User-generated content (UGC) is becoming increasingly important for businesses in the digital age.
It is content created by people, oftentimes in a video format as reviews, ratings, or recommendations. The core idea is that the content is generated from actual people rather than from companies or brands. UGC for brands is one of the marketing techniques to authentically connect with your customers and create meaningful relationships that can lead to increased sales, loyalty, and trust.
This article is all about UGC. We’ll discuss what UGC is and why it's so important for brands today.
One of the main challenges here, for any business, would be a lack of knowledge about UGC. If you're here, it's likely that you're unaware of the true value of UGC and how it can help you engage with customers in a meaningful way or how to properly utilize it to grow your brand.
As industry leaders in marketing, we understand how difficult it can be to stay on top of the latest trends. Especially amidst the business and processes you're dealing with.
Well, that's why we're here today - to help you get up to speed with UGC and how you can use it for your business. Without delay, let's dive right in!
What’s UGC: The Simple Definition
Understanding what user-generated content (UGC) is and what makes it so important is the key to taking advantage of its potential to benefit your business.
So what’s UGC? It is content created by users or professional UGC creators, often in a video format of reviews, ratings, or recommendations for a product or service. See the short example below that was created for one of our client’s marketing campaigns.
It gives customers a voice in the conversation between them and their favorite brands and allows businesses to engage with their customers in a meaningful way. Sort of like what copywriting does, with the ultimate goal being promoting a product or service.
UGC for Brands - Why Is UGC Important for Businesses?
The importance of User Generated Content for brands cannot be overstated. In a world of captivating graphic work, adopting UGC for brands as a marketing technique would be the most unique and effective way to get the word out about your business.
You just have to put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers and think about it.
Would you be interested to see an advertisement that's purely of graphics or would you be moved by an advertisement that shows a real person using the product and advocating for it?
I guess you'd be interested to see a real person already interacting with the product and sharing their perspective. At least from our experience of working with hundreds of eCommerce businesses, most people prefer this.
Enhances Brand Reputation and Credibility
UGC is an easy way to increase user engagement and generate positive feedback. Seeing other people's positive reviews, ratings, or recommendations of your products will inspire trust in potential customers who are considering making a purchase.
Strengthens Relationship with Customers
If you give your existing customers a chance to advocate for your product, it'll allow you to interact directly with your customers on a more personal level, creating conversations that can lead to increased loyalty and sales.
It just plays an instrumental role in creating that sense of trust and connection between you, your existing customers, and potential customers.
Encourages Engagement and Social Sharing
Has the idea of going viral ever hit your head? If it didn't, it's about time you start considering it.
How will we do it? The answer is UGC.
It's the key to unlocking user engagement and encourages social sharing. UGC is more likely to be shared since it comes from an actual person who’s already interacted with your product or brand.
It basically helps to create a more personalized experience for viewers, which can potentially spark an organic conversation about your business. And that’s how important UGC is for brands. The value of it is over the roof!
How Can You Use UGC to Grow Your Business?
UGC is basically a form of content that we can use for marketing. Rather than using advertisements filled with graphics, the purpose of UGC is to connect with potential customers by using professional content creators, and sometimes even your existing customers, to create a sense of credibility.
If you have an idea of the importance of UGC for brands, maybe it’s time to start considering it for your business. The next step to it is knowing how UGC can be used. There are a few ways to make the best use of such content. Let's take a closer look at them.
Using UGC as written reviews
User Generated Content for brands is great for user reviews and testimonials in a written format. It's easy to collect such user-submitted content from customers, either through user forums or social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
These reviews can be featured on your website to encourage potential customers to make a purchase, or even shared with other users as an endorsement.
We’re sure you know the eCommerce giant Amazon. They not only use UGC for their business but it’s one of the most vital parts of their business that’s literally holding together the entire company from falling. Just imagine browsing for products on Amazon and they have no reviews. We’d be making zero purchases there!
UGC as videos
Video UGCs are often the best-performing marketing content. There are two ways you can do this:
Ask existing customers to record themselves with the product by sharing their feedback.
Hire professional content creators or influencers to endorse your product.
If you're going to rely on your existing customers to create UGCs for you, you're going to have to be patient and let them do it at their convenience.
Hiring content creators or influencers can be an effective, if not better, shortcut to UGCs. You just need to find people that fit well with the style and tone of your product and pay them to record themselves advocating for it.
These videos are entire advertisements on their own. You don't need extra graphics and you can quickly start your marketing campaign that can potentially produce much better results than other marketing content.
How To Create UGC for Your Business?
If you're wondering how to create UGC for your business, just understand that the key is being creative and tapping into the enthusiasm of your target audience with engaging content that you can use on various platforms like social media and emails.
When done right, this type of content will amplify your brand's visibility and help you drive conversions.
1. Identify Potential Customers and Content Creators
The first step is to identify potential customers or influencers that can create user-generated content for you. You should look for people who have already interacted with your product and are willing to give it an endorsement in the form of a user testimonial or a video review.
You can also look for professional content creators and influencers (preferably micro-influencers) to advocate for your product.
When choosing creators, always make sure they fit well with your company's tone and style.
2. Craft Engaging Content to Reach Your Audience
Once you've identified potential content creators, it's time to come up with a creative idea that will encourage user engagement. One way to do this is by sharing user-generated stories.
Note that video UGCs tend to perform better but the content can also be written reviews and testimonials.
These stories should be engaging and showcase how your product or brand has positively impacted someone's life.
If you're considering hiring a creator to do video UGC, hire a professional scriptwriter that can write engaging scripts for the videos.
3. Encourage User Participation and Social Sharing
The best user generated content is the one created by your target audience or micro-influencers.
You can encourage user participation and social sharing by creating a hashtag campaign or holding a photo contest that will reward the winner with freebies.
This will not only create user engagement but also generate more user generated content for you to use in your marketing.
On a side note, we specialize in creating UGC videos for eCommerce businesses. If you need any help with it, you can book a free call with us.
Popular Brands Using UGC
Numerous brands have tapped into user-generated content for marketing, including popular companies like Apple and Amazon.
UGC performs best on TikTok and Instagram. And it's evident from how these brands using UGC are mostly marketing on Instagram.
Here's a list of some of the most popular companies using UGC as a marketing technique:
Starbucks
Apple
BMW
Adobe
Calvin Klein
LEGO
Amazon
Conclusion
User-generated content is an effective way for brands and businesses to reach their target audience, engage with them, and drive conversions.
To tap into user-generated content successfully, you need to identify potential customers and influencers that can create user-generated content for your brand.
Craft engaging content ideas that will encourage user engagement and reward participants with freebies.
You should also take advantage of platforms like TikTok and Instagram, as user-generated content performs best on these channels.
Again, we specialize in UGC creation, so if you want everything done for you, book a free call with us.
Understanding user-generated content can help your business to grow by allowing you to connect with customers in an authentic way that will increase brand loyalty and boost conversions. Brands like Apple, BMW, and Amazon have already tapped into user-generated content and seen great results.
If you want to keep up with the competition, user-generated content should be a part of your marketing strategy.
