Got some cool new clothes that you're ready to bear witness off to the world? Chances are you'll snap a moving picture and post it on your social profiles. Or maybe y'all've received a fancy new product, and you mail service an unboxing video to your YouTube aqueduct? Whether yous know it or non, both of these examples are user-generated content (UGC).

Not clued in just still? Don't worry, nosotros've got you covered.

In this commodity, you lot'll learn what user-generated content is, plus a few other things:

  • understand the benefits of using UGC in your campaigns,
  • meet how big and small brands execute UGC,
  • Become actionable tips to help transform your user-generated content into more than engagement and conversions for your make.

Bonus: Read the step-by-pace social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to abound your social media presence.

What is user-generated content?

User-generated content (likewise known every bit UGC or consumer-generated content) is original, make-specific content created past customers and published on social media or other channels. UGC comes in many forms, including images, videos, reviews, a testimonial, or fifty-fifty a podcast.

An example of user-generated content from Calvin Klein.

Where does UGC content come up from?

Customers

Recollect unboxing videos shared on TikTok or praise-filled posts on Instagram. Your customers are usually the most prominent accomplice you'll expect to gain UGC from, either because y'all've asked for it or because they've organically decided to share content about your brand.

Brand loyalists

Loyalists, advocates, or fans. Nevertheless you characterization your most dedicated customers, they're typically the group that's nearly enthusiastic about your business. Since loyalists are so passionate nearly worshiping at the modify of the brand, this audition segment is ripe to reach out to and ask for specific UGC content.

Employees

Employee-generated content (EGC) shows the value and story behind your brand. For example, photos of employees packing or making upwards orders or a video of your squad talking most why they dearest working for your company. This behind-the-scenes content helps institute brand identity and works across social and ads to showcase authenticity.

Why is user-generated content important?

UGC is used across all stages of the buyer'south journey to assistance influence engagement and increase conversions. The customer-axial content tin can be used on social media and other channels, such as email, landing pages, or checkout pages.

Takes actuality to the next level

Nowadays, brands have to fight to be seen online, and contest is vehement for audience attending. Every bit a consequence, buyers are more selective about the brands they collaborate with and purchase from, especially the notoriously fickle Gen-Z.

And it's not merely consumers who are passionate virtually authentic content. threescore% of marketers agree that actuality and quality are equally important elements of successful content. And in that location's no other content type that's more accurate than UGC from your customers.

Don't be tempted to fake your user-generated posts or entrada. Audiences will quickly sniff out the false sentiment, which could seriously harm your make reputation. Instead, e'er ensure that your UGC comes from one of three cohorts: your customers, brand loyalists, or employees.

People ultimately trust other people, so information technology's essential to think of UGC as the modernistic-day word of oral cavity.

And with consumers 2.4 times more than probable to view user-generated content as authentic compared to content created by brands, the time to invest in an actuality-driven social marketing strategy is now.

statistics on authenticity of user-generated content

Source: Business Wire

Helps institute brand loyalty and grows community

UGC gives customers a unique opportunity to participate in a make'due south growth instead of existence a spectator. This influences brand loyalty and affinity in a big way because people thrive off being part of something greater than themselves, and creating UGC allows them to be part of a make's community.

UGC also opens upwards conversations between a brand and consumer, and this level of brand interaction helps build and grow an engaged community.

Sharing audition content besides works to develop and deepen audience/business organization relationships, driving more brand loyalty.

Acts as a trust indicate

Remember when Fyre Festival was marketed as an "immersive music festival over two transformative weekends," merely the event was actually rain-soaked tents in a field with no electricity or nutrient? This is why people don't trust marketers or advertisers.

In fact, just 9% of Americans trust mass media "a peachy deal," which is no surprise given the influx of fake news since the 2020 global pandemic.

Brands need to work harder than ever to found themselves equally trustworthy. And with 93% of marketers agreeing that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands, this signals that UGC is the perfect format for businesses to level up their trust score.

Audiences turn to UGC as a trust signal in the same way they'd inquire their friends, family unit, or professional network for an stance. Over fifty% of millennials base their decision to buy a product on recommendations from their family unit and friends, so this is where UGC tin shine since it is precisely that: a personal recommendation.

Increment conversions and influence purchasing decisions

User-generated content is incredibly influential in the concluding stages of the buyer'south journey, where you lot're looking to convert your audience and influence them into making a purchase.

UGC acts as accurate social proof that your product is worthy of buying. For case, your audience sees people but similar them wearing or using your product, which influences them to decide to buy.

You tin even bear witness your non-homo customers using your product, as Casper does in this UGC post of Dean the Beagle.

Adaptable and flexible

UGC tin can exist used off social in other marketing campaigns, making the strategy an omnichannel approach.

For example, you could add UGC images in an abandon cart electronic mail to help nudge the prospective buyer to make a purchase or add together user-generated content to central landing pages to assist increase conversion rates.

