Shopify announces partnership program between merchants and creators
Say you’re an affiliate marketer… without saying you’re an affiliate marketer.
Shopify just launched Shopify Collabs, a new tool that gives content creators and store owners a chance to partner up, and hopefully, make money.
Howdy, partner: Collabs helps creators find merchants with similar audiences so they can promote brand products on social media using Linkpop, Shopify’s link-in-bio tool.
When someone buys a product using the link, the creator receives a payment. Almost like… you know, like an affiliate program.
And on the merchant side… Brands can manage unique links and discount codes for creators from their Shopify admin, so inventory, orders, and other info are updated and accurate.
Who can use it: Shopify Collabs is available to all merchants and creators in Canada and the US.
Why we care: On paper, Collabs seems to offer creators another way to monetize their content, and Shopify merchants new influencer channels to market their products.
It will be interesting to learn how this works out over time.
By the way, speaking of promotional channels…
META
Tips for advertising in a privacy-oriented world, and more
Things that come in threes: musketeers, genie wishes, and today’s Meta updates.
Start the count…
Damage control: Meta is adapting to Apple’s ATT privacy regulations, and just published tips that could help you lift ad performance. Meta recommends doing things like:
- Using their Conversions API.
- Optimizing ads for conversions instead of clicks.
- Displaying ads across six or more placements.
- Simplifying your campaign structure with broader targeting.
… Among other suggestions.
Reels on desktop: You can now create, schedule, and publish Facebook Reels from your desktop using Reels Desktop Composer.
Guess that’s one less screen to worry about.
Not just for food: Facebook Marketplace has partnered with DoorDash, which means merchants can ship items with the help of available DoorDash drivers.
… As long as the items fit inside the trunk of a car and the final destination is within a 15 mile radius.
This partnership is young and in the early testing stages, so it’s available only in select US cities for now.
SPONSORED BY CLEARBIT
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Because you’re about to discover what your peers at Refine Labs, Outshine, Omni Lab, and Clearbit are doing right now to slash their CPMs and CPCs.
Currently, we’re all trying to navigate:
- Macroeconomic conditions that make prospects spend less.
- The inability to track users like we used to, so it feels like “people aren’t clicking on ads anymore.”
- New privacy regulations that make it difficult to target the right customers—and easy to waste ad budgets.
But don’t worry… Smart B2B advertisers are still finding ways to cut CPMs.
You can find out what they’re doing in this free guide by Clearbit.
Inside, you’ll discover how to:
- Optimize ad channels for efficiency.
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Cut spending and optimize your ad spend with this free guide.
MARKETING
Building or maintaining an online brand? Try this powerful marketing strategy
Building a brand online has changed a lot.
It’s no longer enough to “hack” your way to the top of the rankings page… You also have to manage the reputation of your brand.
That’s how digital public relations (PR) was born.
What is digital PR? Sam Brown describes it as a marketing strategy that enhances public perception of your brand, boosts your organic rankings, and strengthens your reputation for both users and algorithms.
How it works: Basically, you create a network of publications and journalists, and pitch them topically relevant content to publish.
By doing this you’re speaking directly to their readers—your target audience—while building your website’s domain authority by being listed in reputable sources.
That doesn’t even include the number of passive links you can get from other sources if your topic “catches on” or goes viral.
“Cool. So it’s link building, right?” Well, not really.
Digital PR has a different purpose from link-building because it:
- Optimizes content for readers instead of search engines only.
- Prioritizes brand identity over search engine rankings.
- Focuses solely on link or publication quality instead of link quantity.
- Prioritizes audience research over keyword research.
So while it can become an integral part of SEO efforts like link building, digital PR is a bit different than your traditional on-page and off-page optimization strategies.
How do you know if a digital PR campaign is successful? There are a few parameters that can tell you if your brand is gaining traction:
- Earned links, especially “passive” links that link to your PR publication piece.
- Organic visibility, which is similar to how you measure SEO results.
- Brand search, or users that type your brand name as a search query.
Now that you know how digital PR works, Sam’s post includes a nice step-by-step guide that can help you create your first campaign.
FROM THE CREW
Subscribe to Stacked Marketer’s ultimate newsletter bundle for a chance to win a $1,000 Amazon gift card
We have partnered with three of our favorite marketing newsletters for a very special sweepstake! Simply subscribe to all newsletters – including this one but don’t worry you won’t be receiving it twice – to get all the latest marketing news, insights and tips.
By signing up you will automatically enter the chance to win an Amazon gift card worth $1,000. Yes, it’s that simple, and it’s also free.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Three “X and Y” psychology principles that’ll make you more sales
Imagine overhearing two people argue about pineapple pizza in the middle of a Walmart.
Person 1: “I hate pineapple pizza, it’s gross.”
Person 2: “Oh, so you’re saying you hate toppings on your pizza?”
Person 1: “No, I just said—”
Person 2: “Hey, Joe, did you hear that? This guy hates pizza toppings!”
Person 2’s argument is riddled with the false dilemma fallacy, which is when someone limits the number of options they present.
The false dilemma is one example of “X and Y” principles, in which people often only consider two options out of many.
Here are three more:
1. Denying the antecedent. People assume that if X -> Y, then they can’t have Y without first doing X. Yes, it’s a fallacy, but it’s damn effective in marketing if you use it well.
2. Affirming the consequent. People often assume there is only one explanation for an outcome.
For example, if you tell somebody that 90% of productive teams use Slack, they will likely assume that Slack is the reason why these teams are productive. You can use this all the time in your copy.
3. Circular logic. This is when you derive your conclusion from a premise based on your conclusion.
For example, if you’re selling a cleaning product, circular logic would be saying something like, “our counter cleaning spray is great because it’s designed specifically to clean your counter”.
People often believe this sort of logic.
If these are logical fallacies, does that mean they’re bad? From a marketer’s perspective, no.
If you want to convince people to buy things, you need to understand how people think—and most of us think in fallacies like the ones above.
And if you like these tactics, you’ll love our report on using psychological principles in your marketing. Check out the preview here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
GROWTH HACKING: “It feels like I have a growth marketing assistant that goes out, and tells me what’s working in marketing every month.” –Charles Ngo, Stacked Marketer Pro member. Try Stacked Marketer Pro for 7 days and see what it feels like to add a growth assistant to your business.*
ANALYTICS: Good news if you’re working with websites with short data history or low conversion volume. Google has changed its Data Driven Attribution model requirements for Google Analytics 4, which means you may finally get access.
TIKTOK: Google for Gen Z? While it might be too soon to verify, it appears younger generations prefer to use TikTok and Instagram for online search. Who knows… maybe you’ll need a TikTok SEO strategy in the near future…
E-COMMERCE: Don’t forget to optimize your online store for a smooth mobile experience. According to PayPal research, the majority of online consumers use mobile to make purchases. Something to think about with the holiday season approaching.
AMAZON: Oh, speaking of holidays, Amazon is increasing seller fees during the season “to contend with soaring inflation.” If you’re using Fulfillment by Amazon, plan for an additional 35 cents expense per item sold. Bummer.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
What can everyone sit on except you?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Welcome to the “Guinness Quarter”
That’s savage craic…
The iconic St. James Gate, home of Guinness Brewery in Dublin, is getting a makeover, and may soon include commercial spaces and apartments.
… Which means you could live at the centuries old brewplace of frothy joy that has cheered the hearts of millions of people.
Talk about a conversation starter.
Here’s hoping it comes with discounts on Guinness for residents…