How User-Generated Content Boosts Brand Potential

How User-Generated Content Boosts Brand Potential

There’s a very good reason why so many brands are harnessing the power of user-generated content; it can significantly boost brand potential.

Here are six ways to build your brand’s community through UGC:

1. Utilize UGC to develop testimonials and case studies
2. Promote UGC on social media to enhance brand perception
3. Use testimonials to influence customer decisions positively
4. Build trust with authentic ads featuring user-generated content
5. Nurture brand community and loyalty through customer stories.

1. Utilize UGC to Develop Testimonials and Case Studies

Testimonials can build trust through social media and other channels. People often need validation before making a commitment. Reposting real life accounts from genuine customers can be a powerful motivator for making a purchasing decision. 

The rise of review websites and, of course, Google My Business, has made it easy for consumers to quickly check out a brand’s reputation.

When you share testimonials from customers, you’re providing confirmation that the claims you make about your company and/or products are true. This increases confidence in your brand.

Case studies could be a customer sharing a video of themselves reviewing your product and showcasing the results. For example, if a customer provides a case study of your hair straightener, they can show potential buyers the actual results of using it. This real-life account will show whether the hair straightener lives up to expectations. 

2. Promote UGC on Social Media to Enhance Brand Perception

You can post UGC on your social media channels to influence the way people perceive your brand. To do this, you need to first consider how you want people to view you. For example, laid-back, vibrant, or humorous.

You might also want to incorporate your brand’s values into public perception. Perhaps, for instance, you have a passion for working towards animal welfare, or you’re on an eco-friendly mission. 

Once you’ve established how you want the world to see you, you can use UGC to effectively reflect this. You can launch campaigns tailored around your desired perception. For example, posting photos of people having fun with your product will associate your brand with fun and energy. 

3. Use Testimonials to Influence Customer Decisions Positively

While you should never censor negative reviews as a golden rule, that doesn’t mean you have to promote them either. Select testimonials that show you in a positive light to connect your brand with positivity. If there is a particular aspect of your company you want to share with customers, you might send short surveys asking customers specific questions. 

For example, if the general consensus in your industry is a distinct lack of customer support, a good idea might be to outdo competitors with outstanding customer support. Reply promptly to email queries, give great onboarding advice, and never expose customers to a dropped call.  

You can then ask existing customers their take on your customer support and ask them to provide a short testimonial about it. You then post these testimonials on social media and your website to bolster your positive customer support reputation. 

4. Build Trust with Authentic Ads Featuring User-Generated Content

UGC can also be used in ad campaigns to build trust. It’s actually one of the most powerful ways to entice new customers to give your products a try. It’s super important that content is authentic. Consumers are growing wise and can often spot fake testimonials a mile off. Users need to be genuine in their content creation, claims, and opinions. 

You might display some five-star reviews on your ads, for example. Or, include images of people holding your product and smiling. There are loads of possibilities to incorporate UGC into your ads. 

5. Nurture Brand Community and Loyalty Through Customer Stories

Everyone loves a good story. And what’s social media if not a platform to share unique stories within like-minded communities? 

Community is an important aspect of the human experience. It helps people feel included and connected, giving them a common purpose and an opportunity to share, learn, and grow. UGC is an opportunity to personalize your social media campaigns with content your audience cares about.

Let’s pretend you have an eCommerce business that sells fitness gear. A customer sharing their weight loss journey will be inspirational and motivational for the rest of the community. They can gain valuable weight loss and fitness tips and tricks. And importantly, your brand will be seen as one that helps people achieve their goals. 

6 Ways to Collect User-Generated Content

You’ll need methods of collecting UGC from your customers. Asking for content is key here. But, incentives and motivation will go a long way in encouraging users to create content for you. 

