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FROM THE CREW
How do you like our 2019 look?
So you might notice the email looks a bit different compared to a couple of weeks ago. We’ve rebuilt the template and switched ESPs.
Let us know how you like it, just reply to this email. Hit us up if anything looks broken. And definitely let us know if this email wasn’t where you expected it. Switching ESPs can cause issues, so let us know to fix them.
That’s just one important step for our 2019 plans. Speaking of which, we’re running this anonymous survey to get your input on what you want us to do more.
E-COMMERCE
Indian e-com update: marketplaces can sell private labels again.
A week ago, we brought you the news about how big marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart has been banned from selling products they have equity in, on their own platforms.
We also talked about how these large corporations will bounce back while trying to exploit any probable loopholes around it.
Well, it’s just been a week and a joint aggressive push over the New Year by these e-commerce players backed by investment giants such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Sequoia, and Naspers has pushed the Gov’t to reverse its policy, for now.
Their counter argument?
“Physical retailers also have private labels. It is a legitimate business practice. There is no reason to single out e-commerce firms. If it is not a publicly held firm, they have every right to have a run with their business plans. Let the Competition Commission of India look into any issues if there are any”.
These 2 giants alone own 30 private labels dominating 200 different product categories in the Indian e-commerce scene. Around $1.5B had already been pushed on infrastructure, marketing and manpower to expand their private label operations in the country.
It’s a no-brainer that they were willing to go to any lengths to make the Commerce and Industry Ministry come out with the following statement:
“Concerns have been raised about the latest policy prohibiting the sale of private label products through the marketplace. It is clarified that the present policy does not impose any restriction on the nature of products which can be sold on the marketplace.”
The move has generated severe criticism by domestic and smaller e-traders. And the Gov’t has very tactfully managed to calm them down, having assured them of stronger e-commerce policies in future that also favour Indian players.
‘Tis the season to… pin?!
Do you advertise on Pinterest? Are you thinking of jumping in? You never heard about it?
Well, whatever it is your relationship with Pinterest, the social media platform shared a doc where they explain how they can be useful for your brand and the seasonal insights of when people are more likely to buy.
First, why should you buy advertising space on Pinterest? Because of user intention.
Every month, over 250M people use Pinterest to discover new ideas about events, celebrations and shopping. They are on Pinterest with a purpose.
And you could jump into their minds right in their decision-making process on what to buy next, influencing their choices to your advantage.
If you need stats to believe it, here it is: 66% of pinners report making a purchase after seeing branded content on Pinterest.
Now, if you are already advertising on this social platform, this is something you might already know. If not, then thanks to our powerful influencing skills and these stats above, you’ll definitely start advertising on Pinterest this 2019. Cool!
In either case, the doc here provides the best seasonal moments of 2019 to reach pinners and what they specifically search for during these periods.
Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother Day, Summer, Halloween, Holidays. Almost all the time of the year where people are intentioned to buy.
The event with most saved pins? Halloween, with 2B pins saved and 326M searches per year. What are people looking for? Halloween outfits of course! Do you sell this stuff?
But other great chances to reach these pinners are during Mother’s Day (63M searches per year) and Father’s Day (38M searches per year). Times when people look for inspirations for presents. A good chance to showcase your brand.
Key life events are important too, for taking advantage and putting your products in front of them.
Events like moving to a new house (15M searches per year), when people look for furniture and inaugural stuff. Or gifting (617M searches per year), when people just want inspiration for a present.
SOCIAL MEDIA
All the holiday hashtags, at your disposal!
Moving from Pinterest but staying with the key events of the year, here’s something to build your brand strategy for 2019, regardless of the platform you intend to use.
How’s and Why’s first!
Branding has been an important aspect for every business for decades. And not only because it is what makes a memorable impression on your consumers. But ‘cause it also allows them to know what to expect from your brand.
“Cutting through the noise” and “standing out in the feed” has been working well for brands for a long time. But as the competition gets stiffer, what makes your brand stand out is your ability to listen, connect and interact with your audience on a human level.
This holds even more true with millennials, who pay very close attention to brand values, honesty and their relevance towards social causes.
Enter Hashtag Holidays! A great way to resonate and connect with your audience in a socially relevant manner.
