Businesses are always looking for ways to connect with potential clients and remain engaged with existing ones. Long-term relationships can bring many benefits such as higher customer retention levels and better customer lifetime values (CLV). Everything starts with brand awareness and then you can move customers through your marketing funnel.
Beyond quality products, competitive prices, and great customer service, the mainstay of those connections is your content. That content can take various forms, everything from social media posts to blogs.
One big area of content is user-generated content (UGC). What is UGC, how can you use it to your benefit, and how do you find the people making it?
What is UGC?
The most important thing to note is that UGC creation is done by real people. That’s not to say your marketing team isn’t real but in this case, it refers to people outside your team. The main groups you will find in the UGC creation sphere are:
- Customers. This will be your primary source of UGC content. They will have had a positive experience with your brand and are happy to share their thoughts on that experience.
- Employees. You may not think of your employees as being the best source but they can help enhance your brand’s reputation and story. They can offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into your brand that can engage well with customers.
- Brand ambassadors. When you have brand ambassadors, they will often be long-term loyal customers who are happy to take any opportunity to extol your brand’s qualities.
- Influencers. This is the only UGC creation group that you might pay for. While this group often has a large amount of followers and can produce slick content, there is a certain inauthenticity to their content that may put some customers off.
So, UGC is any type of content that is mainly created by people outside your organization and is, other than that created by influencers, free. Just because you’re not paying for the content doesn’t mean you’re compromising on quality. With the various free editing apps and the quality of modern smartphones, a lot of UGC looks almost professional.
Types of UGC content
The next thing to think about when it comes to UGC creation is what forms it can take. Simply put, if it can be posted on your website or social media platforms and you think it will engage with people, then it can fall under that umbrella. Some of the most popular types of UGC content are:
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
Social media content
When someone posts something related to your brand on their social media feeds, that’s UGC. It could be as simple as them wearing branded clothing on holiday and praising the quality and comfort.
Screenshot sourced from wearpact.com
Reviews
When you consider that 91% of people read online reviews at least once per month, you can see how important they are. Reviews represent real-life experiences of your brand and products and can play a major role in purchasing decisions.
Screenshot sourced from Ruffwear.com
Blogs
Like reviews, blogs may focus on highlights of your brand or the writer’s experience with a product or service. They can go into greater detail than a review and may lead to blog subscribers showing more interest in your brand.
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
Videos
With the growth of TikTok and Instagram Reels, videos have become a major UGC marketing tool. The videos can range from unboxing a product to showing it in use.
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
Hashtags
Although not a type of content, hashtags can increase the audience of UGC content by tying it to a business-led marketing strategy.
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
Surveys
If you have conducted any sort of survey, you can collate all the data to create content that shows potential customers what people want or think.
The benefits of UGC content
The first benefit you may think of when it comes to UGC creation is cost savings. Unless you’re using influencers, UGC won’t dent your marketing budget. However, you need to look beyond those savings and see what other benefits UGC will bring.
1. Trust and authenticity
Because UGC content comes from real-life experiences, it can instill more trust in your brand and comes across as more authentic than content created by your marketing team. With 79% of people saying that UGC has a major influence on purchasing decisions, it builds a major bridge between your brand and your target audience.
Content marketing insights generally highlight that leveraging UGC can significantly improve consumer engagement and conversion rates, underscoring the effectiveness of these strategies.
2. Better sales and conversion figures
Of course, your ultimate goal is to boost your sales and conversion rates. By improving your brand’s awareness and trust levels, you are bringing new customers into your sales and marketing funnels.
UGC can show that your products and services are good and can then lead to sales. For example, potential customers may read a blog about your AI recruitment system and it can encourage them to read more and hopefully buy.
3. Reduce the pressure on your marketing teams
Constantly creating content – and ensuring it’s high-quality content – can be a big ask, especially if your marketing team is small. Accessing content from UGC creation can make that job easier and your team will be more curating than creating.
This is not to say that they won’t be creating any content, but it allows them to focus on major campaigns and to use UGC for regular posts.
4. Better engagement
People will not always move through your marketing funnel (or sales funnel) quickly. They may not have a need (or desire) for what you offer right now but that may change in the future. UGC can increase – and maintain – engagement rates so that both existing and potential customers will see that you are consistent in what you offer.
