Word-of-mouth was considered one of the most effective forms of marketing; now, there is user-generated content.
As consumer insights continue to show, overly branded content gets lost in the never-ending stream of marketing that consumers face daily.
There is a sense of redundancy in marketing and advertising now that makes it easier to tune out. Finding ways to grab the consumers attention is shifting to finding ways to grab their hearts.
The average consumer wants to feel connected to a brand before taking the next step. They want to relate to your marketing. They want to know the product, service, or experience aligns with their lifestyle and doesn’t just say it does. What better way to get that real sense of a brand than through voluntarily produced content by fellow consumers i.e., user-generated content?
What is User Generated Content?
Any text, videos, images, reviews, etc.—created by people, rather than brands is user-generated content (UGC). These people are motivated to share because they had a good experience, not because they were paid. Have you noticed the hotel tagged in your Facebook friend’s photos from their vacation to Mexico?
That’s UGC. Did you include a hashtag from the music festival when you recapped on Twitter?
If so, that’s UGC. Or, maybe you were tagged in a photo on Instagram only to find out that it was for a contest promoted by one of your favorite bloggers. That’s also UGC. There are numerous types of user-generated content and ways to use them in your marketing strategy. For example, creating a hashtag for your brand makes it easy for your customers to engage with you and makes it easy for you to find the UGC you may want to use in the future.
More than 64 percent of social media users seek out UGC before making big purchase decisions. This statistic is less surprising when you consider how easily consumers can browse through digital news feeds on mobile devices to research new products. Let’s pretend you are planning a trip to Maine.
A simple search on social media for “Maine bed & breakfast” would reveal photographs and videos from users on the platform. Your customers are already participating by sharing their own UGC or using UGC to inform their purchasing decisions. And, your competitors are already using UGC to increase their customer engagement. According to SEMrush, 86% of businesses have tried user-generated content. The key is to create a strategy behind it. After all, it is technically free marketing floating on the internet for you to use.
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