User Generated Content: What It Is and How to Use It

UGC (User Generated Content), or user-generated content , is materials about a brand that are created by its users and posted publicly. UGC includes reviews, videos, photos, testimonials.

What kind of user-generated content is this? Are these reviews and comments on social networks?

Reviews are the most common UGC format. Users and buyers can leave them anywhere: on the brand’s website and on social networks, on forums and special review sites.

User-generated content also includes video reviews of products posted on YouTube, as well as other videos or photographs of brand products.

Regular comments under company posts on social networks are also UGC, because this is how users express their opinions about a product or brand.

Who creates UGC? Could it be any people?

Yes, user-generated content is created by the most ordinary people - Baba Shuja from the next door, security guard Raza, saleswoman Mian from the store near the house. For example, they use a product and want to share their experience and opinion with others. It happens that they talk about the experience of a friend or close relative. This can also be considered UGC - content created by an ordinary user and related to the product of a specific brand.

How does UGC work, and why is it good for brands?

It’s enough to remember how we choose some expensive product on the Internet: the latest model of a smartphone or a sofa for the living room. First, we read reviews or study reviews of a specific product, and then we look at the rating and reputation of the seller. And only if everything is good, we buy.

This is how user-generated content works: people trust users like themselves more than the brands themselves. According to a study by TurnTo and Ipsos, 90% of buyers admit that other people's reviews (or ratings, posts, comments, photos, videos) influence their purchases. And half of the respondents consider UGC more influential than search engines, promotional mailings, and media advertising . It turns out that if a person sees a lot of good user-generated content - and on different platforms, and not just on the company’s website - he is more likely to buy the product.

Where do positive reviews even come from? The negative ones are understandable...

Indeed, people often write negative reviews to speak out or warn others about a low-quality product, and if they are satisfied, they may remain silent. Therefore, companies do their best to encourage loyal customers to share their opinions so that there are as many positive reviews as possible.

For example, they could offer a 10% discount for writing a review and hold regular giveaways among active users. Another thing to do is arrange a challenge , launch a question/answer section, or simply open comments on social networks so that people can write freely there.

Yes, it’s not easy to get UGC... Why don’t brands come up with it themselves?

Firstly, “inventing it yourself” costs money - a satisfied buyer writes, takes photographs, shoots videos for free, but you will have to pay for composing and posting fictitious content on various platforms. Secondly, observant users can detect a fake, and then the result will be the opposite.

According to research from Sprout Social, in most cases, it is the dishonesty of brands that causes bad reviews. Therefore, an attempt to dilute the negativity with customized comments, rather than solving real problems, can cause even more negativity.

Who is producing this content? Do brands have UGC specialists?

There are no separate specialists, because UGC is only a small part of marketing and brand communications with consumers. Working with user content may be the responsibility of different experts: community managers , internet marketers , ORM and SMM specialists .

Why is user-generated content important for marketing?

Benefits of user-generated content

There are many benefits to user-generated content that encourage companies to exploit it, the most prominent of which are the following:

1. Consumers trust it

   Consumers trust recommendations and opinions from other customers more than brand content.

   Research shows that

   • 60% of customers find new products on Instagram
   • 66% bought a new brand after seeing a social media post from another consumer
   • 79% of online shoppers say user-generated content greatly influences their purchasing decisions (compared to branded content (12%) and influencer content (9%))
   • 80% are more likely to buy if the new brand shows content made by real customers on the web

   Therefore, UGC is much more effective than advertisements.

2. Unique and original content

   Some marketers put a lot of effort and money into preparing the perfect advertising content, in order to show the extraordinary features of the service or product in the belief that this is something that the consumer wants to see, which may motivate him to make a purchase decision. But then it turns out that this is not true, because consumers are looking for something real and are not after perfection and perfection, but authenticity and authenticity.

   Statistics show that 90% of consumers find authenticity important to them when choosing a brand, while 60% find user-generated content to be the most authentic form of content.

