A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR EARNED MEDIA SUCCESS FOR BEAUTY BRANDS ON YOUTUBE

Transcription

1 A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR SUCCESS FOR BEAUTY BRANDS ON YOUTUBE BY

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR SUCCESS FOR BEAUTY BRANDS ON YOUTUBE The power of passion Navigating a confusing landscape The marketing world is changing The Octoly marketplace BEAUTY BRANDS THAT ARE CRUSHING IT ON YOUTUBE Sigma Beauty Memebox BH Cosmetics NYX YOUTUBE PRODUCT REVIEWS DEMYSTIFIED Types of YouTube product reviews YouTubers love doing product reviews Many thousands of experts Consumers trust YouTubers Influencer campaign ROI YouTubers want an audience DISCOVER Why free is better Finding the right people DELIVER Unboxings are magic AMPLIFY YOUR Sharing on social media Curating playlists Sharing videos on your website Licensing Using as a YouTube Ad Cover : Photo by Jacob Reischel ULTA Birchbox Everyone watches product reviews Conversations happen without brands Product reviews and the law Presentation is key Keys to great product reviews Product reviews timing Addressing negative reviews Using as a TV Ad

3 At Octoly, we believe in the power of passion. Passion is what drives us as human beings. Passion gives us the inner strength to push ourselves beyond expected limits. It s what drives creativity, defines our belief system, makes crowds gather and cheer, and gives birth to society s great cultural icons - everything from media stars to superstar brands. Thousands of Youtubers reach this level of passion, by reviewing products and featuring brands on YouTube and their other socials channels. 1

4 We wrote this playbook to help brands navigate this highly-confusing landscape where videos by influencers get 90% voice share about brands and related products. 90% (YOUTUBE VIDEOS) 10% OWNED MEDIA (BRAND VIDEOS) The marketing world is changing Today s customers are skeptical about ads and armed with technology to avoid them. They skip over TV ads with the DVR, block Internet ads using browser plugins, and often can hardly wait for the five seconds to skip the pre-roll ads on YouTube. At the same time they go out of their way to look for product reviews, demonstrations, and comparisons about the same products on YouTube. We built Octoly marketplace with one goal We set out to facilitate a more direct connection between brands and YouTubers with a data-driven campaign platform that is easy for all to use. By using our platform, today brands can reach thousands of YouTubers who would love to review their products. 2

5 BEAUTY BRANDS THAT ARE CRUSHING IT ON YOUTUBE At Octoly we re continually tracking and studying the beauty brands that are crushing it with earned media on YouTube. We ve done extensive research on YouTube beauty brands and beauty gurus across organic, paid and earned media. Not surprisingly, almost all of them are young, innovative companies founded in the last six years, after YouTube was already well-ingrained. Here are some of our favorite examples : 3

6 FOUNDED IN 2009 If you look at Sigma Beauty s own YouTube channel, you could be deceived into thinking that the brand doesn t have a very large footprint on YouTube. But you would be mistaken. Sigma has very strategical realized that beauty gurus are vastly more effective in selling its products than the company itself is. Sigma has developed an extensive network of affi liate members, heavily promoting the program s benefi ts and offering a generous commission. Thus the company has well over hundreds of affiliates, aka salespeople, who advocate for them on YouTube. For each view on its own channel there are 180 views of videos created by fan/affiliate/salespeople on YouTube who help them sell brushes and specialty beauty products. Founded in 2009, the company grew to $25 million annual sales by 2013, almost entirely based on YouTube sales. FOUNDED IN 2013 Korean beauty products are hot, and Memebox (pronounced mi-mi box ) is another brand that strategically partnered with YouTube influencers instead of focusing on its own YouTube channel. The K-Beauty company is less than two years old and started on a shoestring, but the Y Combinator startup has now raised $29 million in funding. Memebox partners with YouTubers to create white label products for them. Last year one of these sold out all 20,000 units in just 40 minutes, grossing $400,000 for the day. The company has spent just a few hundred dollars in paid media. 4

