📦 - Let’s Go Meme Hunting

DTC 484 - EU Regulations, Super Bowl Memes, Video Audio Thursday, February 1, 2024 Good morning, Valentine’s Day spending is predicted to reach $14.2 billion in the U.S. this year. 40% of U.S. shoppers plan to shop online (up from 2023’s 35%), making it the most popular destination for gifts. Scroll down to our toolkit section to see all our V Day campaign tips so you don’t miss out on sweet profits! Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - How the EU Digital Markets Act impacts your website - Why you should go meme hunting - And…you need to add this one ingredient to your ad creatives. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Kite Therapy, IPS Flow Systems, and Lola Jeans. 👋 Today’s newsletter is brought to you… IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINISOCIAL 📸 Flourishing Brands Use minisocial UGC For Content Marketing You may not realize it, but minisocial’s work is all over your feeds. Since 2018, minisocial has been trusted by brands like KitchenAid, Recess, and Krave Beauty to provide high quality UGC videos for ads, organic posts, emails, websites, and more… And for good reason! minisocial creators stand out because they’re [hand-picked for your brand by their expert team of real industry pros who get your brand narrative, and know the best creators to tap](. For an added BOOST, every minisocial creator posts content on their own feeds, offering you bonus exposure for no extra cost. High quality UGC content is the fuel that drives reach, engagement, scale, and SALES on both organic and paid marketing efforts. If your UGC isn’t on point, or you’re not getting enough, then join thousands of flourishing brands and… [Start A Campaign With minisocial]( 📰 NEWS - YouTube reveals [marketers are seeing positive ROI]( from Shorts ads. - [Google’s Q4 ad revenue earnings fall short of expectations]( but are still up from last year. - Buxton [acquires conversion tracking solutions provider Elevar]( to form an omnichannel partnership. - Free tool Nightshade which protects digital artwork from AI r[eceives 250K downloads in less than a week.]( PRIVACY LAWS ARE A CHANGIN 🙅 How The EU Digital Markets Act Affects Google And Your Website Uh oh, Europe is tightening up on user privacy regulations and the Digital Markets Act is making sure big tech companies are following through on these changes. What’s the Digital Markets Act? The EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) gave European users more data privacy control when it came into effect last year. But, starting March 6th, 2024, the DMA declared they will be cracking down on six large online platforms that they designate as “gatekeepers”. Who are the gatekeepers? These gatekeepers are 6 big tech companies: [Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and ByteDance](. They will be heavily fined if they do not comply with DMA. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) will prevent large companies from abusing their market power, provide smaller companies with equal opportunities, and give users more control over their data privacy. What this means for ecommerce brands: Because of DMA regulations, Google is making lots of changes to stay compliant and that they have your expressed consent when it comes to data sharing. Two big changes coming to Google and your website: - EU users can choose to opt out of linking different Google services like Google Shopping, Ad services, YouTube, Chrome, Google Play, Search and Google Maps which will affect ad targeting. - Website owners must create a banner that gives users the choice to allow or restrict data sharing for personalization purposes. Does DMA apply to my business? If you are promoting or selling products to European countries then yes, this applies to you. Google is already sending out warnings if you have [a non-compliant website GDPR consent banner](. What do I need to do? Google has compiled more information on [setting up consent mode](. The easiest way to comply is to use a Google-certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) which collects user consent on your behalf. If you are a business that uses a platform like Shopify you can also use an app. We popped one in the Toolkit section to get your searching started! Europe has the strictest privacy regulations in the world and to ensure your website doesn’t get penalized make sure to send the right consent signals before the March deadline. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KEEN DECISION SYSTEMS 💸 Learn Where To Put Your Next Marketing Dollar Imagine you could model and predict the most efficient way to spend your marketing budget across all channels to find and scale profitable halo effects and lots more. That’s exactly why [Keen built their AI-powered software]( that provides revenue and profit forecasting, based on an optimized and simulated marketing plan. Finally you can get data-backed answers to questions like: - Am I spending enough (or too much) on Meta Ads? - What’s my actual Amazon ROI? - Should I be focusing on TikTok or YouTube? Keen takes your data, pairs it with over 40 years of academic research and 10 years of metadata to build a predictive model for your future revenue. [Sign Up For A Free Trial]( MEMES GALORE 📦 Scrappy Super Bowl Content Idea While businesses are busy creating campaigns leading up to the Super Bowl, let’s not forget about this one scrappy content tactic. The [Pilothouse team]( shares that this ONE tactic can have a huge impact on your reach and engagement. 📈 Memes. That’s right. Memes should also be part of your Super Bowl campaign strategy! The game is always packed with viral moments and these humorous takes can be impactful for organic content and paid ads. This year, we are already seeing memes roll out ahead of the Big Game thanks to the Chiefs clinching their win and securing their place in the Super Bowl. How to go meme hunting: Pay super close attention to platforms like Reddit and X to find memes you can easily repurpose for your brand. 👀 [Super Bowl Meme] Here is an example of how a brand leveraged a Super Bowl meme for social: This Friday Beers Instagram post is a [perfect example]( of a viral organic post. 🏆 They used a football player right after he missed a really important kick (and lost the game for the team) and tweaked it to their brand with the saying “Another Monday.” [Friday Beers Super Bowl meme] Not only is this meme highly relatable but football fans will be “in on the joke” and more likely to comment and engage. The takeaway? [Pilothouse]( explains this strategy could almost be used for any brand organic by creating memes or jokes of the most viral content from the Super Bowl. So enjoy the game and then go meme-hunting afterwards for some great post-game content! 🧰 THE TOOLKIT 🔎 Having a hard time picking the right influencers? SARAL, your new influencer marketing assistant, can help you find untapped influencers, automate reach outs, and track sales. [Build your influencer community for FREE here](. * 💗 V Day Meta Ads campaign tips — Ways to capitalize on this high-intent purchasing holiday and increase your revenue for Q1. [Click here to read on](. ⚒️ Are you looking for that Shopify GDPR compliance app we mentioned? [Check it out here](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Promote your product to 160,000 digital marketing professionals DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. [Talk to our team to learn more](. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Sound on! Attention grabbing images in your ad aren’t always enough so try adding some music as well. The right beat can elevate your ad and create the right vibe to promote your brand or products. Can't view the image? [Click here]( 👀 BANTER #8 is us when we realized it’s already February. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 🥟 Eric Ji Sun Wu’s [Entrepreneurial Journey with Sobo Foods]( - 💗 [AKNF 373:]( The Art of Valentine’s Day Advertising - ⭕ The Rumpl and Houdini [Partnership Story of Innovation and Sustainability]( - ❌ [AKNF 371:]( Biggest Amazon Return Mistakes - 🥘 Danielle Walsh and Steph Chen from cookware brand [Anyday on the Power of Storytelling]( 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](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. 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](