93% of the users claimed to have been influenced by user-generated content in their buying decisions over emails and search engine results. But, with the competition only reaching new heights, it is getting difficult and over-the-top expensive for brands to target the right audience. So, how do they hit home with their marketing efforts? Simply by leveraging user-generated content in their campaigns. If you are keen to explore making the users’ content lucrative by putting it to optimal use, make your way through this marketer’s guide to User-generated content.
What Is User-Generated Content?
User-Generated Content or UGC is any content-text, videos, images, blogs, testimonials, etc., created by the people for the people.
Venture Capitalist John Doerr said, “The next wave of the web is going to be User-Generated Content,” and it is, undeniably, turning out to be a mammoth life force in the digital world.
User-generated content has overshadowed the marketing trends that prevailed for years simply because it is willingly published by users on various online platforms, making it the most authentic, creative, reliable, and trustworthy content that you see online.
Brands are no longer promoting their brand; it is the users doing it for them. Anything you see online, including testimonials, reviews, feedback, social media content, blogs, videos, or images, is a part of users’ build-up content.
Still, only 16% of the brands have an established system to effectively initiate and command UGC. If this fact took you by surprise, don’t worry, we got you! Keep reading.
How Is UGC Marketing More Effective Than Traditional Marketing?
There used to be a time when consumers would easily get influenced by unrealistic advertisements showing fake scenarios, with paid models posing in front of studio lights. But as we move ahead in time, consumer behavior has shifted towards seeking more authentic and raw content.
Now, consumers more actively interact with brands on social media and ask for transparency over made-up scenarios. With the traditional ads, you just become a part of the crowded ads that your prospects generally skip.
If you want your audience to react and get inspired by your campaigns, user-generated content can help you to stand out. Besides, UGC also instills social proof in your audience, encouraging more UGC and offering you more content for your marketing.
Why Should Brands Consider Incorporating UGC?
User-generated content offers brand credibility a much sought-after boost, as users are 2.4 times more likely to consider UGC trustworthy than brand-generated content.
Generating authenticity in the users’ minds has become vitally important as it is the only thing that is helping brands stay ahead of the curve.
Moreover, it also has a role to play in the purchase decisions of the buyers as 86% of them, especially Millennials and GenZers, take account of it in their future purchases.
Customers Become Brand Advocates
When brands incorporate user-generated content into their marketing campaigns, their customers become their faces. When these customers come across the UGC campaigns and see their faces, they are impressed and turn into the brand’s loyal customers.
If you incorporate UGC in your campaigns, your customers would always choose you among the competitors and recommend you to their friends and family members.
Not only that, they would never feel hesitant to create more user-generated content for you.
Generates Trust
Users trust faces more than a faceless brand; be it a product, service, or experience; modern consumers want to have a brief knowledge of what they seek out.
More than 90% of your consumer’s trust brands that include UGC in their marketing campaigns. Consumer-generated content is unsponsored content that creates an image of the brand in the viewers’ minds, who look forward to knowing more about the brand, exploring its products, and the users’ experience with it.
Gathering more and more users’ trust is the marketing holy grail that brands are constantly digging for. Here, leveraging consumer-generated content can be the best bet.
Influences Purchase Decisions
Users’ content being credible and reliable influences the purchase decisions of the buyers making online purchases.
A striking 70% of the users take into consideration reviews and ratings before closing their purchases. At the same time, at least 41% of them read 4 to 7 reviews to know the product better.
UGC attracts, dominates, and converts audiences simply by turning their point of interest into inspiration and sales.
Cost-effective Way Of Marketing
Imagine that you don’t have to spend huge sums of money building a creative team, producing branded content, and taking up marketing activities that cost a fortune; how cost-effective will that be?
User-generated content is abundant, and brands don’t have to run wild extensively looking out for it. Users produce content using brand-exclusive hashtags, mentions, handles, etc.; this can be collected and repurposed for marketing without incurring a penny.
What Are The Different Ways UGC Is Created?
Users’ content is an umbrella term under which different types of content fall. Below are a few important bifurcations.
Content Generated On Social Media
Social media is influential, as 58.11% of the world’s population uses it. Any content that is produced on social media has the power to influence the minds of many users.
There is a plethora of content created and shared on social media by people. Amongst these, any user’s content promoting your brand is UGC for you.
Furthermore, the users’ behavior has undergone a massive shift. They are predominantly active in seeking inspiration for products to introduce online. Here, strategically placing consumer-generated content must be your first choice to attract them.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube enable brands to generate the content generated by the customers. It helps brands to unfold layers of the market while boosting audience engagement.
Testimonials Or Reviews
Another popular type of user-generated content is customer reviews. They act as a brand’s advocate and create hype through word-of-mouth marketing.
Video Content
Social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook are aesthetically pleasing visual platforms. The compelling visual content created on these sites motivates users to scroll, explore more, and consume a wide variety of content.
93% of the marketers claimed to have landed a new customer because of video content posted on social media.
Influencer Campaigns
Influencers are playing a major role in redirecting consumers’ lifestyle decisions towards the brands they promote. With the power influencers hold, you can utilize this power to encourage your audience to create UGC for you.
It is exactly what Daniel Wellington did and successfully generated more than 800k photos and videos on Instagram. When you get many influencers to create high-quality content, you prompt other users to do the same.
DW gave specific instructions to the creators on what kind of content they would like to see. Being specific will help you in receiving better content.
Conclusion
In this article, we tried our best to explain everything a marketer needs to know about UGC. Keep an eye out for more UGC articles coming your way. Hope it helps!
