What is User-Generated Content? | A Content Marketing Essential
While customers are generally who you market to, they can also be your marketing partners through their user-generated content!
When you’re shopping online be it for your weekly groceries, an outfit for a night out, the latest album of your favorite band, or cute desk decorations for your home office, you’ve most likely read through dozens of product reviews before checking out.
Why is that?
It’s probably because you find real people who actually used the product or service you’re looking at more honest and trustworthy when identifying product quality. You know that unlike actual ads and product descriptions from brands, these people are not looking to profit from you and are only there to share their thoughts and possibly help.
Product reviews are an example of user-generated content.
What is user-generated content (UGC)?
User-generated content (UGC) refers to brand-related media created by persons who actually use the brand. It features authentic feedback from the brand’s customers, unlike ads and product copies which are made by business marketers. Products reviews, blog features, video features (vlogs), brand features on photos posted online, and even tweets with brand or campaign hashtags are user-generated content examples.
Like you, more consumers trust content from users compared to content from hired marketers. UGC is like the unbiased opinion of a friend. It’s not surprising then that 79% of respondents in a 2020 survey by Stackla said that user-generated content highly impacts their decision on whether or not to purchase a product or service.
So if you’re an online business owner, it’s easy to understand why including user-generated content in your content marketing strategy will be one of your best decisions yet, based on your own experience as a customer.
But if you’re still a bit hesitant about whether or not user-generated content is worth your time and effort, let us convince you.
Perks of user-generated content for your online business
User-generated content is an organic form of content that triumphs over many other types of marketing material by its sheer authenticity.
Below, we’ve listed the perks of garnering and featuring user-generated content as part of your online business’s marketing efforts.
1. It provides your potential customers with social proof
It is no secret that people are influenced by other people. We are social creatures after all. And when your potential customers see others raving about your product or service whether through ratings and reviews, vlogged reactions on TikTok, or even trending hashtags on Twitter, it influences them to check out your brand and its offerings. They could even buy your product just to know why everyone is talking about it.
Social proof is the reason behind products featured on social media becoming trends. Just look at the dozens of “TikTok Made Me Buy It” content online to see how effective UGC is at encouraging purchases. If we’re looking at numbers, a TurnTo Networks study reveals that UGC influences 90% of shoppers’ decision to purchase.
2. It gives you free advertisements on a wide array of platforms
For the most part, UGCs are done for free by customers who wish to share their opinion on the products and services they availed of or as a response to a brand activity (e.g., marketing campaign, contests, events). These opinions are expressed through their preferred channels, whether it be your store website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, or other social media channels you can think of. These become advertisements that extend your brand reach on multiple platforms, influencing creators’ very own family, friends, and followers.
Just look at beauty influencers like Jeffrey Star, Tati, and Michelle Phan. Before becoming influencers, they were first regular people who turned to reviewing beauty products online. Through their informative reviews, people began following them and buying their product recommendations, turning them into the online superstars they are now.
3. It improves reach and expands your userbase
Each UGC creator has their own network that your brand wouldn’t have been been able to reach otherwise. This opens up your market, improving your reach, with the possibility of expanding your userbase. Not only that, should a UGC trend online, then people will be talking about you without you having to lift a hand or pay for a single cent.
One unsolicited good word goes a long way when it comes to building a brand reputation.
4. It improves brand community engagement and fosters customer loyalty
Your existing customers are your living advertisements. When they get to talking, it will create activity within your brand community. A single review, comment, or question will have other users sharing their thoughts, opinions, comments, and experiences about your product or service.
And as your brand brings these people together, it is not unlikely for friendships to be formed and for your community to flourish. People can become attached to your brand by virtue of the good experiences they had with you and your brand community, giving you loyal and supportive customers.
UGCs are so effective that 60% of marketers agree that their audience engages more with UGC than content created by brands (TINT State of User-Generated Content Report, 2022).
5. It provides users contextualized information about your products and services
Product information on websites and product pages tends to be generic as they target ideal buyer personas to help with marketing. However, not all potential customers come from that ideal group, which make this information limiting.
