Marketers must adopt a more data-driven and customer-centric marketing approach to stay competitive in a fast-paced marketplace. This involves encouraging customers to communicate what they want in a product or service. User-generated content has become an increasingly popular tool brands use to engage with their potential customers. Let’s explore more user-generated content to know how it can benefit your company. 

What Is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content, or UGC, is a form of content created by users about a brand’s products or services in the form of social posts. A good example is when Coca-Cola personalised coke bottles with common female and male names. The idea was for people to share the drink with their loved ones. Consumers widely shared photos of themselves with personalised coke bottles, and the trend went viral. 

Why Is It Important?

Using user-generated content, consumers share their experiences, feedback, ideas, and opinion, which can benefit your company in the following ways.

Establish Trust

UGC helps the company gain customers’ trust. This is because 85% of customers trust online reviews and personal recommendations more. People will most likely trust the comments if they come from unpaid users rather than the company sales team.  

Increases Brand Engagement

User-generated content encourages conversations between the brand and consumers. If the campaigns have engaging content and interactive elements, you will receive more comments, likes, and mentions. This way, you will get a 28% higher engagement than you would with standard brand posts. 

Boosts Brand Awareness

User involvement in your marketing campaign increases your chances of reaching a wider audience. You will attract more brand views and engagements by encouraging people to share your hashtags on their social posts. 

Builds Authenticity

User-generated content contains honest reviews and feedback from users who had real-time interaction with your brand, which helps prove your authenticity. 90% of consumers consider authenticity essential when choosing the brand they like and support.

Saves You Content Creation Time

Through user-generated content, you can gather various perspectives and creative thoughts that promote diversity. You will get unlimited content flow, so you can save time used to conceptualize, write, and edit posts. 

Drive More Traffic, Conversions, and Sales

Successful UGC can increase organic traffic to your site. Increasing user engagement can increase conversions which may lead to sales. 

Different Types of User-generated Content

The most common type of UGC is social media posts and videos. It’s very common for customers to post their experiences with a specific brand on social media. Customer reviews, testimonials, ratings, and recommendations in Facebook groups, Twitter, or other forums are also UGC. Tutorial or product review blog posts in travel, fashion, and tech industries act as UGC for the brand. Other types include hashtag campaigns, case studies, surveys, and interactive events like webinars, chat shows, and seminars. 

Incorporating UGC in Your Marketing Plan

One of the most effective ways to incorporate UGC in your marketing campaigns is by encouraging customers to leave reviews when possible. You can offer gift cards, coupons, and other rewards to people who review your brand. Respond to each negative review positively and reassure them you care about their experiences. 

Another way is by running a hashtag campaign. Encourage your customers to share images containing your brand on social media. You can also record your customers using your product or services and share them on social media. Provide buyers with a membership site to build a community. 

Summing Up

Getting user-generated content requires you to provide your customers with a platform and a way to praise your brand. By constantly engaging with your clients, you will understand their needs better and use their feedback to adjust your products and services. Consult our team of digital marketing experts at Oracle Tree to learn more about the content marketing strategies that best suit your brand. 

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