Can’t think of any new content ideas? Try User Generated Content
2018 Goals
- Increase Sales
- Build Customer Trust
- Strengthen Brand-Customer Relationship
- Expand Social Reach
There you have your list sorted!
Now the real question is how do you plan to fulfill these goals? As a social media marketer, you must have stumbled across social accounts of a few prominent brands (not so prominent too) and wondered how they have so many followers and continuous engagement or where do they get those amazing content ideas from?
If there’s anything that you should know is that you can only build a community of fans and generate a profit from it if you know how to create and promote authentic and dynamic content. Now that could be generated by you, or by your users!
“The next wave of the Web is going to be user generated content.” — John Doerr, Venture Capitalist.
User Generated Content is the Future!
Let’s talk about Burberry’s Art of the Trench User Generated Content (UGC) campaign in 2009. Burberry asked its loyal customers to upload their pictures wearing the brand’s iconic trench coat. All Burberry did was curate the best images from the shared content, which they showcased on their social pages and a dedicated microsite. Result? The brand is said to have enjoyed huge results.
2009 is also marked as the year when UGC became a buzzword in the industry and almost every brand was adopting the idea of their fans/followers/users promoting their products on social media — for a simple reason — In 2012, a study on “How Millennials Shop” by Bazaar found that 51% of Millennials accepted that user-generated content (UGC) from strangers is more likely to influence their purchase decisions as compared to recommendations from friends and family.
Where have you seen it?
You must have seen it today itself, but probably weren’t able to recognize. User-generated content is everywhere — on social media, billboards, in blog posts, and even offline stores. Many brands these days are racing to generate fabulous images, a huge following, and incredible engagement by unpaid contributors.
How can you benefit from User-Generated Content
Authenticity + Credibility
Consumers like hearing what people with same interests have to say.
The calculation is simple; Real Accounts Sharing Real Content = Authenticity + Credibility
Consumers often feel overindulged with a plethora of content floating around in their news feed and other digital channels of their interest. In this ever-evolving world, attention spans can be snapped away with just a click of a few buttons. In order to build a vibrant and engaged community, brands must focus on creating content that has the potential to capture the minds and hearts of audiences.
“By utilizing User Generated Content, brands give real users the opportunity to tell real stories — something that may be inherently missing from brand generated content.” -BufferBlog
In a study by Cohn & Wolfe, it was revealed that 63% of consumers would rather buy from a company they consider to be authentic and genuine over prominent brands that do not share same values as them.
Embrace the Age of Authenticity or risk being left behind
Authenticity is quite important in today’s online world. Customers are no longer driven by television commercials and print advertisements. Instead, they make active and informed decisions about who they do and don’t buy from. They opt for brands they can connect with on a human level, and brands that “get them” are the ones that have adopted strategies to cater “Socially-dependent generation”.
Cost Effective
UGC, in simple terms, means “users creating content”. They’re loyal, they are unpaid and in most cases, as creative as any other brand marketer. They can best describe your product and their reviews matter more than the branded content that you’ve been pushing on various online publications. The best part is that they are happy to create unique, original and authentic content for your brand, without charging a single penny. Their reason to do it can be a number of reasons — to share their experience, build a connection with like-minded people, or to stand a chance of winning something. In either way, it turns out to be a win-win situation for both.
Think about the ALS Association Ice Bucket Challenge that went Viral on social media in July 2014. The charity challenge created a huge buzz in few months, increasing awareness of the ALS Association and bagging the company $100 million in donations.
The power of User Generated Content is evident. There’s no doubt that you will be seeing much more of it in the coming years as brands start realizing the importance of turning to their audiences to share their products instead of pushy their sales tactics. Users crave stories, connection, and interactions over traditional marketing tactics, and this is exactly what UGC offers.
Let the users run the show!
Originally published at xporium.blog on December 27, 2017.
