What is User-Generated Content
When you get dressed up with your new clothes or wearing your new sunglasses or a new smartwatch, chances are there you snap a pic of it and post it to social media. Maybe you post a video unboxing your birthday gift from your friends and family. These are contents about the brands posted by its users rather than generated by the brands themselves. Yes, this is user-generated content. Have an Idea? If not let’s have a look.
What is User Generated Content?
User-generated content or UGC refers to any original, brand-specific content created, and published by users of a brand rather than the brand itself. UGC comes in many forms, including text, images, videos, reviews, a testimonial, or even a podcast.
A Stylish pic of your all-new wristwatch posted on Instagram mentioning its brand or an unboxing video of your New High-end gaming PC or a SmartPhone, Yes that’s a UGC.
Why UGC is Important?
The brand can use it on its website or on social networks to promote and often the UGC is more efficient than conventional marketing content and methods. New research shows that 90% of consumers say it holds more influence on their buying decisions than promotional emails and even search engine results. We have come to an era where conventional marketing is not trustworthy to consumers anymore. UGC is authentic because it is created by users, not by the brand or its marketers, and is also very useful for the brand because it increases Credibility, Reaches new users, Has the Potential to go viral, Positive impact on SEO, and Encourages users to make a purchase.
Why Brands Should Use It?
When people trust and others will see it, there is a high chance that they also get interested in your brand. This phenomenon is called social proof. People tend to believe in other people more than any brand. Thus, allows you to improve existing customer relations and also to reach new customers. UGC has more virality than any other conventional marketing strategy as people tend to share their content with their friends and relatives. This will improve organic traffic resulting in positive effects on SEO ranking.
Not only positive but negative UGC can also help your brand grow. A negative review or comment can help you improve your product design and performance. By doing this people will believe in your response and eventually gain their trust.
How to get more UGC for your Brand?
Use your website, Social media like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc, or even your shop front to collect user responses about your product. Creating a place for your users to throw their UGC will help to collect more content from it. A hashtag campaign is an excellent idea to get more UGC. Offer rewards and giveaways for users can make it beneficial for both parties and your brand will get more content with more chances of getting new customers.
Examples
Look at the YouTube channel of GoPro You will see many videos from GoPro users.
Starbucks conducted a contest named the white cup contest encouraging customers to draw doodles on the cup and post for a limited edition Starbucks cup. About 4000 customers submitted their entries in three weeks.
