The digital landscape is changing and so is the marketing strategies. More and more companies are entering into the industry so it is important to make a strategy that helps you in standing out from your competitors. 

The traditional marketing strategies are still relevant but to stand out you must accommodate new elements in your digital marketing strategy. This is where User Generated Content (UGC) comes into play. You can use these UGCs in your content and digital marketing strategy to increase engagement and conversion rates. 

It is an important asset for the company and can be used for increasing visibility, grabbing the audience’s attention, building trust and credibility, increasing lead generation, and building a loyal customer base. In this article, we’ll learn what is User Generated Content, its benefits, how to convert it into a marketing asset, and much more 

What is User Generated Content?

In simple terms, User Generated Content is the content that is created by your customers. Wherein they use or in a way promote your products and services. This content can be used to sell more of that product or service and to promote the brand in general. 

UGCs can be an image or a video posted on social media, a review posted on review publishing sites or through a form, a post on social media, a blog post, mentioning your brands, etc. These UGCs are very important for your business. According to a survey conducted by Stackla, 79% of people say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Also, 78% of millennials are more interested in UGCs than professional content. 

There are two types of UGCs, organic and paid UGC. The organic UGCs are reviews, photos, videos, testimonials, social media content, blog posts, brand mentions, etc. On the other hand, paid UGC is content that is created by social media influencers and UGC creators. They take money to promote your brand. You can find UGC creators by using platforms like Fiverr or Upwork etc. 

Benefits of User-Generated Content

User Generated Content can be a marketing asset for your brand if you use them wisely in your marketing strategy. Here are some of the benefits of UGCs

• Build trust and credibility: Trust and credibility is one of the important factors that customers consider while making a purchase. Whenever they read a review given by a genuine user of a brand they tend to trust them more. It is advised not to delete negative reviews,  it shows that your brand maintains a strategy of transparency. The content generated by the honest users of the brand builds credibility and trust in the potential customers. 
• Increase visibility: UGCs help in increasing your organic reach and visibility. Whenever a user posts something related to your brand, their friends and followers also become aware of your brand. It is better than a paid advertisement. Also if the UGC is innovative and creative chances of it becoming viral are even more. 
• Increase Engagement: Whenever you share the content generated by your users, potential users engage with it. Also, more and more users are motivated to create content for you if they feel that you value their content.
• Social Proof: Sharing the UGC on your social media or website motivates other users to generate more content. Which increases your social proof as well. Also, more potential customers are tempted to use your brand after reading the reviews or content generated by your users. 
• Build loyalty: Whenever you use content generated by users, they feel that their opinion is valued and matters to you. They feel special when their opinion is held important and promoted. They develop an emotional connection with the brand and promote it further. It also encourages other users to create UGCs. 
• Content Creation: UGC content should not be limited to social media only. You can use it in other content marketing and digital marketing strategies as well. You can use these UGCs in your cart abandonment emails to motivate users to complete the purchase. Calvin Klein created a landing page for UGC. Wherein you can see how their products look on their customers and tempt you to make a purchase. 
• Cost-effective: It is a cost-effective method, whereas hiring an influencer or UGC creators is very costly. UGC is cost-effective as users willingly create content for you without any monetary interest or expectations. Also, it is ideal for small and medium enterprises as they have many budgetary constraints. 

How to use these reviews or UGC in marketing assets

Here are some of the ways to use this User Generated Content as your marketing assets

