Want potential customers to pay attention to you and your products? You should get out of the way and allow the consumers do the talking. In other words, you need to make advantage of material created by your users (UGC).
For one simple reason, user-generated material is more successful than official company content.
Explain user-generated content
“User-generated content” (UGC) is any and all content created, uploaded, and published on the web by the target market of a particular brand.
Images, videos, blog articles, product reviews, and social media updates are all examples of user-generated content.
Do you still think about the unboxing video you viewed before purchasing your most recent phone? UGC means user-generated content.
Or maybe it was the Instagram food photo your Chinese-food-curious neighbour shared that made you decide to give that Mandarin eatery a go. UGC includes that, too.
As you can probably imagine, user-generated content is a powerful tool for encouraging potential buyers to give a product a go.
You’re leaving money on the table if you’re not utilising UCC in your social media marketing plan.
A few pluses of user-generated content
You’ll instantly get respect for doing so
User-generated content (UGC) is undeniable evidence of the social consensus. As a result, it appeals to our innate social tendency to look to others for guidance when making purchasing decisions.
As opposed to reading about how one of your customers lost weight in a month utilising your four-week fitness programme in an ad, prospective consumers are more willing to give your product a try if they see actual results.
Expands your potential audience
Consumers are twice more likely to share UGC with friends and family, according to the study’s 85% statistic.
Yet more evidence why you need to incorporate user-generated content (UGC) into your social media advertising strategy.
After all, the more your audience’s exposure to your content is, the more chances there are to spark brand discussion.
To further understand why a successful UGC strategy is essential for expanding your brand’s reach, consider the following. Positive connections with your brand are the bedrock of every successful marketing funnel.
Using it raises participation
Have a look at this: User-created content receives 6.9 times as much interaction as brand-created material.
What’s the big deal, anyway? Customer engagement is important since it leads to increased sales, word-of-mouth marketing, and brand loyalty.
Indeed, according to Gallup, an engaged consumer is worth 23% more money.
So, why do people love reading posts written by other people?
Simply said, it’s the quickest approach to get people to care about your brand.
As was previously discussed, UGC increases the trustworthiness and originality of your brand. It goes beyond that, though. Prospects get a taste of the possibilities when they read about you from the mouth of someone they can relate to, someone whose life your product or service can enhance.
User-generated content (UGC) is visual evidence that your brand delivers. Also, the old adage that “seeing is believing” certainly applies in the realm of sales.
User-generated content is a powerful tool for community development
Create a group of people who have an interest in your product if you want them to continue supporting your business.
Incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your marketing strategy not only reassures consumers that your brand is legit, but also helps them feel less alone in their experiences and goals.
Tips for organising user-generated content campaigns
To put it simply, it’s over. User-generated content (UGC) boosts brand credibility, expands audience reach, boosts engagement (and income), and fosters brand-centric communities.
How do you organise a user-generated content campaign, though?
Specifically, what methods have proven successful in inspiring customers to enthusiastically share their love for your product or service on various social media platforms? What do you do with all of the UGC you collect?
Like any good plan, this one is implemented in stages.
Define Objectives That Can Be Achieved
Determine what you want to accomplish before beginning your UGC campaign so you can stay focused and evaluate your progress.
With SMART criteria, you may choose a worthwhile objective.
It’s a well-known acronym for “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely” goals.
Make sure you know where you want to take your brand before you establish any SMART objectives.
The purpose of your user-generated content campaign might be anything from:
Drive more interaction with your brand
Improve sales, earn customers’ confidence, etc.
You will have a clearer sense of where to hunt for UGC and which forms of UGC to employ if you have identified or defined a purpose worth pursuing.
Stop and think about the many social media sites you frequent
If you want your user-generated content (UGC) campaign to be successful, you need to adapt it to the specific social media outlet in question. Therefore, if you were considering holding a picture contest on LinkedIn, you might want to reconsider.
To help you get started, here are some examples of excellent material that might do well on each service:
- Videos, blog articles, and content curation on Facebook
- The best of Instagram in high resolution: quotations, images, and “Stories”
- Tweets can include text, images, or videos.
- Articles, press releases, and corporate news for LinkedIn users.
- Use Pinterest for diagrams and visual guides.
Solicit user-generated content to promote your company
There are a variety of strategies you may employ to inspire your target market to produce and share articles that will benefit your company. One by one, let’s investigate them.
A contest or challenge based on user-generated content
When customers are satisfied with a product or service, they often tell others about it. People have an intrinsic desire to strengthen their feeling of identity and purpose, which is met by doing this.
Turn that information-sharing initiative into a contest or challenge, and your consumers will be lining up to take part. Why? Why? Because it’s ingrained in human nature to strive for superiority.
As soon as you throw in some sort of incentive, you’ll start getting the user-generated content you’ve been after.
Use trending hashtags associated with your brand
Hashtags associated with your brand are crucial to the sustained success of your social media marketing efforts. To differentiate your business from the competition, consider using a custom hashtag to spread word of your brand’s worth.