Steps to Create a UGC Marketing Strategy for Your Brand

By now you must know a lot about UGC and its benefits and when used correctly can be highly influential. So today, we would like to ensure that you are checking all the UGC boxes and making the perfect result-driven UGC marketing strategy. By definition, UGC is anything on the internet that is created by your audience.

User-generated Content (UGC) is essentially created by the users portraying their honest opinions and experiences. Since UGC is so genuine and authentic it is a major factor in influencing people as well. UGC can be in the form of blog posts, Facebook comments, reviews, videos, text, images, forums, or podcasts.

UGC stats and facts

You know what UGC is, and how it manifests across brands’ marketing, however, what matters is its effectiveness. Digital marketers immediately try to hop onto the latest trends and opportunities. When these trends do not go our way, it is problematic, thankfully that's not the case with UGC.

Here are some UGC stats that will blow your mind.

On average influencer marketing is responsible for driving 650% of ROAS (Return on ad spend).

Social media posts that have UGC in them have a higher chance of getting better engagement than standard posts.

About 2/3rd of users seek reviews online before finalizing their purchases.

88% of users trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their friends and family

Three out of every four users depend on social media in deciding purchases.

84% of millennials see UGC before making their purchasing decisions.

User-generated content strategy

Now that we have discussed UGC stats and facts, let’s move on to strategy and how to leverage UGC.

Use UGC in ads

One amazing way to get the most out of user-generated content is to create ads and embed UGC in them strategically. You can use images of people using your product, develop an ad that sends a particular message and display your product in action.

You can use short videos of your product being used by happy customers. Any type of UGC can be added to your ads to give them a personal touch and improve their conversion rate.

Most importantly, please ensure that you acquire UGC rights before using their content for your ads. You do not wish to get any lawsuits or hurt the sentiments of anybody by using their content without their permission.

Showcase reviews on the website

You can display reviews and ratings on the website without any coding expertise with the use of social media aggregators. These tools will ask for the source platform you can choose to create a hashtag feed, social media feed, reviews feed, etc. fill in the required information, and create a feed.

Moreover, customize and moderate the feed to align it with your website, you can make the feed aesthetically appealing and display only relevant content. By displaying reviews on the website you not only influence the users to make favorable decisions but also showcase social proof and build trust.

Repost UGC on social media

Reposting UGC is pretty simple and effective. Many brands simply repost stories or images their customers have shared with relevant captions. There is no shortage of UGC on social media, so this strategy can do wonders. Ensure that you tag the customers and give credit to them.

Now that you know what other brands are doing, it's your turn to start rolling the dice. Keep these things in mind before you set up a content strategy

Choose the social media channel

the first step is to pick the correct social media channel. You need to see where the majority of your audience is active and which platform serves your purpose the most. If your content is mostly videos, TikTok and YouTube can be your best bet more than Instagram and Facebook.

Linkedin is mostly for professional content and infographics. You can use it for acquiring new employees and for displaying a more professional side of your brand as compared to Instagram which is used to portray a rather casual side.

Define your goals

User-generated content helps you build a better audience and amplify engagement. At the same time, it can help you build trust and spread awareness to a great extent. There are multiple ways to use UGC.

Before you get into starting your strategy, you need to clearly define what your goals are. Based on your ultimate aim, you should plan the entire campaign.

Instruct your audience

To get relevant UGC you can instruct your audience about what type of content you want from them. You can also ask them to fill out surveys and collect the exact data you wish to acquire. While asking out for photos and videos make sure you give proper guidelines to your users.

Mention the details for submission, hashtags you want them to use, or any other specifications you require. Specifying these requirements will help you get the content you want and can use easily.

Conclusion

UGC gives you immense benefits and helps you stand out from the crowd. This strategy can help you create a powerful brand image and display social proof on other platforms.