Aren’t we all tired of the  “in paid partnership with the XXXX brand”?

The minute we see this sentence, we scroll away because clearly the person has been paid to review the product in a way that the said person’s audience adds to the brand’s consumer base successfully. 

Your consumers are looking for honest reviews so that they don’t feel fleeced and with customer-generated marketing, they can associate themselves with your brand in the long run. 

Enters UGC!

How to find user generated content:

What is UGC?

Also referred to as consumer-generated content, content created for a brand by a customer who does not represent or is getting paid for the same is the user-generated content. There are various ways to create and execute a UGC. Some of the common types of user-generated content are review, social media posts, videos, podcasts, comments, blogs, etc. They are not created by affiliates or ambassadors of your brand, which adds to the authenticity of the product and service you are offering. You can use it as an excellent marketing tool to boost your business’s credibility and accelerate the overall efficiency. 

What makes UGC beneficial to the businesses?

First, let’s talk about numbers that TurnTo Networks’ study found out. It revealed that 90% of the consumers say that the user-generated content when compared to search engine results and promotional emails, has been more effective in influencing the purchase decisions of the target audience. 

Now, coming to the question as to what makes UGC so appealing to the audience. The answer lies in the aversion that the customers have towards advertisements and old marketing gimmicks like #sponsored posts. 

• Consumers of this age and time are more aware, courtesy of the internet. They can spot an exaggerated ad and will be quick to close the tab when they see one. Also, we as business owners and managers cannot deny the “exaggerated” part where we sell the attributes of our products and services in an over-hyped manner. The audience is looking at relatable, authentic product/service reviews. This is why they have shifted their focus to user-generated content. 

• Curating UGC boosts the shopping experience of the target audience as they feel free to reach out to the person and listen to their personal experience and opinions with the product before making a decision. It strengthens the customer’s confidence in the products and significantly affects their buying behavior and decision. 

• L2 Inc revealed that UGC has the capability to increase conversion by 4.6%. It has the power to build and bolster the trust of the customers for a particular brand. Connecting with them through relatable and authentic content boosts credibility and builds a confident consumer base. 

• Customer-generated marketing with the user-generated content is relatively more creative and personal, which increases its possibility of getting noticed and shared among the family members, friends, and relatives. UGCs get viral quickly compared to its other counterparts. 

• A judiciously used and executed user-generated content can positively impact search engine optimization. It helps in garnering significantly higher organic traffic and get backlinks with the associated content linked to the respective site. 

• It is only natural for consumers to trust their friend’s family and relatives before they make a purchase. User-generated content gives that confidence and influences the decision of the buyer. Termed as social proof, it can help expand the existing customer base and reach out to more users in a cost-effective manner. 

What are some of the leading examples of UGC

Starbucks

We all know the RedCupContest that Starbucks launches every year at Christmas time. Starbucks surely knows how to encourage UGC. They ask the customers to post their red cup photos with hashtags. This contest in itself garners exponentially higher attention and return on investment. 

Adobe

One of the leading and highly preferred photoshop tools by professionals, understanding Adobe can be a daunting task for its customers especially the beginners. Adobe customers ’ generated marketing technique is to simplify their complex operation using #Adobe_Perspective to help its users understand the complex processing. 

Calvin Klein

Calvin repurposed its decade-old Me and my Calvins by asking its customers to post their pics in their athleisure. Calvin gave their audience a platform to express their opinion and it worked like a charm. I in #MyCalvins was a hit. 

What does the current statistics point at?

UGC has redefined the face of marketing in a fresh, revolutionary and more interactive manner and the stats below back up what we have talked about it till this point. 

• 48% of marketers consider UGC as a great way of adding the human element to their marketing strategies. Likewise, 48% of the customers find UGC a great way of discovering new products being used by real people sharing their authentic experience. 
• Compared to generic posts by brands, customer-generated content gets 28% higher engagement.  Furthermore, the click-through rate of the ads based on the UGC is four times higher. 
• Talking about the millennial buyers, customer-generated content is 20% more influential than any other form of media. 

What are the different types of UGC?

UGCs are typically divided into three categories- images, texts, and videos. Below,  you will find the list of some of the most common types of UGC used by leading brands to bolster their marketing efforts:

• Blog posts
• Reviews
• Testimonials
• Live streams
• Q/A
• Comments
• Case study
• Social media posts

What are the most impactful channels to create UGC content?

Wondering which channels are the best to get user-generated content?  We have listed down a few for your help:

• Olapic
• CrowdRiff
• TINT
• Curalate
• ShortStack

What are some of the best ways to find UGC for your business?

Having mentioned that, let’s discuss the ways to find and how to encourage UGC to boost the revenue generation for your business through brand-generated content. 

