📦 - Hello From The Other Side (of this giant blanket) 👋

DTC 606 - Social Media Stats, Shoppable Amazon Homepage, and Pinterest AI Tool Canvas Monday, July 22, 2024 Good morning, Let's do a quick temperature check. Do you know what the most popular social media app is with Gen Z and Millennials right now? How about the most popular form of branded content? Sprout Social recently released insightful stats on each generation's social media habits, including the most likely reason for consumers to unfollow a brand. Keep reading to see what's a turn-off or a deal breaker with online audiences. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: ⭐ Learn how Pilothouse created a winning Amazon store page for Big Blanket that improved the user experience and resulted in higher conversions. 🤔 How well do you know each generation’s social media habits? Here are all the latest stats you need to know. 👀 And…Pinterest debuted its AI tool Canvas, which creates beautiful backdrops for product shots and the results are impressive. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: [La Vie Foods](, [Reviver](, and [White Bird Jewellery](. 👋 LIST GROWTH 🫣 It’s Crunch Time. Is Your Growth On Track? Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be here before we know it—which means the time to grow your subscriber list is NOW. Looking for something to help boost those growth numbers?? [Get a helping hand from Klaviyo AI](: the marketing dream machine that helped Tata Harper Skincare increase its sign-up form submissions by 65%. And list growth is just the beginning. Klaviyo AI helps brands like yours [drive more revenue, increase engagement, and optimize tactics effortlessly](. 📺 Tune in to the Klaviyo AI product demo webinar on July 30th at 12 p.m. ET for: - A detailed walkthrough of Klaviyo AI - Actionable ideas for transforming your workflow - A live Q&A session It’s crunch time. Get on top of it now to make sure your brand doesn’t fall behind in the months ahead. 🗓️ [Sign Up Here]( *Sponsored AMAZON TIP 🛌 Big Blanket’s Winning Shoppable Amazon Page When revamping [Big Blankets' homepage](, the Pilothouse Amazon team worked closely with their team to create something that introduced their catalog but also remained on brand and incredibly shoppable. Here's how the Pilothouse Amazon team created a high-converting and shoppable homepage. Let's break down the main page components 👇 Catchy copy: At the top of the fold, there's a slogan that immediately shows how the product will benefit the user. "Welcome to a new world of comfort" hints that there is a unique selling point and to keep scrolling down to learn more. Celebrity endorsement: The main image features professional basketball player Boban Marjanović (with his height of 7'4" displayed) to provide scale. They also added four icons to emphasize key selling points, such as the 'absurdly oversized' blanket size, machine washability, and solution to cold feet and blanket fights. Moving down the page, customers have two choices. Customers who are familiar with the brand can easily click and scroll through the product catalog. For customers higher up in the buyer journey, there is also an introduction to their best-selling products before moving through other categories in order of priority and sales volume. Each banner is directed to a store page expanding on that particular product, but each product tile is directed to the product listing, so if customers see a particular item that catches their eye, they can make a purchase with minimal clicks. Finally, the [Pilothouse Amazon team]( closes out the page with additional social proof, including logos, quotes from major publications, and the classic Big Blanket cheekiness of "Caution Oversize Load." The takeaway? How you structure your Amazon store home page can greatly impact your conversions. Introducing your product catalog, showcasing your brand's personality, and building trust while guiding customers towards a purchase is a great winning formula. RED FLAGS 🚩 Paying for a Service But Still Doing The Work Yourself? RED FLAG ALERT Money is precious. Time is precious. If you’re paying for a platform but still doing the work yourself, you’re wasting both… Save thousands yearly by freeing up man hours and letting experts manage your UGC and micro-influencer campaigns. [minisocial gives you all of the control and none of the red flags](. ❌ 🚩 All you need to do is: - Take 10 minutes to submit a brief - Approve your hand-selected creators - Download your new content That's it! Seamlessly activate 10, 25, 50, or 100 micro-influencers without any of the lift. Plus, [get a content library full of assets that your entire marketing team will love](. Tired of chasing down creators? 👇 [Let minisocial Do It For You]( *Sponsored SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS 🎂 Sprout Social Shares Latest Social Media Stats Do you know which is the most popular social media platform with Gen Z? How about Millennials? Or Boomers? Let’s do a quick temperature check of the social media landscape. Sprout Social polled over a thousand U.S. and U.K. consumers from different age groups, and shared these revealing stats: The #1 platform is now Instagram which surpassed Facebook for the top spot. Here’s how it varies by age group: - Gen Z used Instagram the most, followed by TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook. - Millennials used IG followed by Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. - Gen X still prefers Facebook followed by Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. - Baby Boomers prefer Facebook, followed by YouTube, Instagram, and X. - 45% of consumers surveyed have taken a ‘social media detox’ in the past six months, and 51% plan to do so in the next six months. As for brand content, consumers prefer: - Edutainment: 65.5% of consumers prefer a brand that educates them about a product or a service in a fun way. - 40% prefer posts using memes - 38% enjoy serialized content - 38% like one-off video skits - 34% like interactive content like polls and stickers - 46% of consumers are less likely to buy from a brand that posts AI-generated content on social media, while 31% say they are neither more nor less likely. - Although lo-fi content is trending, consumers say that production value impacts whether or not they engage with a brand. Consumers are most likely to unfollow brands if: - 43% of consumers say they will most likely unfollow brands for having an unoriginal content strategy - 42% feel collaborating with the ‘wrong’ influencer that doesn’t align with their values will warrant an unfollow. The takeaways? The preferred social platform varies by generation but overall, Instagram is gaining in popularity. Most consumers across age groups prefer edutainment, so branded content needs to strike a balance between education and entertainment. AI-generated posts are viewed negatively by almost half of the consumers surveyed. 💸 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS - HexClad [announces a strategic $100 million investment from Studio Ramsay Global](. - EssilorLuxottica [purchases streetwear brand Supreme for $1.5 billion in cash](. - Non-alcoholic beer brand Athletic [gets a $50 million investment at a $800 million valuation](. - Nvidia-backed startup Fireworks AI [raises $52 million at $552 million valuation](. - AI startup Huma [raises $80 million at a near $1 billion valuation](. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Pinterest just demoed a new AI tool called Canvas, which makes it easier than ever for ecommerce owners to create product photos. Their advanced tech isolates the background from the foreground, ensuring that the product’s image quality is not negatively affected. Can't view the image? [Click here]( 📰 NEWS - CrowdStrike Windows update [results in largest IT outage in history](. - Microsoft [launched a Canva competitor called Designer app for all iOS and Android users](. - Instagram [tests the Super Like feature for IG Stories](. - French skincare brand Caudalie [puts out cheeky FOOH social media post about cleaning up the Seine River with their Vinoperfect serum](. 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? - 🕶️ Parker Godfrey on [How Kiaura Went Viral on TikTok Shops]( - 😆 [AKNF 421:]( Grow Top Of Funnel With Humor and Controversy - 🌽 FFUPS founder Sam Tichnor on [How He Scaled Snacking]( - 💰 [AKNF 419:]( Bidding on Branded Keywords on Google Ads - 🦙 Paka Founder Kris Cody on [His Peruvian Retail Journey]( - 🤖 [AKNF 417:]( Learn How To Build Your Own Brand GPT 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](