Twitter Gets X’ed

It has been just under 2 weeks since Elon Musk announced that Twitter would rebrand to “X.” The rebrand is part of a larger effort to transform Twitter from social media platform into – in the words of CEO Linda Yaccarino – “the platform that can deliver, well. . .everything.”

It has already been a bumpy ride.

Edge users are receiving warnings that X is a scam, San Francisco dwellers are protesting the new X sign, and there is some confusion over how and when the rebrand will roll out.

A crucial part of brand is what your customers say about you. With X, will Elon be able to change the conversation about Twitter? We will certainly find out.

A Future Without Cookies

It is still almost impossible to imagine, but we are facing a future without cookies.

Third-party cookies, that is.

On Monday, Google took a major step toward removing third-party cookies from Chrome. The company started enabling its replacement for tracking cookies - Google Sandbox APIs - in its browser. Google expects to rollout the new APIs to 35% of Chrome browsers by the end of this week.

Although Chrome is not the first browser to block third-party cookies, it will be the biggest, with 62% of the global browser market share.

The way we track marketing performance, improve user experience, and deliver ads to the right audience will change dramatically.

However, we will have time to adapt. Google aims to enable an opt-in testing mode for advertisers to experiment with Google Sandbox by late 2023. The company’s goal is to completely disable third-party cookies by Q3 2024.

🎤 Who We’re Chatting With

In this economic climate, organic growth has never looked better.

For this week’s interview, we are returning to a conversation we had last year with Eric Bandholz, the Founder of Beardbrand and brand-builder extraordinaire. Eric bootstrapped Beardbrand into a 7-figure brand with 1.98M followers, all while rocking one of the coolest beards we’ve ever seen.

On organic growth vs advertising:

“There’s no right or wrong way to build a business and that’s the beauty of it.

“The thing that I recommend to people who are pretty new in the game is to focus on the things that you really enjoy and that you can do for long periods of time because business is about persevering when s*** hits the fan.

“For instance, if you’re data-driven, ad-buying is probably a great channel for you. If you are more of a storyteller or brand-builder, then that’s where organic content makes a lot of sense. There’s no right or wrong - both companies can be very successful.”

On brand-building:

“For us, it’s just kind of what we do naturally. It’s how I see the world. I think there’s more to life than selling widgets and products and making money. The beauty of business is that you can leverage your business to make a positive change on the world. It happens through the messaging, the support, and the small things that you can do to help tie into that mission.

📢 Marketing Tips

Find out what your customers say about you when you aren’t in the room. Get tips on social listening - Mayple expert Danielle Hixenbaugh.

Your preview text determines whether your customers read your emails. Top tricks to boost open rates with preview copy by Content Expert Octavia Drexler.

Now that “Black Friday in July” is over, get ready for Black Friday in November with this handy guide from Mayple CMO Rakefet Yacoby-From.

Success Story: How Bellisimo Grew From 0 To 150K Impressions

The brand

Bellisimo crafts high-quality hats for the modern man and woman.

The challenge

With Facebook advertising as their only marketing channel, Bellisimo was hitting a cap in sales.

The impact

Grew organic monthly impressions on Pinterest from 0 to 150k organic monthly impressions within 6 months.

How we solved it

• We created and executed a holistic marketing strategy including email marketing, text marketing, social media marketing, and a website revamp complete with hat customization tool.
• We created an automated path to receive content created by customers. Now, 50% of the brand’s content is generated by other users.
• We built influencer partnerships with major players in fashion, sports, and entertainment, including Steve Aoki, Floyd Mayweather, Snoop Dogg Jamie Foxx, and Mr. Mature.

See you next week!