User-generated content (UGC) is redefining how brands and consumers engage on social media platforms. UGC is a powerful tool for you to promote your brand on social media by allowing you to showcase your products in action, engage with followers, and build a community of loyal customers. Any person who posts content tagging a brand is creating UGC, but when the brand repurposes that post, it becomes a part of their UGC marketing strategy. Here are 4 ways UGC can be used to improve and grow your brand on social media.

Building Brand Trust and Rapport

In this age of digital media consumption, users have concerns regarding a brand’s authenticity and credibility due to the mass amount of sponsored and branded content. Consumers have difficulty believing branded content as a brand will obviously talk positively about itself, so UGC marketing intervenes and becomes the perfect choice to show the reality of a brand image and prove its credibility to potential customers. According to the State of UGC 2021 Report, 93% of marketers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands. Consumers crave authenticity and there’s nothing more authentic than the voice of the consumer. UGC being real and authentic content can easily help you establish trust and relatability for your brand through your marketing campaigns. When you gain user trust and build reliability among the users, they are more willing to engage with your campaigns generating their own UGC.     

Higher Brand Engagement 

Engagement in marketing campaigns is a crucial factor for defining the success of a campaign and content is key when you want to engage users.  UGC marketing is known to be engaging and intriguing among users as it is created by real, tangible users based on their experience. Brands are not people, but your customers are. One of the best ways to source UGC is by engaging with your customers on social media platforms and encouraging them to create it. You can do this by creating a hashtag campaign or running a contest that encourages users to share their content using that specific hashtag or by tagging your brand. You can also offer incentives such as discounts or prizes to motivate them to create and share their content. Make it easy and fun for your followers to participate and they gladly will. Using UGC creates more unfiltered, entertaining and relatable content that users will want to engage with more than branded content. Social media provides an easy way to interact with users and using it should be seen as an opportunity to build your brand image and create relationships with customers.

Increased Conversion Rates

The goal of implementing any content marketing strategy is to increase conversions and thereby increase revenue. UGC has the potential to prompt large-scale conversions by increasing engagement on social media platforms, building a trustable brand image and creating a loyal customer base. UGC removes the sales pitch feeling of content to show off the real side of what your business has to offer. UGC gives your followers an experience with your product, not just the product itself. Prioritize having social takeovers for your campaign with reviews, hashtags, social media contests, exciting offers and live videos. Make the customers feel involved and amply UGC by utilizing reposts, retweets, and shares. A study by TurnTo found that over 90% of people trust UGC to assist them in their online purchase decisions, which validates how effective UGC can be in driving conversions. When you are known as a brand that responds to interactions on social media, you will receive more engagement from users. Give your followers a voice to listen to and watch your growth potential rise.

Cost Effective Option

UGC is said to be the most cost-effective option for a marketing campaign as it is a great way to identify and take advantage of your biggest brand advocates. UGC is often less expensive than traditional marketing efforts as it does not require a large investment for content creation. Implementing a marketing campaign can be an immense task for a brand as there are various aspects necessary to be included. This leads to brands investing a vast portion of their budget into the labor, time and resources needed for the content creation, even though the branded content won’t be as impactful as user-generated content. UGC provides your brand with all the content you need, so you can save time and money on content creation and focus it elsewhere. UGC can also be repurposed for other marketing channels, such as email marketing and website content creating even more cost-effective benefits.

UGC has increased in popularity due to the many benefits it presents in helping a company build and augment its social media marketing. UGC is the glue bringing users together through conversations and interactions on social media platforms centered around a brand. While UGC cannot replace your internal marketing strategy as a whole, it is a crucial tool to maximize your returns, drive brand growth, build trust and authenticity and create a community of loyal customers. UGC breeds UGC. Give your users a voice and start experiencing all the benefits of a robust user-generated content strategy.