   These statistics confirm that the consumer trusts more in the recommendations of customers who have purchased and tried the product or service, because they find their review to be neutral and aimed at benefit, unlike brand advertisements, most of which find that their goal is only to sell.

3. Increase brand loyalty

   User-generated content helps increase brand loyalty , because it makes the consumer feel part of the brand community and not just a sales figure. This feeling is achieved when the consumer shares the experience of using a product or service that he has purchased, as well as when the brand interacts with the content owners, responds to them, and studies their proposals to develop the product or service provided.

   All of this helps to develop and deepen the relationship between the audience and the brand, and creates an interactive community between the company and its customers on the one hand, and between customers and each other on the other hand. In addition, it continuously establishes the brand image in their minds. This results in increased brand loyalty, and your customers become more loyal to your company than other competing companies.

4. Take advantage of social proof

   The phenomenon behind the effectiveness of UGC is social proof .

   It causes people to imitate the behavior of others in new situations. In practice, that means that when we see other people using a product and enjoying it, we want to try it ourselves.

   After all, humans love to be part of the pack.

5. Cost effective

   Traditional marketing activities cost huge amounts of money to pay staff salaries, launch paid advertising campaigns and other expenses. In contrast, user-generated content saves those costs, because the customer who purchased the product or service is responsible for enthusiastically producing the content and sharing it with others online. However, it may cost some small expenses to motivate customers to share this type of content regularly.

   For example, you can offer them discount coupons or free wallet credit, or even send them the product or service for free for them to review and share with the public. All of this ultimately leads to increasing ROI by reducing marketing expenses, which is important and essential for every company and entrepreneur.

6. Influencing purchasing decisions and improving the conversion rate

   If you've ever bought a pair of shoes after seeing someone else wearing them, or ordered a meal at a restaurant after impressing someone at a table next to you, then you're influenced by social proof. The concept of social proof asserts that people tend to imitate the actions of others, and therefore companies and brands can exploit this behavior to influence consumer purchasing behavior.

   Previous statistics indicate that 79% of consumers make their purchasing decisions strongly influenced by user-generated content, as it is one of the credible social proofs. Many companies have taken advantage of this to improve their conversion rates and sales, such as Busabout, which is a favorite travel company for millennials, as it provides its users with tours and tourist adventures in multiple destinations throughout Europe.

   The company replaced all visual images on its website with user-generated content, to raise awareness of the tourism services the brand offers in Europe. The result was amazing, as content production costs decreased by about 65%, while the booking rate increased by 33%.

7. It's affordable

   A UGC campaign is generally very cheap to organize.

   It requires some work from the marketing team, and maybe a little incentive for participants, but nothing compared to paid advertising.

8. Capture the voice of the customer

   UGC is not only important as marketing content, but it also gives you insight into what your customers think about your brand .

   In addition to constructive feedback, positive endorsements can reveal what kind of values consumers associate with your brand and how they describe it.

Pro tip : Even if you don't ask customers to provide content, you should still consider their feedback. Track your social media mentions and capture the true voice of the customer without censoring.

UGC Types

User-generated content is created by ordinary customers who decide to share their opinion about a product. They can do this at their own request or at the request of the company.

UGC is also generated by brand supporters - evangelists, ambassadors and simply loyal consumers.

Another category of UGC creators are company employees who show the “behind the scenes” of the business, talk about the product and corporate values.

It is difficult to unambiguously classify user-generated content, since this includes any materials about the brand. But there are several main types of UGC.

Images

These are photographs of a brand’s product or the results of its use that are made publicly available.

Video

User videos demonstrate product packaging, application process, or vivid emotions from use. Creators of interesting videos often get hired and start collaborating with brands.

For example, tech blogger Wylsacom published honest video reviews of gadgets and equipment, and also repeatedly criticized Sberbank products on social networks.

And in 2018, Wylsacom became the ambassador of the bank’s digital products. He now regularly posts videos about the brand on his YouTube channel and claims to only convey genuine, positive opinions.