Personal reviews from actual customers who used your products and services for various purposes and contexts give your potential customers helpful insights that help them decide whether your brand is the right one for their specific situation. It is also not unheard of for other customers to answer other customers’ queries in lieu of the brand, and they are often considered a more reliable source of information.
6. It is a cost-effective way of producing great content for your content marketing campaigns
As mentioned before, UGC is mostly created for free. However, to feature this kind of content, especially a trending one, as part of a marketing campaign online or offline, you have to ask for the creator’s permission to repost or repurpose. Many will provide it for a simple credit on your marketing material. However, should they choose to ask for royalty, that’s still a cheaper price to pay than a commissioned ad the success of which is not yet assured. After all, with UGC, success is almost a guarantee with Jukin Media reporting that ads that feature UGC get 73% more positive comments on SNS (2018).
How to get user-generated content from your customers
Yes, UGCs are kind of like gifts from your customers. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t nudge them a little bit to give you that sweet, sweet UGC that will skyrocket your marketing campaign.
Below, we’ve listed some tips on how you can get your customers to create user-generated content (without turning them off).
1. Add call-to-action (CTA) prompts on your web pages and content
This is a simple and effective way of asking for feedback. You can use these not only to improve your products and services but also as part of your marketing efforts.
A simple “Rate your experience” prompt presented with star ratings after their availing of a product or service will have your customers doing just that — something they might not even think of doing without the CTA.
Meanwhile, if you’re a fashion brand, just asking your customers to post their OOTDs using your products together with a brand hashtag will immediately inspire people to post their brand-related photos online. Knowing that others are also called to do the same, they will feel less shy and more part of the community. This is also a chance for aspiring influencers to be noticed. Forever21 uses this tactic on their Twitter channel by asking their followers to tag them on brand-related posts and to use the hashtag #F21xMe for a chance to be featured.
2. Offer benefits in exchange for UGC
Not all customers are willing to put in the effort of creating content without any compensation. This doesn’t mean that you’ll have to give them a salary like a business marketer. However, you can offer incentives like gifts, coupons, points, and promo codes in exchange for UGC.
For example, Shopee and Lazada, two of the largest online marketplaces in Southeast Asia, offer buyers coins in exchange for product reviews and ratings. These coins are redeemable within their respective apps, making it an even more rewarding marketing strategy as it encourages buyers to buy again on their platforms.
Other companies choose to be more generous and give product samples to loyal customers in exchange for a public review. Note that this tactic is different from influencer marketing which targets people who already have a large influence and may even be considered celebrities.
And as in the previous tip, you don’t necessarily have to cash out. Offering a feature in exchange for UGC will have aspiring influencers create brand-related content while bringing their A game to boot.
3. Nurture your brand community into one that naturally shares their opinions, comments, and content about your brand
To do this, engage with your existing and potential customers. Find out what they think of your brand by posting questions, using surveys, and conducting interviews. Consider their responses and concerns when it comes to your product designs. Make them feel acknowledged and heard, encouraging them to be more forthcoming with their ratings, reviews, and other UGC.
More customer engagement will then organically lead to more UGC as people within the community will naturally interact with each other when other members are active.
As an added bonus, you can feature customer stories on your web pages that people can refer to for more in-depth reviews and testimonials.
You can also engage your users with fun campaigns that will have them creating content for your brand for the sheer joy of it. Doritos did this to great effect with the Doritos Legions of the Bold campaign. The campaign asked users to create their own creative Doritos-based content in line with the many challenges the brand provided. This genius and successful content marketing strategy resulted not only in UGC but also added traffic to the website.
This strategy is especially effective on social media which often have millions of active users. This means there will be more people to respond to your engagement efforts. Moreover, given how some social media algorithms show the interests and interactions of one’s social network, nurturing your brand community on social media greatly increases your brand reach.
So start competitions on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, maybe even Twitter! For this UGC strategy, you can ask customers to create brand-related content, post them on social media, and have the UGC with the most number of likes and shares be the winner.
