User Generated Content: Boost Engagement and Trust Online



How consumers, brands, and platforms engage has been altered forever by user-generated content (UGC). UGC is the sweet spot of bridge content between businesses and their audiences. UGC has become a central strategy for many brands. It has moved far beyond just being a term for the posts that individuals create on the multitude of social media sites that exist today. It has moved into the realm of being an almost imperative business strategy for many companies. In this article, we will define what UGC is, discuss how it can be used effectively, and explain why it is so crucial for the business world of the 21st century.

What is User-Generated Content?

What does it mean when we talk about user-generated content (UGC)? We refer to it as any content of all kinds—text, images, videos, reviews, testimonials, or social media posts—that regular people, not brands, create. UGC is usually unprompted and organic, surfacing seemingly on its own. And when it does surface, it’s Mother Nature’s most reliable way of making a brand visible across the internet. What we see in the wild with UGC is an expression of the experiences that regular folks have had with a brand’s products or services. By and large, what they say is genuine.

Types of User-Generated Content

User-generated content can be divided into two main types: organic and paid.

Organic UGC

Organic UGC appears without any behind-the-scenes orchestration from the brand. Its appearance is solar, not lunar; it reveals the brand’s customer base without the brand’s having to tell people what to do and where to do it. Organic UGC is like a group of kids riding their bikes down a neighborhood street, a testament to the kid-friendly nature of that street, peppered with shouts of exhilaration and capped off with what could be considered an “unboxing” in the neighborhood.

Paid UGC

UGC that is paid for involves remuneration or collaboration between brands and creators. When seeking UGC, many companies now engage individuals who have been designated “content creators.” These individuals, while no doubt influenced by the payments and contracts they have with brands, are accustomed to living life in front of a camera. They are also not afraid to direct their narrative in a way that allows the brand to retain some amount of the UGC’s authenticity.

The Impact of Authenticity in User-Generated Content

UGC isn’t just a buzzword; it channels a powerful current of changing consumer behavior. It’s easy to see how we got here: Today, audiences are more responsive than ever to anything that resembles “authenticity.” In our post-Instagram world, where almost everything has been filtered and curated (and where even “raw” has become the new polished), audiences are quick to identify overstylized, insincere marketing.

Authenticity: The Most Effective Way to Establish Trust

Trust is the hallmark of contemporary interactions between customers and organizations. More and more, people distrust mainstream advertising and instead look to their friends, family, and even strangers on the internet for recommendations. And there’s a reason for this; ads are just so darn inauthentic. User-generated content (UGC), a.k.a. what your friends and family post on social media, is way more trustworthy. Whether a penny or a thousand-dollar bill, a testimonial just looks like what it is—a real, relatable experience with a product or service.

Social Proof Functioning

The concept of social proof is essential for making user-generated content effective. When it comes to the actions that people take regarding a brand, nothing is more influential than seeing or hearing a personal account of a brand interaction. UGC in the form of videos, photos, and written testimonials makes for an extremely potent kind of positive word-of-mouth. On Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Amazon, brand performance (both good and bad) is laid bare for all to see in the form of mostly five- or one-star reviews—brands can’t really hide on these platforms.

Steering Clear of the Dangers of Counterfeit UGC

When it comes to UGC, inauthenticity can lead to huge headaches for brands. These days, it only takes a scandal or two for a company’s reputation to start tanking. And any smart brand playing in the UGC space understands that the consumers they’re courting can spot a fake testimonial or phony rave review from a mile away. They also understand that some of these consumers will be more than happy to share their discoveries via social media for all the world to see.

Building Brand Loyalty Through User-Generated Content

Building Brand Loyalty

One of the most important things that can come from user-generated content is that it can greatly affect customer retention and brand loyalty. When companies invite their customers to be a part of their brand story, they build a significant relationship with their customer base. One of the most effective ways to reach that point is to engage in narrating a story about your brand.

Main Advantages of Including User-Generated Content in Marketing Campaigns

Modern brands can derive a multitude of benefits from UGC. Whether on social media, email marketing, or e-commerce platforms, UGC integration leads to a diverse and abundant set of benefits.

Creation of Content at a Lower Cost

Content created through agencies or dedicated in-house teams can be pricey and slow. On the other hand, when brands tap into their audiences through various platforms, they often receive a wealth of content—much of it created voluntarily and seemingly without much effort on the part of the sender. When a brand asks its customers to create content, it is asking them to do (approximately) the same thing that an agency or in-house team would do, albeit with much more pizazz and almost no cash involved.

Maximizing UGC Across Channels

If you want to get the most out of your UGC, you should use it across multiple marketing channels. This content isn’t one-size-fits-all, though; each channel has its own unique audience with distinct tastes and preferences. You need to rethink UGC for every channel if you want to resonate with every audience.

Steady Flow of New, Relevant Content Emerging from User Engagement

An added advantage of audience engagement is that it generates the nearly constant appearance of new materials. User-generated content guarantees that the brands have an ongoing stream of fresh, pertinent ideas that can be adapted almost on the fly to keep in step with their most recent thoughts and moods.

