When you scroll through your social media account, you may have seen some people who post about their experience of using a certain product from a popular brand. On other occasions, you probably noticed that some brands also repost the content from their audience.
This is an example of a marketing tool known as user-generated content. But why is it becoming more popular? And what is its significance to a business’s marketing efforts?
In this article, we will explore more about user-generated content, including its definition and the reason why it should be part of your marketing campaign.
Table of Contents
What is User-Generated Content?
User-generated content or UGC is any content related to your brand and business created by anyone who is not the official representative of your brand. UGC can have many forms, including pictures, videos, audio, feedback, or reviews.
Users will create and post content about your brand and introduce it to their audience. Your businesses can also repost this content on marketing channels, including your website or social media accounts.
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Because UGC comes from your customers’ experiences, people will perceive it to be more genuine and reliable than brand-generated content. Therefore, UGC can prove to be highly useful to improve your marketing efforts.
The Importance of UGC to Marketing
As one of the most used marketing tools in this digital marketing period, UGC has proven beneficial for most businesses. Here are some of the reasons why user-generated content is important to your marketing efforts:
Understand the Target Audience Better
By opening your brand to user-generated content, you allow them to share and express their opinion and experience with your brand. This is a good way to understand what your target audience wants from your product or service or what you can improve.
There are several ways of achieving this, including encouraging your audience to make online reviews or give product feedback. Aside from helping you understand your customer more, online reviews also help other customers decide if your product is the right choice for them.
Take your time to analyze the content made by your customers. For example, UGC may give you an insight into how your customers use your product or service; maybe your customers use your product in a way you hadn’t considered.
Helps Create Unique Content
Constant creativity and unique ideas are the basis of content-based marketing, and sometimes it could become an obstacle when you run out of fresh ideas. When brands depend only on in-house employees to create content, there will be a limited source of ideas.
With UGC, you involve your customers’ ideas and perspectives to generate content. Since each customer will have different experiences and thoughts on your brand, the content will stay fresh, interesting, and engaging. This will help your business stay relevant and impactful.
Before you incorporate your customers’ content into your marketing effort, be sure that you clearly define what type of content you want from your audience. Also, try to incentivize customers to create UGC by offering special discounts or gifts; this will show that your brand appreciates its audience.
Increase Credibility
Your audience will be more likely to trust the opinion of their peers compared to business-driven content. Therefore, making user-generated content the highlight of your marketing campaign will help your promotional message making it seem more trustworthy and reliable.
When a brand tries to build their credibility by promoting themselves, it will be less impactful since brand-driven content is filled with bias and vested interest. On the other hand, UGC’s only purpose is to inform and entertain; that is why it is easier to trust content from fellow users.
To make sure that user-generated content aligns with brands’ expectations, businesses need to ensure their customers’ satisfaction. UGC that comes from a genuinely positive experience will be more credible and attract more potential buyers.
Build Trust and Relationships
Trust and a good relationship between your brand and its audience and customers, also known as brand advocacy, is crucial for business development. A loyal customer group will act as your brand ambassador and spread positive words about your brand.
Create a sense of ongoing loyalty and trust with these groups of customers to generate excitement and attract new ones. As your loyal customer base grows, people will associate your brand with high-quality products and perceive it as trustworthy.
By regularly sharing UGC on your brand’s marketing channels, your audience will also see that the brand cares about building relationships with customers. They will see your business as a humanized brand rather than a money-seeking company.
Grow Conversion and Revenue
Every marketing campaign and effort’s ultimate goal is to convert retained audiences into customers and gain revenue. More revenue means more chances for your business to survive and grow in the future, which is also one of the parameters of success.
From the previous points, we can see that user-generated content can positively impact your marketing endeavors. By using UGC, your audience is more inclined to engage more with your brand and spread it to their audience, which will increase your brand awareness.
Positive content from users will also be more likely to influence the audience’s purchase decisions. All of these aspects are related directly to your channel traffic, which in turn, translates into an increased conversion rate and revenue.
Conclusion
User-generated content or UGC is a versatile marketing tool that allows businesses to expand their marketing approach to be more engaging and effective.
In this article, we have learned the definition of UGC and some of the reasons why it is important for a business’s marketing efforts, including:
- Allowing businesses to understand their target audience better.
- Helping create unique content.
- Increasing credibility.
- Building trust and relationships.
- Growing conversion and revenue.
Many brands have proved the effectiveness of UGC in their digital marketing activities. Now, it is time for you to take advantage and utilize this strategy to grow your business.
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