5. Increased brand exposure
UGC can both directly and indirectly boost your brand awareness. Someone might see a great UGC video and talk about it to their friends. This social proof can introduce your brand to people who may not previously have seen any of your content and can encourage them to want to discover more about you and what you do.
How to find UGC content creators
Just as you may use a good diversity sourcing strategy to find a wide range of talent, you also want to source a wide range of UGC content. Some of those creators will be on your doorstep so you shouldn’t hesitate to contact and encourage them to produce UGC for you. To find others, you may have to cast a wider net.
1. Doorstep creators
Your doorstep creators are those already creating brand-related content or who are working in your organization. Employee-generated UGC can include behind-the-scenes videos that show customers what goes on behind your flashy website. This can help boost trust and authenticity and can engage well with customers as it’s honest in what it’s portraying.
Screenshot sourced from TikTok
You may already have identified existing UGC creators from product reviews and posts on your social media platforms. This can be a rich source of content that you can nurture into your content pipelines.
2. Influencers
While this group may lack the authenticity of other UGC sources, it can still be a good way of widening your reach. Look on social media for influencers who are either working in your sector or a closely related one. They can be beneficial for smaller companies who want to see rapid growth and enter new markets.
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
3. Social media
You may be using social media monitoring tools to track any mention of your brand whether positive or negative. This can be a great way of identifying existing or potential UGC creation experts. You can approach them and ask to use content already posted or ask them to create new content. For example, you may want some UGC for an upcoming campaign.
Screenshot sourced from Instagram
4. Hold a contest
An effective way of identifying good UGC creators is to hold a competition. This will often include – or take the form of – visual content such as images or video. It’s not just about the winner becoming a UGC creator for you; there’s a good chance you could identify several talents who you can add to your UGC content strategy. For videos, you could post them all on your social media platforms or YouTube channel and let customers decide the best.
You only have to look at e.l.f. Cosmetics’ #EyesLipsFace campaign to see how successful this tactic can be:
Screenshot sourced from TikTok
5. Brand ambassadors
You will already have people you identify as loyal customers. You may even have an existing brand ambassador program and this can be the ideal pool for UGC talent. They will likely already be advocating for your brand and asking them to create UGC is just taking that a step up. They may already have created content that you have used or can use.
Screenshot sourced from TikTok
6. Ask!
Perhaps the easiest way to find UGC creators is simply to ask new and existing customers. When someone makes a purchase from you, you send them an email (often automated) confirming their order and thanking them for their custom. You could customize that email and add a request for them to create content (such as an unboxing video or a video showing them using the product). Alternatively, you can include a thank you/UGC request note in the box itself.
Screenshot sourced from UpCircle customer email
Takeaway
UGC creation presents a great opportunity for brands to boost their awareness while establishing trust and authenticity. When it comes to your marketing and content creation teams, UGC content can also reduce costs and pressure. When done properly, having a robust UGC content strategy is also going to help boost your sales and conversion rates.
The type of UGC content you use will always depend on the type of business you have. While reviews and testimonials will always be popular, a blog will be very good for technical or SaaS products while a video would be ideal for a household item such as a coffee machine. Of course, as with other marketing content, a relevant mix of types will most likely be ideal.
No matter which type of UGC content you go with, one of the best ways of making sure it’s effective is to use a social listening tool.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is UGC creation?
UGC creation is the process of creating user-generated content (UGC) to share online. UGC content can be photos, videos, or even blog posts shared on social media or other digital platforms like your website.
2. How much does UGC creation cost?
The beauty of user-generated content is that it’s often free. You can gather photos and videos from customers simply by asking or by incentivizing them with a discount or competition offer. By compiling these into content like unboxing videos or online testimonials, you can see significant ROI by building trust, growing your community, and driving sales. Keep in mind, however, that if your UGC creation strategy involves influencers, they may expect a fee in exchange for creating the content.
3. Why is UGC so effective?
Audiences today increasingly value authentic and genuine content. So allowing your customers, brand ambassadors, and influencers to showcase your products goes a long way in building trust, particularly compared to more traditional marketing methods. It’s also a cost-effective way of engaging with potential customers and reaching a wider audience to establish a community of loyal customers.