Run a Contest

The essence of an effective user-generated content’s social media examples lies in the fact that it is organic. Since they are honest opinions coming from relatable people to the curious audience, they gain credibility. Use the pattern you observe to create a contest aligned with the images, themes used by your customers to create a contest. This way you will be able to launch a targeted contest that garners more attention and revenue. 

Collaborate

Collaborate with social and digital influencers to create user-generated content marketing examples. Before you start shooting email pitches to them, make it a point to ensure whether or not they are credible, and can you trust your campaigns with them? Furthermore, it is important to segment the audience in accordance with who best aligns with your brand’s objective. What will make for an appropriate channel for both the influencer as well as your brand to execute a campaign is also an important factor that should be kept in mind. 

Start a conversation

Initiate a conversation and become the center of attraction by hosting an event. Create such an environment that not only promotes your brand but also humanizes it in the best manner possible. Control the event by encouraging users to use hashtags, checking up on which product or service are they more engaging with. This can give your even more effective B2B user-generated content. The event will make your customers feel more connected as a community. 

Involve customers

By involving your customers, we mean that they take their permission and use their image and testimonials to boost your brand’s authority. This will benefit you as well as the customers. We all know the significance of social recognition and customers will be delighted to see themself featured on a brand’s page. Moreover, this customer page, when timely updated, can also serve as a potent way to bring in more user-generated content. 

Check tagged notification

Conduct thorough research for uploads where your brand has been tagged and use it as a user-generated content marketing example. Encourage your customers to use geotag or brand-specific hashtags which can help maximize the quantity of qualified traffic. 

Facebook Check-ins

Check-ins are one of the most common and effective ways of identifying where a significant percentage of your customer base comes from. By encouraging users to add a specific hashtag to their uploads will prove instrumental in creating UGC that delivers higher ROI. 

Twitter’s Mention Section

Check for any tagged photos with Twitter’s mention feature. Once you have found the pictures, run a search for the keywords that contain your business’s name. It is important to keep an open mind for variations while doing so. Search for any and every possibility. 

Pinterest Pins and Board

Search for your brand’s name in pins, people, and broad. This will narrow down the keyword search to close variation of and the exact pins. Encourage Pinterest users (your target audience) to share images and videos of your brand with brand-specific hashtags. 

Keep a tab on the trends

Go through your customer’s pictures and you will be able to identify a pattern, which will help you come up with more user-generated content. You can gain an understanding of these trends by when your customers are most likely to share photos, why, and how your brand is being tagged in the posts, which age group, gender, or profession is more likely to share a picture of your products/services. This will give your ample data to create a user-generated content strategy that will guarantee a higher return on investment, a satisfied consumer base, and better reach. 

Offer coupons and discounts 

Incentivize your customer base by offering them coupons and discounts. Free samples and asking customers to perform something out of the ordinary that relates to the products or service your brand is offering will serve as a great user-generated content marketing example. 

Product Reviews

Did you know that your conversion rate can exponentially boost by  540% if your reviews change from two to five stars? Also, research conducted by Moz revealed that a whopping 67% of the consumers decide on something based on how they have been reviewed on the prominent platforms or social media channels like Yelp, Google review, Facebook, etc. Reviews can not be controlled and it is understandable but there is another method with which you can curate UGC. Once the consumers become regular customers of your business, turn them into loyal advocates by asking for reviews. 

Event photos

Organize a highly targeted event online or offline and encourage the consumers to tag your brand in pictures and videos or send them a goodie bag as a token of gratitude for making the event a success. Make sure the gifts have your specific hashtag for promotion and better reach. 

Conduct surveys

You don’t have to go overboard when it comes to conducting surveys. There is a very high probability that your sales team will have the required data in their database. This will narrow down the audience to whom you have to conduct the survey. This will give your insightful information to plan, design, and execute a user-generated content strategy that will hit the bull’s eye. 

Use Social media

We don’t even have to emphasize the importance of social media in today’s digital era and how it influences people’s decision’s making. Your business can create user-generated content by identifying which platform is your target audience using the most and which strategies work the best on those platforms. Share stories, reviews, and testimonials of your client to create UGC social media examples. How will it work? Those impressed by your products and service will refer your name to friends, family, and relatives. There is no doubt in the fact that word of mouth is one of the best marketing techniques to date. People will trust their peer review over you trying to brag about your success rate. 

Now that you know how you can find UGC to enhance brand awareness and expand your consumer base, know what you should not do while executing customer-generated marketing strategies. 

• Never publish with the permission of the user whose content you are using
• Never spam your followers with too much UGC
• Never ask for free content

What future holds for UGC?

Consumer-generated marketing and curated UGC is the future of marketing as it gives consumers the power to make a discussion based on authentic and purposeful content. Implement the aforementioned B2B user-generated content techniques to execute effective UGC techniques for enhanced brand presence and connecting with the audience in a more profound manner.