All About User Generated Content

Creating content is a fun, but time-consuming, part of marketing. If you want to stay relevant on social media, it is crucial to regularly put out content. If you already have an audience that enjoys your products, user-generated content (UGC) is a great way to grow your engagement and sales.

What Is User-Generated Content?

UGC is content that is created by individuals, rather than by brands. UCG is usually in the form of photos, videos, or testimonials. Think of a time you’ve gone to your favorite restaurant, gotten a tasty meal, uploaded a picture of it to your Instagram Story, and tagged the cafe. That is user-generated content. If you’ve ever left a positive review for a company you love, that is also user-generated content.

Why Is User-Generated Content Important?

One of the biggest perks of UGC is that it comes from real consumers, not businesses. You can tell your audience all you want about how great your products are, but hearing it first-hand makes it resonate more. 80% of customers say that user-generated content impacts their purchasing decision, making it an incredible (and free!) content source.

Why Use User-Generated Content:

Once you start getting UGC, it often comes rolling in. If your audience is posting pictures of one of your products, others are going to follow suit. When you re-post pictures or videos that your customers have tagged you in, it is exciting for them and encourages them to keep giving you content. Many people will try to take pictures that are worthy of getting a re-post, giving you a plethora of quality UGC to work with.

UGC strengthens your brand awareness. Not only are curious customers checking out your page, but they are also seeing it on other pages. If someone creates a piece of content that they are proud of, they are likely going to share it on their own pages in addition to tagging you. You can even encourage customers to use a certain hashtag when posting pictures of your product to help increase your brand awareness.

UCG helps give you a direct line to happy customers. Once you start relationship-building with those happy customers, they will enjoy participating in creating more UGC. Happy customers are very valuable- not only will they give you honest feedback, but they will also share how much they enjoy your products with friends and followers.

User-generated content helps you build social proof and authenticity. Social proof helps you by showing your audience that real customers are enjoying your products, and are happy enough that they want to share how pleased they are. Building authenticity shows that you are not trying to swindle your customers, you are genuinely trying to create products that are effective and enjoyable.

User-generated content is a great way to connect with your audience. It helps give you insight into what they love and allows you to share your products in action. Get creative with what you share and how you share it, and your UCG will continue to grow!