User-generated content (UGC) refers to any type of content that is created and shared by users or customers of a brand, rather than the brand itself. This includes things like social media posts, reviews, photos, videos, testimonials, and more. UGC is an extremely valuable asset for social media marketing efforts, as it offers a level of authenticity and credibility that branded content simply cannot achieve.
There are many benefits to leveraging UGC as part of your social media strategy. Research shows that consumers trust UGC and user opinions more than brand-sponsored content. In fact, consumers are 4 times more likely to buy a product endorsed by an influencer than one endorsed by a celebrity. UGC also helps boost engagement, increase reach, improve SEO, and drive sales.
In this post, we’ll explore some of the key benefits of using UGC for social media marketing. We’ll also provide tips on how you can encourage users to create UGC, find and curate relevant UGC, and effectively promote UGC on your social channels. Read on to learn how to leverage the power of UGC to enhance your marketing efforts.
The Benefits of UGC
The benefits of using UGC in social media marketing are numerous. Here are some of the most significant
Increased brand awareness and reach: UGC can help you reach a wider audience and increase brand awareness. When people share content about your brand, their friends and followers see it too. This can help you to reach new potential customers and grow your brand. For example, if a customer posts a photo of themselves using your product on Instagram and uses your branded hashtag, their followers will see the post and learn about your brand. And if the photo is interesting or engaging, it may even be shared by other people, reaching an even wider audience.
Boosted engagement: UGC is more engaging than traditional marketing content because it is authentic and comes from real people. People are more likely to like, comment, and share UGC than branded content. This can help you to boost engagement on your social media channels and build a stronger connection with your audience. For example, a customer may be more likely to like and comment on a post from another customer about your product than on a post from your brand directly. This is because the customer-generated post is seen as more genuine and authentic.
Built trust and credibility: UGC can help you build trust and credibility with potential customers. When people see other people using and loving your products or services, they are more likely to trust your brand. This can lead to more sales and conversions. People are more likely to trust recommendations from other people than from brands themselves. So when they see other people sharing positive experiences with your brand, it makes them more likely to believe that your brand is trustworthy and worth doing business with.
Generated leads and sales: UGC can help you generate leads and sales by driving people to your website or landing pages. For example, if a customer shares a positive review of your product on social media, their followers may be interested in learning more about your product and buying it. UGC can also be used to create effective social media ads. For example, you could use a customer testimonial video in a social media ad to promote your product. This type of ad can be very effective because it is seen as more credible and authentic than a traditional ad.
Improved customer satisfaction: UGC can help you to improve customer satisfaction by showing customers that you value their feedback and that you are listening to them. When customers see that their content is being shared and promoted by your brand, they are more likely to feel valued and appreciated. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.
Strengthened brand community: UGC can help you to strengthen your brand community by giving customers a platform to share their experiences with your brand and connect with other customers. This can help to create a sense of belonging and loyalty to your brand.
For example, you could create a Facebook group for your customers where they can share photos, videos, and stories about using your product. This group can provide a space for customers to interact with each other and with your brand, which can help to build a strong and engaged brand community.
How to Use UGC in Social Media Marketing
Encourage Users to Create UGC
Getting users to create UGC about your brand takes some effort, but it’s worth it. Here are some of the most effective ways to encourage UGC creation:
- Host contests and giveaways: Contests are a tried and true way to get people to engage with your brand. Offer fun prizes like your products, gift cards, or cash to get users excited about creating UGC for a chance to win. You can have photo contests, video contests, review contests, or any other format that makes sense for your brand.
- Create branded hashtags: Developing unique branded hashtags related to your company makes it easier for you to find and curate relevant UGC. Encourage users to use your hashtags when they post their UGC. You can also use hashtags to run contests and giveaways focused on UGC creation.
- Run user-generated content campaigns: Sometimes you need to be more direct in your ask for UGC. Run specific campaigns asking your audience to create and share UGC around a certain theme, such as “Show us how you use our product” or “Share a review of our new service.” Provide prompts and ideas to get them started on creating great content.
- Offer incentives: Consider offering small incentives in exchange for UGC, like discounts, free products, or gift cards. Even nominal rewards can motivate users to take the extra effort to create and share UGC. Just make sure to clearly state your terms and conditions.
- Share examples: Showcase examples of great UGC that others have created and share them across your social channels. This shows users the type of content you’re looking for, while inspiring creativity and excitement around UGC.
- Give creative prompts: Don’t just ask for UGC – give people fun and intriguing prompts and ideas to spark their creativity. Share prompts related to your brand like “Show us your pet using our product!” or “Create a 15-second video review.”
- Feature user content: When you share great UGC, make sure to tag the creator. People love seeing their work highlighted and it will motivate them and others to continue creating UGC. You can also feature select UGC on your website or in marketing materials.
The key is to make it fun, rewarding and inspiring for users to generate content. With the right strategy, you can get high-quality, authentic UGC that helps promote your brand.