Better Participation and Conversion Counts

UGC draws in the audience, enhancing the customer experience. In the world of advertising, using UGC is like pulling the lever on a slot machine. You’re expecting to hit the jackpot, hoping for some bonus engagement and conversion rates with it. That’s what the brands are hoping for. They’re not featuring customers’ “work” on a whim. And who wouldn’t want a little better participation and maybe some better conversion counts?

One innovative way to use user-generated content is to incorporate it into the buying process. This means putting it at the crucial decision point in the buyer’s journey, when potential customers are right on the edge. Showing them not just a picture of the product but a picture of someone else using the product can almost double the conversion rate versus an unembellished product shot.

You can’t overlook these numbers. UGC provides results that are not only substantial but also quantifiable. Studies show that visual UGC is capable of boosting conversion rates as much as 74%. Meanwhile, when it comes to click-through rates, ads that contain authentic user-created materials tend to significantly outperform traditional ad formats.

Making the Most of UGC for Your Business

Applying strategic practices can help brands realize the full potential of user-generated content.

Create a Clear User-Generated Content Strategy

Don’t rely on luck to collect and curate user-generated content. Set precise objectives and weave UGC into the larger tapestry of your marketing initiatives. Think about the best ways and places to use this content for maximum effect.

Know Where Your Audience Is and Optimize Engagement

Different demographic segments occupy different digital spaces. Make sure your brand is present and accounted for in the right places—listening to the right conversations—before you start soliciting user-generated content. If your brand skews young, Instagram is your best bet. If you’re a community-driven brand, Facebook is a better platform for you.

Establish Precise Content Directives

To elicit the type of content you desire from customers, consider setting up some clear, precise directives. These could be as simple as suggesting they use on-brand hashtags or as involved as showing the type of visual styles you want customers to emulate.

Make Meaningful Content a Win-Win for All

Organic user-generated content thrives on the passion that customers have for a brand. But we can elicit even more contributions when we sweeten the pot a bit. One way to do this is by holding contests. A recent Lowe’s Campaign called “Lowe’s Creative Idea” asked customers to submit their best home improvement projects.

Acknowledge Those Who Create for You

User-generated content (UGC) deserves to be credited when it is reshared. Acknowledging the original creator by tagging or naming them in a campaign is a best practice. Even if a piece of UGC isn’t clearly a part of the original creator’s work (like a photo of them enjoying your product), that’s still no reason to neglect giving credit where credit is due. A UGC creator is a content creator, and content creators deserve acknowledgment.

Automate UGC Curation with Tools

For brands with highly active social media accounts, managing those accounts alongside gathering UGC content can be made much easier with tools like WoopSocial. WoopSocial is a tool that offers not only UGC curation but also social media post scheduling and auto-posting functionalities, making it an all-in-one solution for many companies receiving large amounts of user content.

Amplifying the Impact of User-Generated Content

Best Practices for UGC Content Contributors When employing user-generated content, observing a few best practices can go a long way toward ensuring you’re not leaving impact on the table and, more importantly, not alienating the people you’re counting on for UGC in the first place.

Concentrate on Varied Representation

User-generated content representation is significant. It is essential to highlight content from a diverse set of voices that genuinely reflects who your customers are. The achievement of even a semblance of inclusivity is a most commendable first step.

Keep It Legal

Make sure you have permission to use your audience’s content first. Then make clear, understandable legal agreements outlining what you’re going to do with their content and for how long you’re going to do it. Follow the specific rules of each social media platform you’re using, along with the general rules of copyright law, and you’ll be fine.

The Real-World Impact of UGC on Leading Brands

Brands that command the attention of the world have already put user-generated content to effective use. These brands have driven campaigns that resulted in impressive returns across the board.

GoPro’s Success Comes From Resharing User-Generated Content

The marketing of GoPro is heavily reliant on the concept of User-Generated Content. Since their inception, the company has taken the approach of resharing the videos filmed by their customers, and that is GoPro’s flagship form of marketing. There, one can see and hear just how good and useful GoPro products are in the actual hands of their consumers.

LaCroix Hashtag Strategy to Drive Engagement

Getting consumers to post and share under the hashtag #LiveLaCroix has proven to be a powerful branding and engagement strategy for LaCroix. The content generated under the hashtag is certainly authentic, almost too much so, given that many of LaCroix’s current users were previously users of other sparkling waters, and it’s highly relatable to LaCroix’s audience because they are a part of the LaCroix lifestyle.

User-generated content is becoming the new go-to for marketers, and the tools to implement it are more robust than ever. WoopSocial allows businesses not only to coordinate their user-generated content strategies but to do so in an efficient and effective manner. It is one hub for all your social media accounts. You can be in and out of it as needed, or you can make it your workspace, really using it to do what UGC ought to do in the first place: boost your business.

Bringing UGC into your digital marketing strategy will change how your audience thinks about your brand, and more importantly, it will change how they interact with it. Today, when “authenticity” is the watchword for successful branding, UGC is a real opportunity to take your brand to the next level and to engage your audience in new ways.