The power of UGC is undeniable, but it’s not easy. It requires more than just a camera and some creativity to pull off the right mix that will resonate perfectly with your audience.
“UGC can be one powerful tool for driving brand awareness,” says Amy Whitelaw-Kulesza, founder of Sour Grapes Marketing in Boston. “However, many people don’t know where they should start or how to create authentic content.”
The benefits of using UGC
In today’s society, it is evident that people are more willing to trust other real customers over the voices of large corporations.
User-generated content (UGC) allows companies to leverage this fact to share their offerings with others on a much smaller scale and in turn build up customer loyalty through peer-to-peer recommendation.
It also has the added benefit from a production standpoint of being less expensive than using more traditional “brand” advertisements as users can churn out content from their iPhone. This presents significant advantages when it comes to the world of direct response PPC marketing which has an insatiable appetite for new content regularly, especially as you scale.
Things to look out for when using UGC
UGC can be a great way to help build trust and love for your brand, but it’s also important that you’re using the right content.
If you don’t have a clear brief, or if there are no guidelines on how people should create their content, then you could end up with something very different from what you were expecting. This will lead to confusion among customers who might not know if they’re viewing genuine customer feedback or just another marketing campaign.
Make sure everyone is aware of the guidelines around creating UGC before asking them to do it.
This can be as simple as specifying:
- Perspective: Make sure to look up at the camera slightly above eye level so you’re not hunched over
- Lighting: Please shoot in a well-lit area (ring light preferred)
- Audio: Audio is the final piece to a great video, please ensure no background noise and you use a high-quality microphone
You’ll find this helps make sure the quality of the output is high and makes things easier for both parties involved in getting those images created. It also gives your customers confidence that when they see an image online that says “created by” someone else, it actually was made by them!
How to use UGC for your business or brand
Using user-generated content in your paid marketing campaigns is a great way to build trust, increase engagement and help customers love your brand.
But how do you know what kind of UGC to use? How can you be sure it will work for your business or product? And most importantly, how can you measure the results?
Trust is the most important factor in any business, and social media can help you build that with your customers. Showing other people just like them enjoying your products will make it much easier for potential buyers to trust what they’re seeing.
When it comes to your PPC strategy, we’ve found UGC like testimonials, unboxings and reviews are best deployed to warm audiences. People who are on the fence or may not have seen enough about your store, solution or product to want to buy right now. This is where UGC can be really powerful as it helps bring the uncertainty down and minimising buyers remorse.
Examples of companies that have successfully implemented user generated content into their marketing strategy
User-generated content is a new marketing staple for companies like Apple, Google and Nike who are just a few of the mega-corporations that have successfully implemented this channel.
However, many smaller startups, as well as rapidly scaling eCommerce stores all over the world, understand how powerful it can be to tap into their customer niche and find relevant creators, customers or influencers in that space who will help tell your story better than you ever could on your own!
Tips on how you can implement user generated content into your own marketing strategy
If you want your business to grow, it’s essential that you get as much user generated content about your products or services as you can. User-generated content can be a great way of getting people talking about what they think of your company.
In the eCommerce space, you can generate user generated content to use in your online marketing strategy in a number of ways.
- By encouraging customers to submit their own images and videos. add incentives or offers into your purchase email flow or purchase retargeting to send customers to special landing pages that incentivize review, photo or video submissions with prizes, discounts, or cashback.
- Influencers/Paid Creators – these tend to be the easiest way for startups and large scale businesses alike to generate “real” content for their brands
- Filming it in-house with your team or friends and capturing their real reactions
So there you have it, we didn’t really need to make a case of why you should be using UGC in your marketing campaigns, but this was our opportunity to share 5 reasons why we love working with UGC.
Ready to get Facebook Ads working for you by harnessing the power of user-generated content?
Talk to one of our experts today by book a call from: https://dashactivate.online