Here’s how to collect valuable user-generated content:

1. Create unique hashtags for easy social media submission
2. Promote content submission through contests and giveaways
3. Inspire customers to share testimonials and reviews
4. Showcase content and reward contributors to inspire others
5. Partner with influencers to promote content
6. Obtain user consent and comply with legal requirements

1. Create Unique Hashtags for Easy Social Media Submission

Hashtags aren’t just trendy additions to your content; they are strategic tools designed to categorize, enhance visibility, and amplify the reach of your campaigns. Ideally, your chosen hashtag should encapsulate the essence of your campaign, serving as a reflection of both the campaign’s purpose and your brand’s unique personality.

SocialBee elevates this strategy by offering the functionality to craft and manage ‘hashtag collections’. You can effortlessly categorize and organize these hashtags to suit different campaign themes or objectives.

With SocialBee you can create hashtag collections and organize them in different categories.

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Take a look at the TikTok Crocs UGC campaign below:

Crocs cleverly integrated their brand with the name TikTok and created the hashtag #croctok. This campaign inspired TikTokers to show-off their shoes. Fans also shared their unique Croc designs, Croc cleaning how-to videos, and videos of themselves just generally having fun with the shoes. 

With this campaign, Crocs comes across as humorous and not taking itself too seriously. In essence, it knows its product is, shall we say, an acquired taste. 

Therefore, the aim of the campaign is not to present its product as attractive in the traditional sense. Rather, it wants to present its product as something fun. It creates this inside joke that fans can be a part of by sharing their content. 

2. Promote Content Submission Through Contests and Giveaways

Who doesn’t like a good contest? Especially ones where creativity and talent are required. Launching competitions and exciting giveaways is an excellent way to collect UGC. 

Competitions could involve fans putting their own unique spin on your product, as in the Croc designs mentioned above. Alternatively, photo competitions are very popular among brands and their followers alike. 

Below is an example of a UGC contest run by Cornish Horizons:

Image Source

The holiday cottage rental company wanted to encourage tourists to visit Cornwall after the pandemic. They needed a compelling way to promote their business to encourage new customers. 

With this particular campaign, existing customers shared photos of their Cornwall vacations. Customers would need to specify which property they rented and use the hashtag #mycornishhorizon. The winner would receive a £200 Amazon voucher. 

3. Inspire Customers to Share Testimonials and Reviews

We’ve spoken a bit about testimonials already in this article. Follow up with all customers after they’ve received their order asking if they’re happy with their purchase and the service they’ve received. Just like the ultra-handiness of outbound call center software, there’s plenty of software options available to automate follow-up emails. 

After this, you can ask customers if they could write you a short review or testimonial of their experience. They can then post the testimonial on social media and tag you into the post.  

4. Showcase Content and Reward Contributors to Inspire Others

Showcasing content is a great way to get people excited about creating UGC for your brand. Fans will love their moment in the limelight. Additionally, this will encourage other users to produce content that is worthy of the limelight. 

Although showcasing a fan’s content on social media and/or your website might be enough of a reward in itself, you might decide to incentivize UGC even further.

You could reward creators with loyalty points, for example, or special coupons. They might even get access to exclusive content or have the opportunity to gain further exposure.

5. Partner with Influencers to Promote Content

Working with influencers is often a successful strategy for UGC campaigns. It’s a rewarding experience in terms of brand exposure, loyalty, and sales.

Influencers tend to have an exceptionally loyal fanbase that brands can tap into. Influencers will promote your UGC, contest, or hashtag in a relevant context. 

Working with influencers can be expensive. If you’re on a tight budget, consider working with a micro-influencer. These have smaller fan bases than a typical influencer.

However, dedication and loyalty towards micro-influencers is often just as intense. Therefore, they’ll still generate great results for your campaigns. 

6. Obtain User Consent and Comply with Legal Requirements

Finally, you must always get consent from content creators to use their content for your purposes. Have detailed terms and conditions that reflect applicable laws, and encourage people to read them.

You might, for example, say that by using your hashtag, they consent to you posting their content. Speak with a legal professional if you’re unsure of the legal requirements in your country. 

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