7 FOUNDED IN VIEWS EARNED ALL TIME WORLDWIDE L Oreal recently acquired NYX Cosmetics (NYX rhymes with fi x ), a $100 million company founded in The company had quickly become a fan-favorite on YouTube, far surpassing L Oreal on the platform. NYX did this in large part by celebrating its biggest fans, the YouTube creators. The company created the FACE Awards, a competition where YouTubers went over the top to create incredible videos. During just one of phase of the competition last year, YouTubers participating in the contest got NYX 32 million earned media views in just two days. Yes, that s right - 32 million views in two days, with zero paid media. FOUNDED IN VIEWS EARNED ALL TIME WORLDWIDE BH Cosmetics is one of the fastest growing private companies in America. The company was founded in 2009 without any outside funding and by 2013 had made $13.7 million in yearly revenue. BH celebrates its YouTube advocates by featuring them on its own YouTube channel, where you see two playlists prominently placed. One is called YouTube Tutorials We Love, and the other is, simply, Liked Videos. More than 98% of the YouTube views about BH cosmetics, to the tune of 382 million views, are from independent creators. And that s in no small part due to the 15% commission that BH pays creators who send sales their way. As an online business, BH has outsourced their sales incentives to YouTube influencers. 5

8 FOUNDED IN 1990 Beauty retailer Ulta has taken a hybrid approach to working with YouTube influencers. It begins by sponsoring hauls in its stores, where YouTubers select (or are sent) products that they feature in videos on their own channels. Then the company takes the best of these and promotes the videos as pre-roll ads to run before other highly-targeted and related YouTube beauty guru videos. The authenticity of the YouTuber s product review has a much higher degree of resonance with the viewer. Finally, they embed those videos on their sales pages right next to the products so that shoppers can have contextual demonstrations or reviews. FOUNDED IN VIEWS EARNED ALL TIME WORLDWIDE Birchbox, founded in 2010, is the top beauty subscription box. In our study of the brand last year, we found that the Birchbox YouTube channel had 600,000 organic views and 2 million paid views. But their earned media views (videos created by influencers on their own channels) totaled 14.5 million, 85% of the brand footprint. Birchbox is getting the majority of its views from unboxings, which YouTubers can t get enough of. It s amazing how of these brands on our list, and many others we don t have room to mention, almost all are very young companies who understand the power of earned media and the strength of putting YouTubers in the driver s seat when advocating for their products. They are challenging the largest brands by focusing on millennials and understanding which are the best strategies to adopt on social media and YouTube specifically, where engagement and time spent are the highest for shoppers who are passionate about beauty products. 6

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10 REVIEWS AND DEMONSTRATIONS... can take many forms, but overall it is categorized as an authentic, unbiased, highly-engaging video about a product that is highly trusted by the consumer. Almost any format that discusses the product can demonstrate a product, but here are the top 5 most frequent types of videos YouTubers use to talk about products: The Unboxing When the video shows items that come in from an ecommerce purchase, sponsorship, or subscription box. The Haul When a YouTuber reveals their beauty purchase at a physical retail store. «MAC & Sephora Haul», by Madison Kate Get Ready With Me When a YouTuber shows one part of her beauty routine What s In My Bag? When a YouTubers reveals every item in her makeup bag or handbag. «What s in My Purse?» May 2015, by Roxette Arisa Makeup Challenges When YouTubers get zany and do makeup the wrong way just for fun. «Nyx Unboxing Haul Round 2», by Sarah Burgett «Get Ready With Me : 19th Birthday Makeup Glam», by MakeUpByPang «Challenge!», by krazyrayray 8

11 YOUTUBERS DO PRODUCT REVIEWS... because they love doing them. As with the other performers, some fi nd a way to get paid for it, and are able to do it full time and with greater resources. But they will do product reviews, with or without fi nancing, because they are passionate about products. THERE ARE MANY THOUSANDS OF SELF-DETERMINED EXPERTS who invest lots of time specializing in a product or category. In the U.S. alone there are more than 23,000 YouTubers who make beauty videos. The top 20 YouTubers beauty represent only 35% of the monthly views in the beauty category. EVERYONE WATCHES PRODUCT REVIEWS Millennial audiences tends to follow their favorite YouTubers while also doing lots of searches. As they go up in age, audiences mostly fi nd video reviews via YouTube search and Google. The 2015 MediaPost study What Women Watch found that 67% of Millennial women who spend time on YouTube watch beauty tutorials, and 60% watch product reviews. Forty-two percent of women in older age groups watch product reviews. The report found that 63% of Millennial women subscribe to YouTube channels, while 36% of women in older age groups subscribe. «DOES IT WORK? Black Head Mask», by Chloe Morello 9

