Happy Monday!
Last week, the LoudCrowd team celebrated a great first half of the year for the company, our partners, and customers with a BBQ at Lake Austin.
The team is hitting the ground running with some exciting new projects and releases, detailed below! Before that, here’s the DTC, influencer marketing, and social commerce news that you need to know:
Prime Day 2024 is Amazon’s biggest ever:
Spending on the two day retail holiday hit $14.2B, up 11% from the year prior. Prime Day also created a ‘halo effect’ for other retailers; they saw a small spike in sales as a result of Amazon putting consumers into a buying mindset.
TikTok integrates Eventbrite into the platform:
Creators can seamlessly use Eventbrite links to promote events throughout TikTok.
YouTube tests Community Spaces feature:
The feature gives select creators a new dedicated place to interact with their audience. General rollout is likely pending feedback and engagement rate.
Travel influencer dies while filming an Instagram Reel:
Aanvi Kamdar was shooting a Reel right before she slipped into a 300-foot deep gorge at India’s popular Kumbhe waterfall.
Another new report suggests Gen Z is 117% more likely to shop through influencers:
Social commerce is here to stay, and most brands are finally adapting to the changing consumer preferences led by Gen Z shoppers.
Enjoy the rest of the newsletter!
Cheers,
Al & Alexa
🗞️ Industry News by Al
Learn how Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 leveraged influencer marketing and social commerce!
Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 broke a revenue record, hitting $14.2B in sales according to Adobe Analytics.
How do they do it? Lots of reasons. A ton of investment, strategies, etc. have gone into making Prime Day one of the most successful retail holidays in history. However, we’re going to focus on one big Amazon bet: influencer marketing and social commerce.
1. Favorite deals picked by influencers – on the Amazon Prime Day homepage
Shoppers are immediately greeted by the familiar faces of well known influencers like Alix Earl, Monet McMichael, Meredith Duxbury, and Jess Sims.
Consumers can click into a creator to get a curated list of their favorite deals. For example, Alix’s ‘Prime Day Favorites’ includes 281 skincare and home goods items.
It’s a brilliant & easy tactic to capture the attention of Gen Z and younger shoppers – every brand should be doing it. LoudCrowd, an integrated social commerce solution, can automate this shopping experience for any eCommerce brand – powering influencer shops for brands like Kohl’s, LOFT, and Crocs.
2. Exemplary communication with creators and affiliates
Amazon has been planning with its creators for months. The Amazon Influencer program to-date has been regularly keeping creators posted about what to expect for the retail holiday.
Leading up to and during Prime Day, creators received notifications like:
– Recommended products to promote for Prime Day
– An opportunity to opt-in for boosted commissions for certain product categories
– Tips & tricks about the most effective user-generated content for Prime Day
– Notes of encouragement and affirmation
3. Giving creators an Amazon Influencer Storefront and the tools needed to optimize for social conversions
Amazon has mastered optimizing the customer journey from social through purchase.
Content creators love to regularly mention and link to their Amazon Influencer Storefront because they know it helps their followers quickly find the products they’re interested in. Once a shopper reaches a person’s influencer storefront, they can also check out other curated lists and UGC (content, reviews, etc.) from that creator, increasing the likelihood of a sale.
Read the full story here.
🛍️ Brand of the Week by Alexa
The Olympics 2024!
If you’re anything like me, you’re eagerly counting down the days until the Olympics kick off this summer. With the Opening Ceremony just around the corner, let’s take a moment to highlight some exciting ways brands are getting involved with the Paris 2024 Olympics:
Pop-Up Stores Along the Olympic Torch Relay Route
Beauty giant SEPHORA is seizing the opportunity by setting up pop-up stores in major cities along the Torch Relay route in France. These pop-ups will offer exclusive prizes, including tickets to the Olympic events, adding an extra layer of excitement for fans.
Athlete Apparel
SKIMS , founded by Kim Kardashian and known for its women’s shapewear and loungewear, is returning for its third partnership with Team USA. This year, they’re expanding their product range by introducing menswear for the first time as part of their Olympic and Paralympic collaboration. The Skims for Team USA capsule collection is available for everyone to purchase on their website, so you don’t need to be an Olympic athlete to wear these pieces.
Olympic Village Activations
Procter & Gamble is creating a home away from home in the Olympic Village, featuring 30 of their brands to pamper the athletes. Services will include beauty salons, laundry services, health and wellness offerings, and even a Pampers Nursery where athlete moms can spend quality time with their babies.
Let the Games begin!
📺 Content of the Week by Alexa
Picture this. A shopper, who you’ve spent a ton of money trying to get to your site, is adding products to their cart. They then head over to YouTube or TikTok to see what real people or creators think of your products.
💥 Boom – you’ve lost the sale. That consumer is now sucked into YouTube or TikTok and already forgot about their cart.
But fear not, because we have just the solution for you — Shoppable user-generated content. Shoppable UGC is content linked to products, often posted on social media and integrated by brands into eCommerce for a unique shopping experience. This allows consumers to easily find and purchase the featured products directly on the eCommerce site.
There are numerous reasons as to why shoppable UGC is important for your brand.
Check out those reasons, where to add this on your eCommerce, and more in LoudCrowd’s latest blog here.
🤝 Partner of the Week by Al
I recently came across Pygma on Product Hunt. It’s an AI co-pilot promising to help Instagram bloggers create personalized and quality content for their followers.
The tool:
– Analyzes the bloggers Instagram profile to “save the vibe”
– Create personalized content and ideas optimized for the influencer’s audience
– Schedule posts directly from the Pygma UI
This is not the first and not the last AI tool that will promise to help creators be better creators.
👑 LoudCrowd Updates by Alexa
Continuing on with this week’s newsletter theme, I wanted to take a moment to shout out LoudCrowd’s shoppable UGC solution on our Creator Storefronts. Your storefront creators can add products to their content in 4 easy steps:
1. Creator logs into their Storefront
2. Creator selects the ‘Add Products’ button under the content
3. Creator finds the product(s) to add to that content, either by choosing products already featured on their page or by finding new products to add to their page
4. Creator can then share a direct link to the shoppable content on their socials
& that’s it! Adding shoppable content to your eCommerce site doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Reach out to your dedicated Client Strategist at LoudCrowd if you need help educating your creators on how to add products to their content.
