📦 - Testing Out TikTok Notes 👀

DTC 544 - TikTok Notes, Third Party Brands, and Exciting Distractions Thursday, April 25, 2024 Good morning, It’s official. President Biden has signed the TikTok ban bill. This forces ByteDance to sell or risk being banned in the U.S. by January 19th, 2025. However, this deadline could be extended by 90 days if ByteDance demonstrates its progress towards a sale. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - How to reach new audiences on Meta using a third party brand. - Is TikTok Notes just an Instagram clone? We explore the new app. - And… before you say yes to another task, ask yourself: is that another exciting opportunity or a time suck distraction? You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Barbari Shop, Frank’s Luxury Biscuits, and Body Stack. 👋 META ADS 💡 Reasons Why 3PB Is Useful on Meta Have you heard of the term 3PB? 🤔 3PB stands for Third Party Brand. A Third Party Brand is when you create a new Facebook page not associated with your business. For example, if you sell shoes, you might try running ads under a 3PB called "2024StyleTrends." Here is an example of what a 3PB ad might look like: Why 3PBs are useful: - You can step out of your business's brand guidelines and experiment with unique ad ideas you wouldn't usually feel comfortable running under your brand's own handle. - The ad typically looks more "organic" and less like an actual ad (you can write your ad copy in first person, your ads don't look polished and branded). - The ad styles commonly used in a 3PB typically result in community building and strong social proof for your brand. - 3PBs can help unlock new audiences at TOF and have historically resulted in higher CTRs, lower CPCs, and lower CPMs (in comparison to the account's average). [Pilothouse]( performed a test with a client to see how a 3BP can help with their ad account metrics like CTR and CPC, and to reach new audiences they could later retarget with more branded ads that go a bit deeper about the brand's mission. They ran a $126K test ($65k to a 3PB and $61K to the branded page in the same campaign format), and here's what they discovered: - The 3PB campaign’s ROAS was 40% better than the branded campaign. - AOV was the same for both campaigns. - Purchases were 51% higher in the 3PB. - CPMs were 15% lower in the 3PB campaign. With the 3PB's traffic being primarily prospecting (>80%), this has proved to be a win for the account, bringing in new customers for the client. NEW APP 📝 We Test Out TikTok Notes [TikTok Notes]( is now available for download and “limited testing” for users in Australia and Canada. ByteDance is testing the new app in those two countries before rolling it out globally. The new photo-sharing app is for those who want to discover, share, and engage through photo content. This is not TikTok’s first attempt at launching a photo-centric app. In 2020, they launched Lemon8, which garnered interest in the first few months but then [experienced a decline in daily active users.]( But now, with a U.S. TikTok ban coming, TikTok is making a big push to get its users on TikTok Notes. We’ve explored the new photo app, and here are our initial thoughts. How TikTok Notes works: At first glance, the TikTok Notes interface feels like an early version of Instagram. At the bottom of the screen, you can view your profile, access a home feed that looks a lot like Pinterest, open a notifications tab, and search for content discovery. The main feed has photo posts spread out over two columns, similar to the layout of the Pinterest app which means twice the space for potential ads. 👉 If you already have a TikTok account, all your information and content is synced into TikTok Notes, making the setup process very simple. How does TikTok Notes compare to Instagram? On TikTok Notes, users have more flexibility regarding their carousel images and captions. TikTok Notes allows users to upload up to 35 photos at a time, compared to Instagram’s maximum of 10 photos. You can use up to 4,000 characters for your caption, unlike Instagram’s 2,200-character limit. Any drawbacks? TikTok Notes is strictly a photo-sharing app (for now), so there is no video content available, and no trending music to accompany your photo dumps. The takeaway? It’s still too early to tell if TikTok Notes could be a serious competitor for Instagram, but it’s definitely worth monitoring. This platform can appeal to brands who yearn for an app more focused on photos rather than videos. TikTok Notes could be an alternate way to stay in touch with your TikTok audience once the TikTok ban comes into effect in the U.S. Will you test out TikTok Notes or continue posting all your photo dumps on Instagram? Reply back to the newsletter and let us know your thoughts! 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE It’s tempting to say yes to every new exciting opportunity but remember there are so many hours in the day. Don’t get distracted from achieving your main goals! Can't view the image? [Click here]( ⚡ QUICK HITS 📈 Ready to drive more orders, faster? Predict patterns in your shoppers’ behavior and discover untapped revenue in your Shopify store. [Book a 30-min. call and get a $100 Amazon gift card](. * 🤔 What if you could set up all of your email and SMS campaigns in one single view? Well bestie, now YOU CAN with Yotpo’s Multi Message Campaign builder! [Try it out here](. * 📰 NEWS - ByteDance [has spent over $7 million in ads so far lobbying against the U.S. TikTok ban](. - AI answer engine Perplexity [raises $63 million in funding with a valuation of $1 billion](. - X [launches a new video app compatible with most smart TVs for a seamless cross-device experience](. - Meta’s Threads [now has more daily active users than X](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Got a B2B Biz? Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. [Talk to our team to learn more](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 🌎 Pela Case’s CEO Matt Bertulli [on Sustainable Consumer Goods]( - 🧑 [AKNF 397](: Using Data to Understand Your Authentic Audience - 👟 How Kizik [Revolutionized The Footwear Industry]( - 💸 [AKNF 395](: Navigating The New Amazon Fee-Scape - 🌱 Epic Gardening’s [Strategic Leap from Content to Commerce]( - 📧 [AKNF 393](: Staying Inbox Relevant With Gmail Authentication Update Tactics Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Unsubscribe](