12 Product conversations happen with or without brand involvement Time and again, social media and YouTube have proven that brands don t have the ultimate control of their messaging on these platforms. Brand must learn that they must give up control to get control. It s best to be proactive and help start conversations, participate in conversations, and amplify favored parts of the discussion. Product reviews are governed by the FTC... and sometimes the FDA. Any paid or incentivised sponsorships must be disclosed clearly on YouTube and social media. As MarketingLand reports, in June 2015 the FTC has said that they will be enforcing social media and YouTube influencer rules much more harshly and without giving warnings first to violators. They ve now also ruled that all influencer campaigns must make it clear to their users of any promotional tie-ins. MarketingLand says that «For YouTube video, it s not enough to have a disclaimer on the details page ; the disclosure must be made at the beginning of the video and preferably repeated multiple times for longer-form pieces.» Consumers trust YouTubers In Neilsen s 2012 study, people said they trusted social media, which they equated with People I know, at 92%. TV commercials was 47%, online video ads was 36%, TV product placements at 40%. RECOMMANDATIONS FROM PEOPLE I KNOW CONSUMER OPINIONS POSTED ONLINE BRANDED WEBSITES S I SIGNED UP FOR ADS ON TV BRAND SPONSORSHIPS ADS SERVED IN SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS ONLINE VIDEO ADS TRUST COMPLETELY 92% 70% 58% 50% 47% 47% 40% 36% DON T TRUST MUCH 8% 30% 42% 50% 53% 53% 60% 64% ADS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS ONLINE BANNER ADS DISPLAY ADS ON MOBILE DEVICES TEXT ADS ON MOBILE PHONES 36% 33% 33% 29% 64% 67% 67% 71% Source : Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey, Q

13 Influencer campaign ROI is 685% ACCORDING TO VALUE OF US INFLUENCER MARKETING PROGRAMS, BY ADVERTISER CATEGORY, 2014 YouTubers want MORE THAN ANYTHING to build an audience and a longterm career to support themselves, while being authentic and true to themselves. This will lead to greater earnings overall. CPG FOOD RETAILERS & APPAREL TOURIST DESTINATIONS & TRAVEL $10,48 $7,04 $11,33 GROCERS & SUPERMARKETS $4,80 SHOES TOYS & GAMES $3,70 $3,31 HOME & GARDEN $0,64 TOTAL $6,85 Source : 11

14 DISCOVER 12

15 Why Free Is Better The top 20 YouTubers beauty represent only 35% of the monthly views in the beauty Top Youtubers have many gatekeepers and are expensive, and have little time to give to each brand they discuss. In the U.S. alone there are more than 23,000 YouTubers who make beauty videos. top 20 YouTubers beauty YouTubers are sometimes paid to endorse products. However, consumers are sometimes skeptical of paid endorsements, even from their most trusted YouTubers. By giving products free to targeted YouTubers and allowing them the freedom to do product reviews in any way they like, consumers are able to have access to the opinions of many honest brokers, and weight the evidence themselves on whether they d like to make a purchase or not. YouTubers beauty 13

16 FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE Brands must decide who to invite to review the products. This is best done by looking at which brands the YouTubers have reviewed in the past. Brands then select the best group of YouTubers to participate, and notify the selectee. Now, with the Octoly data-driven solution, brands can execute this process at scale, and decide which YouTubers are best for the campaign. Brands invite a number of creators to apply to receive a product. 14

17 DELIVER 15

18 Unboxings are magic According to Google Consumer Surveys, 62% of people who view unboxing videos do so when researching a particular product. Consumers are searching YouTube for authentic product reviews, demonstrations, and commentary. But they also love watch boxes being open. The best wrapped presents usually get the best receptions, and so too with YouTube unboxings. Here are some tips: Customize recyclable brown boxes with a splash of color and unique design. Customize the box interior to be camera-ready. Unboxing my collection, by EnjoyPhoenix Wrap it up nice with colored tissue, etc #Hashtag it to demonstrate that something shareable is about to happen. Battle of the Boxes, by Megan McTaggart 16

19 Send them a card People love to get cards or invitations and show them to friends. Give them good product info so they can share it. Put a bow on it to show something special is inside. Keep the camera s orientation in mind Example: In the early episodes of Sex and The City, Carrie Bradshaw s laptop had an upside-down Apple logo. The company saw its error and soon reversed the logo orientation on all its computers. Keys to great product reviews Give YouTubers a direct line of communication, and respond ASAP YouTubers, particularly, non-elite YouTubers, can feel neglected. But love to have their questions answered. Betty Beauty 125,673 subscribers 17

