User-generated content transforms your brand into something relatable. It makes it more “human”, thereby leading to increased levels of engagement, improved consumer loyalty and enhanced general interest in what it is that you offer.
A new earned content platform, known as Olapic, is currently making waves around the world. It is revolutionizing the power of user-generated content and what it can do for you from a marketing perspective. However, while there is certainly plenty of hype around it, many are struggling to understand its functionality and how to use it to their advantage. Basically, Olapic makes it possible for retailers and marketing managers to search for images that have been posted on social media channels by real people. These images not only portray their brands and products but have an authentic quality that, when used strategically (perhaps on the retailer’s website), have a greater chance of appealing to other potential customers. In fact, if stats are to be believed, user-generated content outperformed traditional brand creative content 3 times out of 4.
If you want to know how to get your products on Olapic or how to create your own Olapic product feed, keep reading for a helpful step-by-step guide:
Step 1 Setup Olapic Product Feed XML
If you want to make use of Olapic, you will need to get an XML product feed sent over on an automatic schedule. The question is, how do you do this? Generally, Olapic supports the following three types of feeds:
- XML feed in Olapic schema
- XML feed in Google Products schema
- XML feed in custom schema
From there, you must validate your feed. You will need to use the XML Schema Definition (.xsd) to do that.
Step 2 – Select Type of Product Feed for Olapic
It is important to remember that the type of feed that you use for Olapic will affect its overall functionality: it will determine what you can do with it. Therefore, for full functionality to be achieved, it is recommended that you opt to create an XML feed in Olapic schema.
Step 3 – Update Olapic Product Data
Once your Olapic feed has been properly optimized, you should be able to create new products and update them whenever applicable, set product availability, deactivate products, re-activate products, enjoy extra metadata support as well as Single Universal ID (UPC, EAN) support, make use of category hierarchy and product hierarchy.
Step 4 – Deliver your Product Feed to Olapic
The next step is to deliver your feed to Olapic. You can do so in one of three ways:
- Setting up an SFTP Account
- Setting up an FTP Account
- Providing an HTTP Endpoint
Step 5 – Connect with the Olapic Team
Updating your Olapic feed will become a regular occurrence. However, it is important to note that when you do update the product feed, you will need to notify the Olapic team (via an integration engineer) to ensure that the data schema remains properly in place without error.
While it sounds complex, creating an Olapic product feed will inevitably bring you one step closer to reaching your target audience in new and exciting ways, enabling you to fully embrace the power of user-generated content.
Next Steps
We hope that the information above will help to make your life easier! However, if you are struggling to get it right, the best option is to get in touch with Highstreet.io – the leading company when it comes to fully managed product feed management solutions.
We’d love to hear all about your experience in terms of creating your Olapic product feeds:
- What challenges did you encounter along the way?
- Did you wish, the information was a little bit more comprehensive? If so, where?
- Is it something that you would do all by yourself again?
- Or would you seek professional assistance the next time around?
Let us know in the comments!
Contact Highstreet.io for a fully managed product feed management solution. We specialize in setting-up and managing all types of product feeds. Highstreet.io has a wealth of experience in maximizing your shopping campaign performance in the areas of fashion, apparel, consumer electronics and household item products listings.
Find out how we take the stress out of product feed management.