Find And Share UGC
Once users start creating great UGC, you need an effective strategy to find it and get it in front of more eyeballs. Here are some tips:
- Search for your branded hashtags: Regularly search for your branded hashtags on social platforms like Instagram and Twitter to discover new UGC. You can also set up alerts for your key hashtags to be notified when new posts are made.
- Use social listening tools: Social listening tools like Mention and Hootsuite can track brand mentions and conversations across the web. Use them to find UGC like reviews, social posts, and more. Many let you save UGC into galleries to make curation easier.
- Monitor social media closely: Beyond hashtags and brand mentions, look for any UGC on your social media channels through comments, posts, tags, and DMs. Set aside time to regularly monitor the major platforms.
- Check UGC sites and reviews: Users often share UGC like reviews, photos and videos on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, Reddit, YouTube and more. Search for your brand on relevant sites.
- Use UGC curation tools: Tools like Curalate, Crowdriff and Stackla use AI to find and curate UGC from across the web into a central dashboard, saving you time. Explore options to see which fits your needs.
- Encourage tagging: Ask users to tag your brand when they post UGC to make it easier to find. Comment and engage with UGC to encourage more tagging.
Once you’ve found great UGC, get it in front of more audiences by sharing on your social media channels regularly. Tag and thank the creators. And don’t forget to secure rights to use UGC you want to feature in ads or other marketing materials.
Promote UGC
Now that you’ve got a steady stream of quality UGC, you need to leverage it to promote your brand and products. Here are some of the best ways to get more value from UGC:
- Share on social media: Share relevant UGC frequently on your social media channels. It helps diversify your content and keeps followers engaged. Make sure to tag creators!
- Feature on website: Display UGC like customer photos, videos, and reviews on your website to provide social proof and build trust for visitors. Get consent first.
- Email marketing: Use UGC like positive reviews or customer stories in your email campaigns. It adds authenticity and makes people more likely to engage.
- Paid ads: Boost engagement on your ads by featuring UGC like customer testimonials. People trust other customers more than brands.
- PR pitches: Include relevant UGC like favorable reviews or news coverage when pitching journalists. It offers credible third-party validation.
- Product packaging: Print customer tweets, Instagram posts, or reviews on product packaging. It provides social proof and credibility.
- In-store displays: Show UGC in physical stores, like Instagram photos on digital displays or video reviews in-store.
- Employee advocacy: Provide UGC for your employees to share on their social channels, expanding your reach.
- UGC galleries: Show off the volume of UGC you get in website galleries or embedded social feeds. Volume can build trust.
Get creative in repurposing UGC to maximize its marketing potential! Just be sure to secure consent first and provide credit. With strategic promotion, UGC can boost engagement across all your marketing efforts.
Tools and Resources You Can Use to Find and Manage UGC
With so much UGC being created across social media, review sites, forums, and more, finding and managing it can be a challenge. Thankfully, there are many great tools and resources available to streamline the process:
Social Media Listening Tools
Social listening tools are invaluable for tracking brand mentions and UGC across social media. Popular options include:
- Hootsuite – Find and monitor social mentions and conversations with customizable streams and alerts.
- Mention – Get alerts when your brand is mentioned online and analyze sentiment.
- BuzzSumo – Discover trending UGC around keywords and topics.
UGC Curation Tools
UGC curation tools use AI to automatically find and collect relevant UGC in one place for easy curation. Top picks are:
- Curalate – Curate UGC from across the web and integrate it into your marketing.
- Crowdriff – Discover top-performing user photos, videos and more to repurpose.
- Stackla – Find UGC and schedule it to publish to your social media.
Social Media Management Tools
Tools like Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite also make it easy to schedule and publish UGC directly to your social channels.
Brand Monitoring
Keep an eye on your website, social media, reviews sites, forums, and anywhere else your brand is mentioned to catch UGC. Set Google alerts for your brand name, products and executives.
Leverage Platform Search
Use platform native search to find relevant UGC. Search hashtags, locations and branded keywords on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more.
Organize and Store
Use UGC curation tools or simply store UGC in organized folders to build your own UGC library. Get consent when needed.
With the right tools and strategy, you can efficiently find, curate and manage UGC at scale to boost your marketing.
Conclusion
User-generated content provides a variety of benefits for social media marketing when used strategically. The authenticity, credibility and engagement it drives can help boost brand awareness, trust, community, and sales.
To recap, some of the key benefits of UGC include:
- Increased brand reach and awareness
- Higher engagement rates
- Built credibility and trust
- Lead generation
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Strengthened brand community
There are also many effective tactics to keep in mind:
To encourage UGC creation, focus on contests, branded hashtags, content campaigns and creative prompts. Make it rewarding and fun for users.
To find UGC, regularly search branded hashtags, use social listening and curation tools, monitor social channels, and leverage platform search.
To promote UGC, share it across your social channels, website, ads, emails, PR, packaging and more. Get creative!
With a sound UGC strategy, you can leverage authentic user content to achieve your social media marketing goals, connect with customers, and enhance engagement. The right mix of relevant, high-quality UGC can take your brand to the next level.