20 Assign a community manager Place the same importance on these relationships as you would with any member of the press who is reviewing your product Choose the right product. It could be for a soon-to-be-launched product that you want to create tons of authentic product reviews for before it gets released. Or the product could be an ongoing bestseller for which you want to nurture share of voice in the YouTube beauty audience. Set your expectations Tell them when you ll expect a video to be uploaded. NOVEMBRE Plan ahead YouTube videos take several weeks to get promoted in YouTube search, and it takes a little while to do the video. Give YouTubers the option of returning the product If they feel uncomfortable doing a review, perhaps because they don t like the product, give them a way out. Inform and educate As Tonie Shin, creator of the NYX FACE Awards said, «Don t expect them to turn your product into gold by the mere fact of handing it to them and based on their subscriber base. You have to educate them with your product points, your marketing goal, and your unique positioning in the market.» Establish trust and a relationship for the future If they feel uncomfortable doing a review, perhaps because they don t like the product, give them a way out. 18

21 A hundred little voices are better than one big voice Send a short letter, certificate, and/ or info card PRE-RELEASE PRODUCTS Build excitement with exclusive launches. POST RELEASE PRODUCTS Just after the product has been released, continue to build excitement with product reviews. Let them say whatever they want Brands must give up control to get control. Great! awesome Cool Good! When is the right time for product reviews? There are four main times that product reviews can be helpful : NEW VERSION OF A PRODUCT YouTubers can learn what s different in the new version of a product. REINVIGORATE A LONG- STANDING PRODUCT YouTubers can learn about a great product that s been around a long time, but now has some new suggested uses, or could appeal to a new consumer base. 19

22 How to best address negative reviews? 1. Best Option : With silence 2. Second-Best Option : Positively! If you must respond, respond helpfully with greater info. A brand going negative on a YouTuber is an ugly thing to watch, and usually backfi res. You might say something like We re so sorry you didn t fi nd our product to your liking. We will continue to do our best to make our products as great as they possibly can be, and we appreciate your feedback. And it s OK to gently respond in the comments with a Thanks for the review - we always appreciate frank opinions. We feel it s our fault we were not able to give you better info before this video. We d like to invite your viewers to get more info about the product by going here 3. Nearly-Worst Option: Negatively 4. Worst Option Ever: Flag their video Never, ever flag a video as inappropriate, or worse, as a copyright infringement. As a policy, Octoly will not work with any companies who resort to these underhanded methods. 20

23 AMPLIFY YOUR One key difference between a paid sponsorship and a product review is that the brand holds no rights to the reviews. However there are legitimate ways of amplifying the message of those great videos once they are complete. 21

24 Share it on social media Licensing If you like the video, ask the YouTuber if you can pay them to license it for later use. Curate playlists and on website Share the videos on your website Use it as a YouTube Ad At Octoly we have a service to do this called TrueReview. Use it as a TV Ad If you like the video, ask the YouTuber if you can pay them to license it for later use. 22

25 Compared to previous generations, millennials simply are not watching TV. Instead, they are spending increasing amounts of time online, both on desktop and mobile. For the beauty industry, YouTube is essential, because young women spend a lot of time on the platform seeking out beauty tips. But they re not interested in finding this information from the brands themselves. Rather, Millennial women look to the YouTubers themselves who are real people, honest brokers who give their viewers the straight scoop on every product they review. But for brands, engaging with beauty YouTubers at scale has to this point been extremely time consuming. To find the right YouTubers with loyal audiences of all sizes and interests, it takes great data and a proven selection process. Octoly makes this possible by offering a single solution. The Octoly platform empowers brands to find and engage with the right YouTubers who are interested in talking about their products. Then, brands can create turn-key campaigns and send products to these YouTubers, receiving product reviews in return. At Octoly we stand ready to help you master your YouTube influencer campaigns. Contact us about how you can start a grass-roots movement on YouTube today! 23

26 Amplify your earned media on YouTube How it works Step 1 Offer free products Step 2 Select the best YouTubers Step 3 Get your products reviewed in authentic YouTube videos 24

27 CONTACT US OCTOLY 104 rue d Aboukir PARIS hello@octoly.com Octoly, Inc. 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite D61 New York N.Y