Episode 494: How to Create User Generated Content Viral Videos With Phil Vilk
“I feel like I spend more time on content creation than making Jewelry.”
If that line resonated with you – you’re not alone.
Creatives often reach out to me expressing that they want to spend more time working on their Jewelry instead of writing, editing, and producing their own marketing content.
I heard you loud and clear – so I reached out to Phil Vilk, an agency owner who specializes in marketing with User Generated Content – using your customers instead of yourself for content creation.
I start off by asking Phil why he specializes in User Generated Content, and he shares how he didn’t like working with most agencies because they were focused too much on making money and not enough on helping their clients. He eventually discovered how to use User Generated Content to help businesses – and he decided to start his own agency with a focus on helping businesses use their customer’s excitement for their products as content.
Then we get down to business discussing how effective User Generated Content (UGC) is as a marketing strategy (hint: very effective) – and what types of UGC work best.
One strategy for incentivizing reviews is to pay for them. Naturally this gets into questions of ethics and legality*, so we spend time talking about that, and how much the incentive should be and what form it should take.
I love recommending free tools to help business owners just starting out. Phil and I talk about how you can use JotForm to get customer testimonials, display Terms and Conditions to ensure you have the legal right to use them, and even turn reviewers into affiliates!
Another free tool I have for you is my Magnetic Marketing Masterclass, where I show you my system for scaling your jewelry sales to 4 or 5- figure months with high-quality customers who become loyal repeat buyers. You can watch it on demand, anytime you like, and afterwards I’ll also send you my 4-Step Magnetic Marketing Playbook – as my “thank you” to you for watching.
I ask Phil what things make a customer video most effective and he reveals the 7 elements of a good testimonial (including the one element that should never be in a testimonial). We also go over how long a customer video should be, and how to prep a customer to make the best video.
Then we dip into how to edit customer videos and the best tactics for repurposing their videos for social media posts and advertisements. Phil also reveals his point system for “scoring” customer videos and how he uses that score to determine compensation.
Finally – we wrap up the episode discussing how listeners who don’t have the budget to hire an agency can use the strategies we discussed to get started. For listeners who do have the budget – I ask Phil what it’s like to work with him and how you can connect with him.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- [0:00] Latest news and announcements
- [03:23] How Phil went from hating agencies to starting one himself
- [06:44] What should the customer say to create the best testimonial?
- [08:38] The ethics and legality of incentivizing customers for testimonials.
- [09:40] How much should you budget to pay for customer reviews?
- [12:49] Using JotForm to get the videos, display terms & conditions, and turn reviewers into affiliates
- [15:00] The 7 elements of a good customer testimonial (including the 1 thing that should Never be in a testimonial)
- [16:54] Optimal length for a user-generated video
- [17:41] How do you prep someone to do an unboxing video?
- [19:02] Editing testimonial videos & compilations
- [22:07] Scoring customer testimonials and determining compensation
- [24:05] Advertising strategies if you don’t have the budget to hire an agency
- [27:14] What it’s like to work with Phil & how to connect with him
xo, Tracy
*If you choose to pay for reviews or testimonials – it’s important to disclose the incentive. Also – some platforms do not allow any paid reviews – so do your due diligence and research platforms’ terms & conditions before paying for reviews for them. For more information, please see the FTC’s guidelines here.
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Links:
Phil’s website – Creative Launch
FREE Masterclass: 4-Step Magnetic Marketing System
Buy My Book: The Desired Brand Effect