How to Use User-Generated Content as an Influencer

Published in

Octoly Magazine

3 min readApr 29, 2019

User Generated Content (UGC) is an immensely popular way of showcasing content on social media. Many brands, in particular, have taken to showcasing consumers wearing or using their products as a means to foster engagement and boost their visibility. This technique has paid off. Their followers enjoy seeing real people use their products, and consumers are eager to be featured so they are more likely to showcase the product online and talk about the brand in their captions and tags. This greatly increases the visibility of the brand and helps to boost follower numbers.

As an influencer, how can you take the same approach on your pages? Unlike a brand, you don’t have a tangible product people can showcase — your brand is you. The key to properly using user-generated content as an influencer is to take a more unique approach. Here are a few tips.

Do shout outs

If there are influencers you admire, you can highlight them on our social pages. This is a popular practice on Instagram and it offers the same benefits as user-generated content provides. Many influencers pick a day and shout out fellow influencers in the same niche on their pages or on their Instagram Stories. In return, these influencers often get shout outs themselves. This helps to boost your visibility on the crowded platform.

Do a contest and feature the winners

Host your own product challenge. For example, you could challenge your followers to post a photo of themselves wearing their favorite red lipstick. You could then post the submissions on your social pages. This technique will foster good-will among your followers and encourage them to continue to engage with your page.

Collaborate and share

A collaboration is a great way to ‘hack’ the user-generated vibe as an influencer. You could do a photoshoot with a fellow influencer to showcase a few different ways to wear the same look. If both of you share the content on your social channels then you get all the exposure perks that UGC can provide.

Try to get featured on brand pages

Even if you decide the UGC is not right for your brand, that doesn’t mean you can’t reap the benefits of UGC. As an influencer, getting featured on a brand page can really increase your visibility. So don’t forget to take the time to tag the brands you are wearing in every photo. This increases the likelihood of the brand seeing your work and reposting it.

Do you use or benefit from UGC? Talk about your experience in the comments below!

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