Business marketing is abuzz now with user-generated content (UGC) and over 50 million people identify as UGC creators. Demand for UGC is at an all-time high and it’s become a significant way for companies to boost their product and brand reputation.
The Math: UGC = Social Proof = Engages more customers + Increase revenue.
Why? Because studies show people trust your brand and decide to purchase your product by as much as a whopping 10 times when your website and social media accounts have UGC.
Think of UGC as the interface between brands and consumers. Whether it’s an email newsletter, a TikTok video, IG reel, or a photo on social media, UGC can drive a customer to click on “Buy” or at least help them recall your brand. Like reviews and social media posts, a UGC creator is created by your existing customers based on their experience and opinions about your products and/or service.
Collecting user-generated content or UGC is now a key part of marketing campaigns with companies worldwide. You need to build a bank of trustworthy, credible and attractive content from your users for your website, social media channels and business collaterals.
Here are ten ways to get your users to create this content for you:
Reward your existing UGC contributors!
Invite loyal customers to become UGC VIPs who create content for your brand.
Your platform can ask users to submit and share their content.
Engage with your customers, and respond to their feedback and suggestions to improve their experience.
Creating your brand’s very own hashtag helps push your brand on channels like Twitter and Instagram. You can also use social media management tools for the best results in social media marketing. They can help you find posts your customers published about you on their own accounts. Remember to ask for permission to repost their content on your website or social media.
Hosting contests on Instagram is a great way to get UGC fast. Starbuck has a red cup contest #RedCupContest on Instagram every Christmas. It helped Starbucks get 35,000 UGC assets for the Christmas season and drove up sales too! Remember to state the contest rules including how users can participate and what you want them to say or show for their posts, how to tag your page or what hashtag to use.
Your employees are your brand’s most valuable assets – they run your business and they are your best brand ambassadors! An Edelman Trust Barometer study reports that your customers are more willing to trust what your employees say over your C-suite heads or stakeholders! Your employees’ engagement levels can directly impact your brand reputation. Start with a social media account for them where they can publish content they’ve created. For instance, HubSpot’s HubSpot Life Instagram features a HubSpot employee appointed to manage the account and curate and create posts for it each week.
There are analytic tools that monitor and curate UGC.They help spot fresh content on your brand and offer analytics for the performance of your UGC posts. Do they get better engagement? What type of UGC performed best? This helps you curate the most effective posts, and refine the conversion-boosting posts.
Develop a content creator strategy then reach out to your users. You can do this directly through your social media accounts, via a creator marketplace (like TikTok’s), a platform partner like Insense or digital asset platforms that connect with creators like KittyKat. Remember to incentivize your creators: for example how Starbucks motivated its followers to post a photo using its holiday cup and adding the hashtag #redcupcontest, in exchange for a contest entry.
Yes there are platforms that connect UGC creators with brands. These include:
and visual content platforms like KittyKat or Yotpo which also offer ecommerce customer engagement and UGC brand collaboration programs. This saves you time searching for users. Simply set up a creative brief, state to your user demographic, and the platforms do the outreach for you (for a fee).
