Meet Oliver Brocato, the 21-year-old entrepreneur who turned a small box of chocolates into a whopping $11 million within just a year and a half. How did he pull off this sweet success story? Here’s what he did:
- Viral Product Idea
First things first, let’s talk about Oliver’s unique product, which he affectionately calls “Tabs” or “sex chocolate.” Picture this: a minimalist brown box containing three tiny squares of chocolate that can be shared with a partner. What’s so special about it? It claims to spice up the bedroom action, enhance sensations, and build sexual excitement. Ooh la la!
Now, whether this “sex chocolate” truly works as advertised isn’t our focus here. What matters is that Oliver recognized the potential for his product to go viral because it was, well, controversial. It grabbed people’s attention and ignited conversations on social media.
- The Marketing Magic
But here’s where things get interesting, and it’s a strategy you probably haven’t tried yourself. Oliver hired “UGC creators” to craft TikTok videos showcasing his product and share them on their very own “branded accounts.” What’s UGC? It stands for “user-generated content.”
These UGC creators are often micro-influencers with small to moderate social media followings. Some of them might not even have their own social media accounts; they’re like everyday folks. What makes UGC so effective is that it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a typical ad.
Oliver’s masterstroke was in hiring just about anyone with a phone to make videos about his product. These creators would set up a TikTok account in the brand’s name and post their videos there, sparing the business from managing all that content.
Oliver didn’t give the creators strict video-making rules because, as he wisely put it, “you never know what will go viral.” And guess what? Some of those videos did indeed go viral, racking up millions of views.
3: The Mind-Blowing Part
Now, I know that posting a bunch of product videos on TikTok isn’t exactly groundbreaking. But it’s what Oliver Brocato did next that had my mind doing somersaults.
Those initial videos created by the UGC creators weren’t trying to generate sales; they were all about raising awareness of the product.
When folks on TikTok saw these UGC videos, they started flooding the comments section with questions like:
“Where can I buy this?”
“How does it work?”
And when viewers left questions, the UGC creators didn’t just leave them hanging. They whipped up follow-up videos and used TikTok’s nifty “respond to comments” feature to post them.
Now, here’s the real “Aha!” moment:
When you post a video responding to a comment like this, it doesn’t just disappear into the ether. It gets shown to the same folks who watched the original video. Yeah, you read that right.
Let’s say a cool 2 million people watched the initial “awareness” video. Those same folks would also catch wind of the follow-up video, answering the commenter’s questions.
It’s like free retargeting and social proof bundled into one mesmerizing strategy.
I feel compelled to say that again…
It’s like free retargeting and social proof bundled into one mesmerizing strategy.
Honestly, this approach seems way cooler than your run-of-the-mill TikTok ads (the ones most people casually swipe past). When a brand pops up to answer a viewer’s question, it doesn’t feel like an ad so you’re more likely to stick around and watch.
Plus, when people see others getting curious about a product, they can’t help but get curious themselves. Fear of missing out, anyone?
Just to drive home how powerful this is, Brocato spilled the beans about one of their “awareness” videos going viral on TikTok. It snagged a cool 30 million views and brought in $40,000 in sales. But here’s the kicker: After several follow-up videos in response to viewer comments, their sales skyrocketed to $130,000 within days, and they hit seven figures in sales for that month.
Mind = blown.
4: Making It Work for You
After learning all this, I couldn’t help but wonder how I could unleash this strategy in my own biz.
First, where do you find these UGC creators? It turns out there are over 4,000 UGC services on Fiverr, starting at just 10 bucks and going up to over a hundred per video.
And TikTok’s got its very own Creator Marketplace, where you can hunt for video creators, shoot them collaboration invites, and track the results of your campaigns.
But I get it; not everyone’s rolling in dough to hire creators. I mean, I’m all for spending smartly on tasks that’ll boost my business, but my inner penny-pincher kicks in too.
So, I’m thinking, why not try making these videos myself to test out that “respond to comments” feature?
Who knows, I might just surprise myself.