There are hundreds of such hashtag holidays globally. Which also means a great chance for brands to connect with their audience. And an extra nudge to your marketing activities.
These holidays have organically evolved to become a driving channel for people to communicate with each other on social media platforms.
To help you take advantage of this, we’ve found a compilation of these well celebrated and industry-specific holidays that allows your brand to connect with these audiences over mutually shared interests.
You can either download the PDF document from Sprout Social and prepare for them well in advance.
Or you can simply add them to your Google Calendar and never miss out on the ones most relevant for your business.
Some points we want you to keep in mind before you streamline and strategize your approach around hashtag holidays:
- Choose and indulge in only those Hashtag Holidays that are most relevant for your niche and don’t overdo it.
- Listen to your audience and give them what they want the most.
- Measure your Hashtag performance. There are many free/paid social-listening tools out there to help you with that.
- Optimize your hashtags with meaningful content in various formats.
Dropshippers: Add this list of keywords to your Page Moderation.
As a dropshipping e-commerce owner, one frequent thing that happens is this: keyboard warriors spreading hate in the comment section of your ads, killing your reach and arousing suspicion in your prospects’ minds.
A preventive measure to take is adding to your Facebook Page all the negative words you don’t want haters to post on your ads or anywhere on your Fb page.
If this is something that’s been bothering you, here is an extensive list of words to block and hopefully let your campaigns run smooth. Courtesy of Anthony Stratton from the Facebook Ads Experts Academy group.
Facebook and Instagram Ads to take inspiration.
You used all of your creativity during this holiday season, including your last bit of inspiration for that Christmas ad campaign. Right?
Well, creativity never dies. Here’s a list of the 165 best Facebook Ads to give you more creative ideas for your ad campaigns in 2019.
There are some of them we really like, but there is also something that we missed. What? Figures.
We know that creativity matters, but at the end of the day, the best ads are the ones with the highest ROAS, right?
Well, anyway we suggest you have a look at them to take some inspiration and get more ad ideas.
Besides, if you liked the FB list, here is another one for Instagram Ads too.
Same discourse as for the previous. No figures but cool creatives. Hoping you’ll find inspiration, yet, still more important, hoping that you’ll find the golden vein… *wink wink*
Facebook Ads Auction: Ask your questions!
Do you have any doubts about the inner-working of the Facebook auction system? Well, maybe you can have them cleared by the Facebook Auction Insights team itself. How?
You can simply comment your questions on this post from Depesh Mandalia. He is going to discuss some of these questions with the Auction Team and will try to get as many questions answered as possible.
If you are struggling to understand the bidding system, this could be a great chance to break free from your concerns and get some inside knowledge directly from the Facebook team.
SPONSORED
This is where you can buy China traffic. And a lot of it!
Did you know China is a big market? Of course you knew!
You probably also know that it’s difficult to buy traffic in that geo. Enter TrafficForce!
Our friends there have some giant CN reach across different ad formats like:
- popunders
- banners
- rich media
- push notifications (one of the up and coming traffic types!)
And the latest, slider video ads!
They act, in most cases, like a video pre-roll. But… They are directly on the front page of the site and more viewable. No action is required to see them so the CTR is much better!
China traffic is not the only one, of course! TrafficForce has over 15 billion monthly impressions internationally on an in-house managed ecosystem to ensure quality.
Sounds good, right? Unique, premium adult traffic, carefully managed. You’re probably wondering what verticals work best there. Well, here you go:
- Leadgen like sweepstakes
- CC Trials (both sweeps and diet)
- Dating
- Mobile apps
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
How to turn your children into Da Vinci…
If you are like one of those people who struggled to draw even a flower or a flag during school, we have news!
Aye Aye AI!
An AI-based web-drawing tool by Google called AutoDraw. It converts your random scribbles of doodly lines into what you can really call beautiful, symmetrical icons and clip-art. And you can download the rendition for free.
This is our designer giving it a test drive to redo our logo.
You can use any device to scribble your idea and it uses neural network AI to recognize what you are trying to do and comes up with a more polished icon/symbol to replace your drawing.
It’s like playing Pictionary with a computer.
Share it with your designer friends and let us know their views on it.
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