4. Take advantage of trends, special days, and current events to maximize the wave of interest from existing and potential customers
There’s nothing like trends, holidays, and current events when it comes to getting people to talk and share. So make sure to highlight these in your marketing campaigns. Create memes and share thought-provoking pieces on trends. Have something witty to say during holidays or share a touching tribute to commemorate more somber occasions. Share your stand on relevant issues and current events through ads. Doing so will have people responding to your marketing content with their own UGCs.
For example, Dove’s ‘Courage is Beautiful’ ad campaign showed the faces of healthcare workers marked deeply by facemasks. In doing so, the brand acknowledged the efforts of doctors, nurses, and other health workers working hard against the COVID-19 pandemic. By being up to date with current events while also showing where their values lie, Dove managed to touch a chord within a lot of people, leading to a successful marketing campaign. People around the world responded with their own photos of frontliners posted online together with the hashtag #courageisbeautiful to likewise share support and share their own stories.
Leverage your UGC into effective marketing
Results from a study conducted by TurnTo Networks in 2017 showed that 90% of shoppers are affected by UGC and that 81% are willing to cash out more and wait for longer if a product is vouched for through UGC. That makes UGC more effective as a marketing tool compared to email marketing and search engine optimization. (But don’t get us wrong, these two are still important marketing tools!)
In the end, people are still social creatures who are swayed more by genuine social proof and actual experiences.
So leverage this effective marketing tool by featuring user-generated content in your website, ads, pubmats, and other marketing materials. Go ahead and share UGC on your social media channels, include them in your web design through images, feature sections, and product copies, maybe even dedicate a webpage for your customers’ brand stories (just like us!). Just make sure that you’ve garnered the permission of the user-creator before featuring their content to avoid any legal issues.
A note of caution
User-generated content cannot be moderated as strictly as content produced by your own team of marketers. By nature, UGCs are authentic, unscripted, and unpredictable. They are as varied as your customers are. And as in any aspect of business — and life in general — you cannot please everyone. As such, prepare yourself for negative UGC to insert itself amidst positive ones.
Be graceful and professional. Come up with a response that explains your side or expresses a sincere apology and offers reparations (e.g., refunds, replacements, incentives) if necessary. Being responsible and following through with your promises of improved products and services is also a must and is the best action you can take to save your brand from the effect of negative publicity.
Accept constructive criticism and take it into serious consideration. Lashing out is a big no-no and can lead to customers choosing sides. And as you know, people love the underdog and you’ll be a company going against individuals. Moreover, being transparent with negative reviews and not hiding them gives your brand and its reviews a better sense of authenticity.
Finally, you can also opt for better management systems to avoid order mishaps that lead to bad customer service and negative UGC. Automated order management systems are now readily available online.
Better content strategy with UGC and Cafe24
Your content tells your customers who you are as a brand. It tells them your priorities based on the photos you feature, the text you highlight, and the stories you tell.
Each piece of content shares a different aspect of your brand identity and image. And user-generated content is the testimony of who you are based on the people that have interacted with your brand and availed of your products and services. Your content marketing efforts can only go so far with only your brand speaking for itself.
Your customers are not just people who buy your products and services. They are also your partners in sharing your brand with the world.
Just like Cafe24.
Cafe24 has multiple marketing solutions that will help you come up with a content strategy that will successfully build your brand.
UGC in the form of ratings and reviews are so easy to generate once you add Cafe24’s Review Talk Talk app to your online store. Meanwhile, the Social Share Buttons app can be integrated into your product pages to encourage your customers to share your content and their take on it on their own social media channels. You can also feature your customers’ brand-related content on Instagram and display your IG feed on your online store for UGC advertisement with the Instagram Widget app. And if you want to encourage customer discussion, we also have the Message Board app.
That’s better content strategy in a snap, and that’s just a small peek of what we offer!
Explore our solutions and discover how easy it is to start and grow an online business with Cafe24 as your partner.