• Select the best social media platform: Invest your time and resources on the platform where your potential users spend most of their time. Facebook, Instagram, X, etc are some of the famous social media platforms. But you must conduct research for your audience. Nine out of ten people said that they would buy a product from a brand that they follow on social media. Also, 95% of millennials follow brands on social media. 75% of people have bought a product because they saw it on a social media site. 
• Determine the goal of UGC: Plan what type of UGC you want and how you can collect it. For example, if your goal is to increase the SEO then try to collect more and more positive reviews from your audience. 
• Integrate social media posts into websites: Doing so can increase your engagement rate and eventually sales. Decathlon, a sportswear and sports goods brand, posted a product shot of their skiwear and snowboards that inflicted more engagement because this was a product in-action kind of picture. Wherein the person was doing a ski rather than just posing for it. Pictures convey thousands of meanings and emotions. It conveys your brand values and what it stands for. 
• Ask for permission: always take the consent of the user if you want to use their content or reshare it. People can use your branded hashtag without knowing that you have used it for a user-generated content campaign. This can hamper your relationship with your users and create a feeling of mistrust so it’s a good practice to ask for permission. 
• Be mindful of the content you share or seek: Share the UGC content that is relevant to your campaign or goal. Try to send emails or text messages to users informing them what kind of review you want from them. If you’re using UGC creators then it must be for you to inform them about the type of content you want.
• Credit the creator: While using a UGC on social media, physical location, product packaging, etc you must give credit to the original creator. Tag them on social media and give proper credit to them for what was their contribution to this post etc. Even if you’re sharing it on other social media platforms or websites, ask them for their ids, names, email addresses, etc. It motivates them and forms a positive opinion of your brand
• Use UGC that aligns with your brand: Use high quality and engaging user generated content that aligns with your brand values and message. 
• Use different types of UGC: Encourage your users to create different types of UGCs such as video message, image, testimonials, guides or how- to guide content, product review, use of hashtag etc. Try to use different types of UGCs in a campaign. 
• Analysis: It is important to analyze the effectiveness of your user generated content and campaign. You should analyze it to know which content creates more engagement, who are more contributors, how it influences user behavior or preferences, etc.

How to collect UGC from your users

Many times customers willingly create content for you however at times you need to encourage them to create content for you. Also you need a strategy for the proper management of the UGC across multiple channels. Here are some of the way to collect and manage user generated content:

• Create a system: Create a system or software for collecting and managing user generated content. T- mobile receives 100,000 letters by the end of their campaign however collecting these letters manually would be a tedious task. Hence the team used a branded app and integrated it with facebook. By doing so their process became more simple and less time consuming. 
• Turn negative reviews into positive: Whenever you receive a negative feedback don’t ignore it. Respond to it in a professional and nice manner. Try to solve their issues and provide a solution to them. Doing so can turn the negative reviews into positive. Once you have resolved their issues, try to get a fresh review from them.
• Provide something in return: Some UGCs such as positive reviews are mostly done by customers for free and willingly. However if you’re creating a campaign then you may require a specific type of UGC then in such a case you must inform the user about the nature of the content and what they might receive for it. For example, National Geographic offered a cash prize for the best video submitted. 
• Ask for reviews: You can use  email or mobile SMS to encourage  the user to leave feedback. You can also encourage them to give a rating for your products. 
• Hold contest: Hold contest wherein the winner will get a special prize from your brand. This will increase your brand’s reach and visibility also the customers will be more satisfied and excited about your brand. 
• Using hashtags and taglines: You can encourage your followers or clients to use a hashtag with pictures of them using your brand. You can also use a campaign slogan as well to make sure the campaign gets viral. 
• Analyze: It is important to check the genuineness of the content whether the reviewer is genuine or not. Is the content original or copied? You must check the quality of the content also the credentials of the users. 

Conclusion

We have learned why it is important for brands to use their UGC wisely and turn it into a marketing asset. This is the most cost effective way to increase your visibility, engagement and sales. GoPro is a video equipment company that uses UGC to sustain its youtube channel where the top three videos are filmed by their customers. As of march 2004 these three videos had over 400 million views combined. They also run their award show and promote daily photo challenges to encourage their customers. 

Similarly LaCroix, a sparkling water drinking company encouraged their customers to use a hashtag called #LiveLaCroix to encourage more UGC on social media. They share the content curated by anyone irrespective of their followers count. This makes their UGC relatable. 

As mentioned above Calvin Klein created a content landing page that gives a chance to their customers to get featured on it. You can check the MYCALVINS to check this out. 

Similarly if you want to create a similar strategy and turn your user generated content into a marketing asset? But is confused, then we at Lumia 360 are there to help you. We provide digital solutions related to web designing, digital marketing and review management system. We cater to small and medium enterprises as we understand their special nature and demands. It is our guarantee to increase your lead generation and search engine ranking in one month by using your user generated content. We will curate special marketing strategies for you that align with your marketing goal. To know more about our services email us at info@lumia360.com or call us at 514-668-5599.

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