How to Launch a UGC Video App like TikTok

Published in

mobiotics

8 min readDec 24, 2021

What makes TikTok so popular? The answer is viral User-Generated-Content (UGC). Its primary mission is to unleash user creativity directly from their mobile phones. It is content created by unpaid contributors. Enhancing brand engagement and consumer trust is easy with UGC. In a UGC platform User is the product.

The global user-generated content platform market size was valued at USD 2.97 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.6% from 2021 to 2028. As per the study, it is found that social campaigns that incorporate UGC see a 50% lift in engagement and generate five times greater click-through rates and drive a 73% increase in email CTR.

The ROI for user-generated content marketing is high since it’s all about trustworthy brand ambassadors who share their experiences online. UGC helps in almost zero cost for content development and effectively uses influencers to spread content to a broader audience.

UGC also refers to promotional content that is created by the users of a brand. It can be anything from comments, reviews, ads, promotional videos to social media posts. UGC acts as social proof to promote the brand’s message, helps to expand your social followers, strengthens relationships with clients, instills trust in the target audience, builds SEO value and boosts sales. Effective ways to use UGC to ensure success in your marketing efforts are Reviews, Hashtag Contests, Festivals, Reality Shows etc.

Live endorsements or live product marketing helps in marketing products and services. Users can click and buy the product/service from the live marketing stream. UGC software can help build community and draw revenue from engaging and selling directly to target groups.

Publish User Generated Content (UGC) on your own

User-Generated Content — An Overview

User-Generated Content (also known as UGC or consumer-generated content) refers to content created by an end-user. Short portrait video format has become defacto UGC format due to mobile device popularity.

User-Generated Content is Authentic. Authenticity is so important in today’s online world. Customers are no longer passive consumers led by TV commercials and billboards. Instead, they’re active choosers of their own fate and want a say in what they watch and what they buy.

UGC is truly omnichannel and brands can use UGC to increase brand awareness and sales because it’s one of the few marketing avenues that work well at each stage of the customer journey.

Is launching a UGC platform right for you?

There are various things to consider before launching a UGC platform. We’ve picked out significant points that you need to consider ahead.

Do you want to promote/market your brand through UGC platform
Are you an aggregator/startup and want to aggregate User Generated Content through UGC platform
Are you a marketer or promoter looking to promote your client brands and products through UGC campaigns that give the best campaign results cost-effectively.
Do you want to build campaigns for movie auditions, online festivals, reality shows etc.
Do you want to run live product promotions by brands and influencers and let users buy the product or service?
Do you want your audience to create community and monetise the same — UGC brings audiences together and creates one big happy family.

It is also likely that you’ve got questions like.

Is a User Generated Content platform worth the investment. How can I monetize?
What shall be the monetization model — Campaigns, Advertising, Lead generation, Ad based, Merchandizing through live events or videos, or a combination of these.
Do you have the capability for steady marketing to audiences, bring in celebrities and infuencers, solicit ads and capablity for aggregation, production, and marketing of UGC and Ad content?

Evaluating UGC Platform Options

Does the platform allow you to easily upload videos with filters, do basic video editing, timed videos, reaction videos and audio sync. Does the platform support live events?
Does the platform support state of the art AI-driven real-time video feed recommendation algorithm to drive stickiness and personalized delivery with lag-free playback.
Does the platform effortlessly allows you to create campaigns, live events, ads, auditions, reality shows and live promotions and connect content to online e-commerce.
Does the platform support filtering/moderating age-appropriate content, profanity etc? Is it compliant with global content regulations?
Does the platform provide its users with social media functionality, including login/signup, sharing, following etc.
Does the platform support merchandise (vCommerce) vending options. Can the interface allow you to purchase seamlessly with a few clicks from live events or ads.
Does the platform provide low friction onboarding, payment, and viewing experience? Users must be able to signup/log in using email/mobile/social media through easy, secure steps. Paid services should be easy to purchase. INAPP/PG/Wallet payment options must be provided.
Does the platform support various monetisation options like PAID campaigns, PAID live events, Short Ads etc.
Does the platform support push notifications and live chat/comments facility
Can we manage brands/marketers easily? Is there a portal where affiliates/partners can view their content statistics and reports
Does the platform provide iOS and Android client apps with easy to use state of the art UI/UX.

How to plan your UGC platform Launch

An effective way to launch a UGC platform is through a well thought out UGC launch plan.

Plan strategies to engage and amplify reach. Add influencers and celebrities to make content for your platform. Run incentivised campaigns. Make people want to get involved.
Paid Campaigns, Live Event promotions etc can enhance appeal of the platform to end users
Adapt marketing tactics to find, nurture, and build your subscribers — actively engage with audience and also help them find endorsements that in turn increases stickiness
To reach a bigger audience, when promoting the UGC platform, it is crucial to be present on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote, Email Marketing to engage with an email list and work with influencers, famous bloggers/actors, celebrities, etc.
Run specific marketing campaigns to involve and incentivise celebrities, influencers and talented end users in your platform
Does the platform gives detailed metrics and reports including campaign results, views per each post, trending posts, purchases, and payment details etc.
Pre-launch awareness marketing strategies — The Awareness phase is your chance to build up excitement and share information about your UGC platform. The strategies are by setting a release date, Understanding your audience/users, Content strategy, Outreach strategy, Social media strategy, App store optimization research, Consider paid advertisements.

