#82 The Least Boring Weekend Newsletter

April 23, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Good Morning Readers! ☕

Have a great and pleasant weekend!

Amazon announced on Thursday that third-party 🍻merchants will be able to offer Prime membership perks such as free and fast shipping to Prime consumers directly through their own online businesses, rather than through Amazon's platform. (Woww)

The Buy with Prime option will initially be accessible exclusively by invitation to merchants who are already using Fulfillment by Amazon, a program that allows businesses to send products to Amazon fulfillment centers and have the internet giant handle packing📦, shipping🚢, returns, and customer service. ( Can’t wait for it ) 

Almund's newsletter will let you in on all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much more.

Alright, so let's get right to it!

This newsletter is going to dive into:

🌍Meta improves hand tracking on Meta Quest with support for clapping, high-fives and more

🎙️ Podcasting Can Now Pay You 

Better!

🍳What Gen Z wants to see from brands as metaverse attachments grow

📖 Top reads for this week

👩🏻‍💼 Plenty of jobs awaiting you!

So, scroll down already to THE VERY END & read up on what's yet to come your way!

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D2C x Metaverse

Meta is bringing new improvements to the hand tracking system on its virtual reality platform including support for new types of motion gestures like clapping, according to The Verge. After a limited preview for developers, a new version of the company’s Presence Platform API is launching for everyone and it promises more sophisticated and reliable interactions on the Meta Quest headset.

The update is aimed at improving Quest hand tracking. The device uses cameras mounted on the headset to replace the default hardware controllers. In addition to reliability updates, it also tries to recognize movements when part of the user’s hand is blocked from the camera’s view 🤳

It has now been tuned to detect clapping👏, crossed hands🙅, high-fives✋ and other gestures where parts of the hand are blocked from the camera’s view. Improvements are also meant to be made to the detection of thumbs-up motions and other gestures like pinching, grabbing and poking. 

This could also mean customer gestures built by developers could be better as well. The Quest devices and VR platform are an important part of Meta’s push towards being a leader in the Metaverse.😃

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Podcasting Can Now Pay You Better!

Podcasts are IN! They’re engaging, exciting, informative, and easily accessible to everyone. With an increasing number of people enjoying it every day, you’ve got to try them out. Don’t believe us? The stats say otherwise:

➡️ 32% of Americans listen to podcasts monthly

➡️ 74% of listeners look for something educational and new.

➡️ 39% of those with smart speakers tune into podcasts weekly.

➡️ 55% of the listeners listen to the ads too.

➡️ 38% of business owners listen to podcasts for inspiration. 

Follow the links & you can find a lot more information on how podcasts benefit DTC businesses and others online. 

But running a podcast is a lot of work—it involves sourcing every guest, producing each episode, handling and setting up equipment, and editing every minute recorded, to finally be able to upload it on a podcasting platform. 

If you’re putting in such extreme effort and resources in producing high-quality content for your listeners routinely, it’s only fair that you consider monetizing it. If you’ve just started and are interested in podcasting for months or years to come, figuring out a way to earn money through the podcast would surely keep the wheels going. Confused? We can help.

Here are a few ways you can monetize your podcast show online.

🔐 Give Exclusive Content

You can offer your listeners a paid membership to your podcast via platforms such as Patreon, which allows them to support you online. Give them access to private online groups, exclusive content, BTS footage, and much more. Create a system of rewarding your donors on multiple levels to keep them active and engaged. 

💳 Sponsored Ads

The stats above mention that podcast listeners pay attention to the ads (at least 55% of them do). Make use of this crucial piece of information to your advantage. Accept sponsor requests and integrate an ad into your podcast recording. 

You can offer them a pre-roll or mid-roll slot in your podcast and charge them accordingly (psst…mid-roll slot costs more).

⭐ Sell Premium Episodes

If you’re on a cycle of recording 2 episodes every week, consider recording a special episode to offer to your paid listeners. The exclusive episodes can contain listener questions, live Q&As, live stream recordings, etc. 

💵 Sell On Youtube

If you’ve already recorded your podcasts, why not monetize them on Youtube? Just upload them on the platform and enable monetization to let Google handle the ad display and your revenue. 

📖 Convert It To A Course

If a podcast episode has worked exceptionally well, is high-value, and content-rich, consider converting it into an online course in association with your guest (if any) and selling it on e-learning platforms. 

🎤 Host An Event

Treading down the same path, consider hosting a live event, lecture, or chat session. A “live” podcast would garner attention and allow you to get closer to your local audience—and perhaps generate new leads. You would get a chance to network with people interested in you and your work, enabling you to further create interactive content in the future. 

⛑️ Request Donations

If you’ve got a very interested and engaged audience, consider requesting donations. You can direct them to your website, use a third-party tool, or collect donations directly from the podcasting platform. 

Of course, there are more ways of monetizing a podcast, but these can help you get started today! With numerous streaming platforms available, you must consider what works best for you and your listeners to make the most of your resources.

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According to new data from Vice Media Group and Publicis Groupe's Razorfish agency, Gen Z consumers spend🕒 twice as much time socially interacting in the metaverse as they do in real life.( True that) 

The metaverse, a wide phrase covering merged digital and real-world encounters, is linked to playing video games,🎮 according to the study📓. 

Over the next five years, 20% of respondents want to invest their "fun" budgets for entertainment and leisure to in-game purchases,🎳 equating to a $50 average annual spend.

As a result, one-third of Gen Zs want to see businesses create virtual stores, and 30% want firms to sell skins and items to outfit digital avatars.

Nonetheless, these numbers are lower than those of millennials (66%) and Gen X (70%), indicating a growing 🌱acceptability of branded virtual experiences among younger generations. 🐤

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TOP READS FOR THIS WEEK

🔑Netflix may clamp down on password sharing. 

🤐Victoria's Secret debuts inclusive, digital-only 'Happy Nation' tween brand

🎤Glossier taps Olivia Rodrigo as first celebrity brand ambassador

💃Instagram will downrank Reels which are just TikTok ripoffs

🈷️Twitter, Stripe pilot cryptocurrency payments for creators

🙃UPSIDE Foods bites into $400M round to serve cultivated meat later this year

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In need of a job? We've got plenty of it awaiting you!

Social Media Manager - Lonely Planet

SEO Specialist - Clutch

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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and you will have a great week! ' Get the D2C business runnin'.