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For years now, brands have been weighing the halo effect of where they show up online.

In some way, then, you knew the day could come that brands debated the pros & cons of social feeds. But Facebook and Instagram? During a time when ecomm is eating retail and social usage is way up?

It sounds crazy, but seemed that way this week.

Consider: Brands like Unilever, REI, Honda, and The North Face have paused advertising on Facebook-owned properties. The reason, as summed up by Unilever: "continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society."

Compare that to Instagram and Sephora, which this week announced Sephora was joining Instagram's Checkout beta and that Instagram was expanding Instagram Shopping to more types of businesses.

Said Carolyn Bojanowski, SVP and GM of eCommerce for Sephora: "Our clients engage with social media in so many ways, like drawing inspiration from the community, getting tips from experts or learning about new beauty trends so we're always looking for new ways to enhance that beauty journey. We're excited to deliver Instagram checkout, a new, seamless, direct, and secure way to shop across our brands' accounts, while still getting the perks of being a Sephora client."

Herein lies the tension that faces brands today: The reach-and the power of social content-has gotten so large that trying to control for halo effects has become an almost impossible consideration. As brands continue to adapt to a heightened consumer expectations of political and social stances, some are responding by pulling ad dollars, some are responding by leaning into innovative offers.

Whichever path a brand chooses, it will need to consider this: Reach may be made up through other investments. It's much harder to do that for social's content, which today is best at telling a brand's story.

UGC's up.

Maybe you've noticed in your feeds, maybe you haven't. But what we've heard from an increasing number of brands is that the reason isn't the pandemic.

It's the performance.

Of the social team's we've talked to, they've seen engagement and traffic increase when using this type in their feeds and on their site.

Consumers can''t get enough right now. And that begs the question: Do you have enough for Holiday?

Join our *new* friends from Influenster this Wednesday, as they break down the latest content strategies and show you how brands are getting a head start on fueling their holiday campaigns with UGC.

Like most good headlines, this one from the Wall Street Journal five years ago told you everything you needed to know, but equally left you wanting more: "The Slower You Shop, The More You Spend."

The article explored the then-growing trend of experiential retail. And, in it, was this quote: "You need to give shoppers an emotional motivator to be in the store."

It struck me this week that this conversation around shopping has been largely left abandoned in the wake of COVID-19 closures. In fact, despite consumers having more time on their hands, conversations around the value of ecommerce have focused on speed and efficiency for the consumer.

Slow shopping, though, has its benefits. And that slowness can be brought to ecommerce.

In this space, we talk about that benefit in the form of discovery, and the role social plays in driving that. For a long time, "social" in this sense has been nearly synonymous with Instagram. That's changing.

The conversation about how you purposefully slow down shoppers online to drive discovery now needs to include TikTok. And, this week, we gave the brands we work with an easy way to TikTok content into Curalate and onto their sites. (Let me know if you want to learn about it; happy to share more.)

While the content is different-Instagram is more aspirational, TikTok is more entertaining-they hold a common thread of creating emotional motivators and holding attention. Brands are starting to recognize that.

In the last few months, we've heard a shift in questions from "How do I get started on TikTok?" to "How do I reuse TikTok content in other places?"

This makes sense. As TikTok's growth has raged on-and as its user base has aged up-brands are spending more time watching the creativity on display, understanding the brand impact, and getting immersed in the experience that TikTok so uniquely provides.

If you take the old retail adage "Dwell time is sell time" and apply it to ecomm... well, then, it's a natural progression to start thinking about how you can recreate that experience elsewhere.

I kept coming back this week to this photo we wrote about back in February. You may remember the one: a nearly two-year-old boy, a Target run, and a merchandising display that featured someone who looked like him.

At the time, it was heartwarming. But, as we wrote then, it was also a great reminder of how impactful reflecting your customers-all of them-in your marketing channels can be.

"Brands and marketers often talk about the value of representation, but we often look at it through the lens of where that representation is missing," we wrote at the time. "In fact, it's pretty rare for us to see the power of representation in this manner."

It's a photo that feels especially relevant.