Launching Your UGC platform

While launching your UGC platform, there are some basic things you really need to keep in mind.

Research your target audience and customise messaging
Developing MVP (minimum viable product) before launching full feldged app is useful in gauging the market.
Setup: configuration of the platform like branding, logos, and colors, along with how you’ll monetize it.
Test: QA (Quality Assistance) the platform. This is the step where you review your app for functionality and CX (Customer Experience)
Submission: App submissions require careful planning and details to be provided.

How to Scale & Grow your UGC platform

Effective strategies to improve the UGC platform include.

Prouduct is able to scale and work without glitches.
Understand the demographics of creators and consumers. Identify influencers and encourage/incentivise them.
Measure Brand engagement and user engagement rate . Measure live events & promotions which is offered with discounts, offers, merchandising etc to understand effectiveness and make appropriate changes.
Key metrics to track are Clicks, Views, Time on page, Time on site, Bounce rate, Engagement rate, Click through rate etc.
Track KPIs like Cost of acquisition, Conversion Rate etc.
Encourage first-time users to Opt-in for push notifications
Incentivize users through campaigns and live event promotions
Accept feedback and criticism graciously and use them to strengthen your UGC platform
Create beautiful live experiences, physical spaces, and unboxing events that people are more likely to share
Analyze technical problems faced in the platform, have a dedicated support team to manage customer complaints.

Using Analytics to enhance user experience and improve monetization

Monitoring your analytics is essential for retention, but also for driving future users. Keep in mind that key metrics should be tracked in both the Pre-launch and Post-launch stages, so make sure to keep an eye on this throughout the entire process.

Paying close attention to the following points helps to analyze the performance.

Audience Characteristics — It helps to get a better understanding of what types of content their users want to engage with and what formats they prefer
User Behavior — Looking at user behavior metrics, helps to understand what triggers increase the chances of a reader sharing content, or on the opposite end of the spectrum, quickly clicking away from the platform
Audience Segments — Segmenting online audiences is one of the ways that users can figure out how best to target readers based on interests and behaviors. Audiences can be segmented based on factors like visitor loyalty, device, referral channel, geography, demographics, and interest categories
Users count: Measure the number of users in a given time frame to track the success of your marketing efforts.
Churn rate: This refers to the number of users that drop out from your services.
Average usage time: The average length of time your users spend viewing a specific post on a UGC platform.
Devices: This shows you on which connected devices your content is viewed the most.
Countries: Knowing where your users tune in from is helpful for keeping track of their preferences and creating more targeted strategies.
Analyze the monthly active users (MAU), customer acquisition cost (CAC), average revenue per user (ARPU), customer lifetime value (CLV), conversion rate (CR), abandon rate, engagement, inactive users, etc.
Analyze marketing activities, Check on the return on investment (ROI)for each activity based on insights and analytics from the activities. Do research to understand what better marketing campaign can be done to reach more right audience and get more subscribers and generate revenue.
Understand the viewer experience in terms of UI/UX design, visibility, etc. If any improvements need to be done on UI/UX, consider implementing the same in the platform.

Developing a state-of-the-art UGC platform with a good user experience takes a great deal of expertise. At mobiotics, our team is well-versed with techniques to provide you the best customized UGC platform.

Introducing our User Generated Platform Called — Submarine.

Fast to set up Short Video Platform for UGC Content, Campaigns and Live Promotions.

Here is the simple flow of Submarine platform.

Here are the features of our Submarine product.

Branded Apps on iOS and Android with easy to use state of the art UI/UX
Support for User Generated Content (UGC), Audition/Reality Show/Brand Campaigns, Live Promotions and Short Video Ads.
Integrated short Video Recording and Uploading with support for timer, filters, editing, reaction videos (side by side) and background audio track selection. Also supports live event broadcasting.
Social sharing, signup/login support. PUSH/Email Notification support including new content promotion.
State of the art AI-driven real-time video feed recommendation algorithm to drive stickiness and personalised delivery. Fast download and playback with advanced compression codec.
Paid Campaigns, Paid Live Promotions, Short Video Ads and Affiliate sales monetisation models. Pre-integrated with domestic and international Payment Gateways.
Detailed Metrics and Reports including subscribers, subscriptions, orders and payment details. Partner and Affiliate Management option.
Scalable SAAS built on AWS. 24x7 Maintenance and Monitoring.

Coming to an end.

mobiotics Submarine package is customized to work across all platforms and devices without snags. User authentication is also taken care of and provides a high-security UGC mechanism with virality built in.

Looking to launch your own UGC platform for your organization? mobiotics can get you all of that.

Click here to book a 15 Min demo with us to know how Submarine works.

For more information about our product and services please feel free to get in touch with us

Call us at +91 9620209869, or write an email to the sales@mobiotics.com