If you’re down with the kids, or even if you just have a few kids, you’ve probably heard of “unboxing” by now. In case you haven’t, here is a straightforward definition:
Unboxing (verb): The process of unpacking new products on camera and then uploading the footage to the internet.
You may have dismissed unboxing as a fleeting trend, and it would be an easy mistake to make – after all, YouTube has had a lot of fleeting trends (The Ice Bucket Challenge, and the Harlem Shake – to name a few!). But unboxing is not just the latest trend, in fact, it’s been around for a long time (in online video terms anyway). As you can see from this Google Trends graph, unboxing has been around since mid-2006:
It’s been rising steadily in popularity ever since; and, ten years later, in February 2016, unboxing hit its highest peak yet.
So, that’s lesson one for this article: unboxing is not a fleeting trend, it’s serious. It is so serious in fact that even corporate giants like Burger King have been using unboxing as part of their video marketing strategy:
As great as it is, unboxing is just the tip of a very big User Generated Content iceberg. In today’s post, we’re going to be talking about unboxing and beyond so that you can determine how to make UGC a key part of your marketing strategy.
1. Unboxing
It makes sense to begin with unboxing since we’ve already given a nod to it in the introduction. Unboxing is a great video marketing strategy for companies marketing desirable products that are not just an every day purchase. The perfect candidates for unboxing videos are hot new tech products, gadgets, toys and games.
To make unboxing part of your video marketing strategy, reach out to key influencers in your industry, such as YouTubers with a large following. Offer them a freebie in exchange for an unboxing video about the product.
Here is a great example of an unboxing video:
Although the presenter of this video is only a little boy, he is actually a YouTube influencer with over 3 million followers! This unboxing video about the Lego Kwik-e-Mart creates anticipation in viewers that will definitely lead to increased exposure, and hopefully lead to increased sales.
2. Contests & promotions
Contests and promotions are a great way to encourage users to generate content about your brand.
One effective example of this was the “Best Jobs in the World” campaign by Tourism Queensland. In an effort to draw more tourists to the Queensland Islands, the brand created a promotion for a six month caretaker job that paid $150,000 AUD.
For a chance to “win”, applicants were required to submit one minute videos explaining why they would be right for the job. Here’s one of the applicants:
And the winner:
The result?
The YouTube page received more than 34,000 applications that were viewed by more than 8.6 million people. The winner gave several hundred media interviews which promoted Queensland as a top tourist destination.
This is a technique that could work for any brand. Contests are an amazing way to get people excited about your brand and talking to their friends about it.
3. Consumer involvement
If there’s one thing that consumers will never get bored of it’s being made to feel like they are special. Consumer involvement is always a great way to not only stand out as a brand that cares about its customers, but also to get some awesome user generated content out there.
A recent example of UGC inspired by consumer involvement is the Share a Coke campaign. Coca Cola created limited edition bottles that featured over 1,000 names. This personalisation got consumers super-excited and more than 150 million personalised bottles sold over the course of the campaign! Here is a video featuring YouTube influencer, IISuperWomanII (aka. Lily Singh) that has received almost 100,000 views:
After a decade of declining revenues, the Share a Coke campaign created a 2% increase for the brand in the United States.
The power of UGC
User generated content is a great technique to include in your video marketing because it brings the viewpoint of consumers into your strategy. Not only that, people like to watch user generated content!
When a real person is talking about your product, and getting excited about it, this can create excitement in consumers watching the video. Unboxing videos are a great example of this…
When we watch people unboxing products and we can see their genuine excitement, the feeling is contagious. It also instils trust in potential customers, because the person describing a product in an unboxing video is unaffiliated with the brand that sells the product. In other words, they’re not trying to sell to people, they are simply sharing their experience and giving viewers a clear view of what they could potentially be buying.
Final thoughts
If you’re a content marketer, then you’ll know all too well how difficult it is to come up with fresh ideas again, and again, and again. The amazing thing about UGC is:
You don’t have to!
User generated content is a great way to effectively build your brand – even when you’re running out of ideas for branded content. One study found that consumers trust UGC more than all other forms of media, so this is definitely a marketing tactic to look out for in 2017!