The conversation we were referring to in February is much more in focus right now, and, pretty quickly, we're starting to see brands question how they've approached representation in their marketing. In order to make real changes, though, brands will need to respond as purposefully as they have quickly.

Last year, when we talked with Liz White, the former Chief Customer Officer of Fullbeauty Brands, about how she had her teams rethink their model choices, she explained to us the level of work that went into ensuring representation and building a more accessible brand. It took time, she said, and it wasn't until the team started bringing those changes to all aspects of their marketing campaigns-without her suggesting-that she knew the work had been done.

If there's any lesson wrapped up in that Target photo from earlier this year or our conversation with Liz, it's this: Like any campaign, the shift to a more diverse, inclusive brand will take sustained repetition.

Want to talk?

We've heard from customers this week who are looking for an outside view on how their brands are adjusting social strategies. We certainly don't have all the answers. But we do have a great community of brands. And we're committed to hosting discussions to help facilitate positive change.

If you're interested in talking with peers about how to make meaningful adjustments, join our Social Network. (If you've registered before, just reply to this email and let me know you want to participate.) We'll be kicking off conversations the week of Monday, June 15.

We couldn't be more thrilled to share with you today the news that Curalate has been acquired by Bazaarvoice. Since our inception, we've believed that content drives commerce online and the nature of that content would become increasingly visual. Today's announcement validates that vision, gives us more resources to build what's next, and provides us more ways to use content to inspire and sell. 

For you, this means that your investments in social commerce will only get better. As part of Bazaarvoice, the global leader in user-generated content for over 6,000 brands and retailers, we're excited to offer you more ways to leverage influencers, more ways to engage on social, and more places to distribute lifestyle content. We look forward to sharing more of what's in store for you over the coming weeks and months, but rest assured that your Curalate tools and experiences aren't changing and that your Curalate team-ourselves included-isn't going anywhere.

On a more personal level, as founders we've had the profound privilege of getting to know many of you over the past eight years. You inspired us with the way you think about your businesses, you shared drinks, meals, and laughs with us, and you gave us candid feedback that shaped what Curalate has become. In short, you've made us smarter than we ever could have been on our own. Today isn't just a validation of our vision, it's a validation of yours. Many of you made a bet on a company you had never heard of to solve a problem you were among the first to recognize.

?? Thank you. ??

Warmest Regards,

Apu Gupta & Nick Shiftan

Co-founders, Curalate

If you're like some of us here at Curalate, you might've gotten an email this week from Drizly, the on-demand booze delivery service, that contained, well, absolutely nothing.

It looked like this:

Now, it's been awhile since I translated The Aeneid in high school, but I'm pretty sure Lorem Ipsum roughly translates to "Oh, shit." when you're a brand.

Personalized email gaffes are nothing new, but how a brand responds is always interesting. This one, though, was noteworthy. And that's because the response came on Social.

Let's stop real fast to set the table: Drizly's a pretty simple service (some might say "essential" right now): They deliver alcohol to your door. It's highly transactional in nature and really doesn't need much in the way of differentiation.

And yet. Check out this Instagram post from earlier this month, and then this Tweet thread about how they responded and you'll see that brand voice and Social is hugely important to a brand that's main goal is delivering something to your door. Their Social strategy is pretty close to a walking, talking meme-even when they mess up.

That''s notable, but what''s most notable is that they actually broadcasted the mistake to a larger audience on purpose. Most brands would either 1) dodge the mistake or 2) limit their ... to stick with the Latin theme . "mea culpa" to those who received the error. Not Drizly.

Instead, they took to Social to broadcast the mistake, make fun of themselves, and offer a make-good coupon to anyone. Why? Because forget the mistake. It's the response that builds the brand. And only Social has the ability to amplify a brand in a way no other channel can.

Hi Emily,

Thanks for your demo request. I''ll be scheduling your walkthrough of the Curalate platform and looping in a Client Partner from my team.

What times work best for you over the next few days?

Thomas Aristone

CURALATE

thomasartisone@curalate.com

www.curalate.com / Make Social Sell