Product Reviews

A review is a detailed, detailed impression of a product. The consumer talks about the advantages and disadvantages, explains how the product helped solve his problem, what he liked and didn’t like. Reviews are one of the best types of UGC because real stories matter to the audience and influence their purchasing decisions.

Reviews

Reviews are posted on the online store page, on a personal blog or on special resources - review sites. It is reviews that buyers most often look for and analyze at the stage of getting to know the product.

Live broadcasts

This can include “stories”, live videos, streams of users in which they show a branded product, mention it or use it in the frame.

How to get UGC from users

The most obvious way to find user-generated content is to regularly monitor the online space. This can be done manually or automatically. For example, set up the Google Alerts service to search for mentions of a brand on the Internet or connect a service for tracking comments on social networks.

In any case, this will take a lot of time, since the collected materials must be analyzed, sorted and selected.

A better option is to encourage customers to create the user-generated content they want. This can be done in different ways.

Motivate buyers to create UGC

Ask customers to talk about the product, respond to comments on social networks, thank them for their reviews. Or send the customer an email after purchase asking for their opinion about the product.

All these customer comments and responses can be used as user-generated content.

Material motivation works great. In exchange for content, offer customers a gift: a discount on their next purchase, bonus points, or a souvenir.

The Kitfort company explains its low prices by the lack of advertising costs. Brand promotion occurs through customer reviews and publications. The company sends small household appliances to customers as a gift for reviewing and regularly holds competitions for UGC creators.

Create conditions for generating user content

Brands are purposefully creating content that people want to share. For example, they publish an interesting story about a product and post it on social networks. If the post turns out to be interesting, people are likely to pick up the trend, react and share their opinions.

A great example of the viral spread of user-generated content is duets and challenges on TikTok.

It is important to “train” the audience to leave comments or share their opinions and provide a comfortable space for them.

Competent moderation will help here, when comments on posts are answered promptly and taking into account the tone of voice of the project, as well as additional mechanics aimed at generating comments: thread posts with open questions to hook subscribers, or sections with answers to real questions from the audience.

It is difficult for a user to start a dialogue with a brand, so it is important to stimulate him: find out his opinion and thank him for his interest.

Another way is to organize beautiful physical spaces offline. Create a branded photo zone in a shopping center or at an exhibition, come up with an unusual banner for billboard advertising. People will take pictures and share them on social networks.

To do this, you can use modern technologies, for example AR, 3D, LED screens , which will definitely attract attention.

You can also create your own GIFs, masks, or story templates. Such online activities provide hundreds of pieces of unique branded content. For example, Yandex.Eda launched a UGC generator: you had to paint a photo with a courier and post it in stories in exchange for a promotional code.

Propose a ready-made idea for user-generated content and publish the best work on the site. Canon publishes user photos on its website. To do this, you need to take a beautiful photo and post it on social networks with a hashtag.

Organize UGC competitions

Run special competitions to get user-generated content. If you need photos, ask to take photos; if you need videos, motivate them to record video reviews. The resulting materials can be used to promote the brand.

How to work with UGC

It is important to be able to work with users and content. Otherwise, you risk wasting a lot of time and effort or damaging your brand reputation.

Determine the type of content you need . You need to clearly understand how your brand can use this or that type of content, how it fits into the overall strategy, and how it can be useful. Precisely determining the required format will save time on searching and eliminate the collection of inappropriate materials.

Educate users about suitable formats. Many customers love it when brands mention them in content or share posts. If users know what content a brand needs, they will focus on the right formats.

Always ask the creator's permission. Public posting of content does not mean that the author agrees to its distribution by the brand. When using someone else's materials, ask the creator's consent for a specific method of use. This will preserve your reputation and protect your brand from copyright infringement issues.

Please indicate the author of the content. Indicate the name of the creator, provide a link to the original material or the author’s account. This way you will express your gratitude to the author. And other users will be able to verify that the content was really created by an ordinary person.

User Generated Content (UGC): Essentials