer content recommendations rather than algorithms.

Business Insider put it perfectly, if Twitter and Myspace had a GenZ baby, it would be noplace (fka nospace) . I’m curious to see whether the app will become a ‘fad’ or continue to build popularity.

🛍️ Brand of the Week by Alexa

A personal achievement for me this week, as this week’s brand of the week is UK-based online fashion retailer, boohoo – who I’ve had the pleasure of working with for over 2 years now.

Boohoo Group PLC recently launched their influencer storefront program with LoudCrowd, boohoo Collective, where they’re giving thousands of influencers their own personal storefront page directly on boohoo’s site. On these personal storefront pages, creators can easily showcase their social content, as their Instagram and TikTok content is automatically pulled into their page, and curate their favorite products through shoppable collections such as holiday favs or date night looks.

You can check out more information about their program (or even apply to it if you’re a UK influencer reading this) here.

📺 Content of the Week by Alexa

The Client Strategy team at LoudCrowd recently revamped our Help Center to ensure our clients have easy access to all the resources they need for success. From our getting started with the platform guide, general how-to’s, best practices for growing your creator-affiliate programs, and more, it’ll have everything you need. Check it out here.

🤝 Partner of the Week by Al

We’re partnering with Retention.com to bring you some super interesting DTC content and insights!

If you’re not familiar with Retention.com, they offer an identity resolution platform that helps solve the cookie tracking issue from recent iOS updates by extending the life of the cookie from 7 days to indefinitely.

The benefits?

1 – Add revenue to your bottom line by helping you send more abandonment flow emails to the current opted-in customers that Shopify isn’t identifying due to the 7 day cookie tracking window (that they extend to 6 months)

2 – Helping you safely grow your email list by capturing emails of up to 30% of the anonymous visitors who are showing intent to buy on your site, but never fill out a form

Stay tuned for some upcoming video content, and if you want to learn more about R!, check out this link.

👑 LoudCrowd Updates by Alexa

You’re likely already running whitelisted ads through your influencer partnerships, so why not elevate your strategy?

Next time you run whitelisted ads, direct the destination to your creator’s storefront page.

What sets this approach apart from typical whitelisted ads?

1.Directing your ads to the creator’s storefront page creates a stronger connection between the creator and the customer. Fans of the creator are more inclined to click through the ad and shop.

2. Instead of limiting customers to a single product via your ad, link to a full storefront page which offers customers a variety of products and collections to shop from.

Reach out to your dedicated Client Strategist to learn how to implement this into your creator program.