What Marketers Can Learn From ‘App of The Year’ BeReal

Anti-filter, hyper-authentic photo sharing app, BeReal, has just been named Apple's "iPhone App of the Year" last week. In Australia, it has been dominating the download charts with over 1.6 million downloads in the first three quarters of 2022.

Its popularity isn’t surprising. We all love a new social app (remember ClubHouse fever?), and social audiences have been gravitating away from the polished Instagram aesthetic and towards raw TikTok content for years. 

But it is a clear sign for marketers - your customers crave authentic content. And if you want to capture the attention of a Gen Z audience, you need to mimic the content they respond to. 

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It’s time to BeReal

Most B2C customers are already on the bandwagon. Brands like Fenty Beauty and Hilton Hotels generate user generated content to use in the marketing channels. Aussie fashion brand Petal and Pup even features reviews and customer photographs alongside the studio shot images.

For many B2B and SaaS marketers, this can feel like an alien concept. There’s a need to compete by elevating your brand with high-quality content. This can result in glossy, but often soulless, productions. Think case studies and customer videos that resemble stuffy infomercials and alienate, rather than humanize. 

In the same way that BeReal documents genuine moments in everyday life, B2B marketers need to get comfortable sharing the genuine moments of their everyday customers, and find an engaging way to tell those stories.

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Capturing real customer stories 

Testimonials are a great place to start and can be delivered with a modern approach. Opting for video, rather than text, helps capture the excitement of your customers and allow them to speak in a way that feels natural. To make the video feel even more authentic, have customers record at home or in their work environments, rather than in a studio. 

The psychology of social proof relies on the ability to relate to someone. So seeing someone in their natural environment, sharing their story in their own words, can be a powerful persuader. Airwallex does a wonderful job of this, using testimonials front and center on their homepage to build trust and engage their audience. 

Even if you’re not targeting Gen Z, or think BeReal isn’t on your audience’s radar, social trends are as influential as mainstream media. We’re seeing this shift towards authenticity rippling through the demographics, it isn’t one to ignore.

Bring your real customers to the forefront. Make them the heroes of your content. Don’t worry if your content isn’t perfect. If it’s got value and feels real, it’ll resonate with your audience. 

How to capture customer testimonials with Vouch

Whether you’re a B2B brand that needs to generate customer testimonials, or a B2C brand in need of customer reviews, Vouch can help you get the video you need.

Create your brief

Start by providing a clear list of questions for your customers to respond to. Be intentional about what kind of feedback you want to capture and what message you want your customers to communicate. If you’re in need of inspiration, try one of Vouch’s question templates. It’ll set up your campaign with questions that have been tried and tested from Vouch’s community. 

Request your video

Your testimonial campaign will fall flat if you don’t get responses, so encouraging your clients and customers is key. Checking in with a client first is a great way of increasing the chance of a response to your Vouch request. This could be as simple as a phone call, Slack message, or email. Find a customizable template that can be adapted for any channel here.

Share everywhere 

Vouch makes editing and sharing your videos super easy, so you can get your authentic content into your marketing channels as quickly as possible. Our editing options include:

1. Playlink -  A dedicated webpage that hosts your content
2. Embeds - The easiest way to add your Vouches to your website
3. Downloads - Customize your files and get them ready to share
4. QR Code - The best way to share videos at events or in store 
5. Social media - Download in the ratio you need, or share directly to Twitter

If you're ready to start collecting authentic video content, Vouch can help. Book a demo to find out more about our features designed to deliver high volumes of high-quality video testimonials and customer reviews. 
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Like to try Vouch?

Loved by companies like Canva, Nike, Cisco, Stryker, HubSpot, Amazon and more, tools like Vouch make leveraging video in your business remarkably easy.

Be sure to book a Vouch demo today and chat with a video content expert.