Calvin Klein even created a landing folio only for UGC content. By showing real examples of customers styling their Calvins, shoppers see other consumers endorsing the brand and showcasing how the products look on bodily humans instead of overly styled models.

More than cost-constructive than influencer marketing

The average price of hiring an influencer can see millions of dollars. The average cost of asking your customers to share posts of them enjoying your product? Next to nothing.

UGC is a cost-effective way to scale your business organisation and introduce a new marketing strategy to the mix. In that location's besides no need to invest dollars in hiring a flashy artistic agency to produce make assets or content for your campaigns.

Simply connect with the nearly important people in your business: your audience. Most will exist excited to be featured on your aqueduct.

For smaller brands or those just starting out, UGC is cheaper and easier to manage than investing in larger-calibration make awareness campaigns.

Works in harmony with social commerce

The future of online shopping is social commerce, a.k.a shopping direct on your favorite social channels. The chief draw of social commerce is that it allows audiences to convert natively within a social media app, rather than going off-network to complete a buy.

Allow's say you lot're scrolling through Instagram and interruption on a cute new bathrobe. You tap to learn more most the product, decide to buy, and complete the transaction in the app. That'due south social commerce in action.

UGC and social commerce work well together because UGC is influential in driving conversions. Nearly 80% of people say that UGC impacts their decision to purchase, making user-generated content and social commerce a match made in sky.

Types of user-generated content

User-generated content is this season's must-have strategy for social media marketers, and it comes in many styles and formats to help y'all find the right fit for your make.

  • Images
  • Videos
  • Social media content (e.m., a Tweet about your brand)
  • Testimonials
  • Production reviews
  • Live streams
  • Blog posts
  • YouTube content

Best user-generated content examples

No matter their size, brands use user-generated content to drive awareness, increase conversions and social engagement, aggrandize their attain, and cost-finer abound their business.

GoPro

Video equipment company GoPro uses UGC to sustain its YouTube channel, with its height three videos all originally filmed past customers. Equally of December 2021, those three videos accept racked up over 400 million views combined.

Not bad for content that cost GoPro zip to produce.

In fact, UGC for the company got so big, they now run their own awards testify and promote daily photo challenges to inspire their consumers to get artistic.

Video UGC content for the GoPro YouTube channel.

LuluLemon

Not to be confused with multi-level marketing company LuLaRoe, the Canadian athleisure brand LuluLemon is primarily known for its expensive leggings and yoga article of clothing. To increment company accomplish across social media, they asked followers and brand loyalists to share photos of themselves in LuluLemon garments using the #thesweatlife.

Not only did this result in a treasure-trove of hands searchable UGC content for LuLuLemon to repurpose, only it also organically expanded the company's brand sensation and attain across social media as they shared content from brand ambassadors.

La Croix

In a similar strategy to LuluLemon, sparkling water make La Croix besides uses a hashtag (#LiveLaCroix) to mine for UGC on their social media channels. But, La Croix relies less on brand loyalists and shares content produced by anyone, no matter their follower count.

This makes their user-generated content hyper-relatable because audiences volition meet themselves reflected in these photos, rather than brand ambassadors or loyalists with higher follower counts.

Well Traveled

UGC isn't merely for larger, well-established brands. Smaller companies also use UGC in their social campaigns. Well Traveled is a community-driven travel brand that uses member-generated content to highlight the perks of membership, the quality of property partners, and other sectional offerings from brand partners.

Well Traveled's Director of Partnerships & Brand Marketing, Laura DeGomez, says, "as a service in such a visual industry, the "proof" provided by member content is immeasurable. The beautiful trips discovered, planned, and booked on Well Traveled are a phenomenal marketing and retention tool."

DeGomez uses UGC to non only visually engage members or prospective members, but also to increase brand sensation, expand reach, and build community.

She goes on to say, "no one tells our story ameliorate than our members. The Well Traveled customs is the key here, whenever we can let their experiences shine, nosotros exercise."

Copa90

User-generated content isn't express to Instagram. Soccer media company Copa90 used UGC across Snapchat to raise awareness about the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia.

To connect with younger soccer fans, the company continued directly with them on Snapchat by sharing relevant and heady story-driven UGC that made the audience feel they were nowadays in Russia. They also encouraged their audience to "swipe up," which collection traffic from Snapchat to other channels.

Copa90's UGC Snapchat campaign

The result? A massive 31 million unique users over the infinite of 45 days, with 40% of viewers swiping up to view more.

User-generated content tips

Always request permission

Consent to share content is mandatory. Always ask earlier republishing or using a customer's content.

People may use your branded hashtags without necessarily knowing you've tied them to a user-generated content campaign. Unfortunately, re-sharing that content without explicit permission is a surefire fashion to kill goodwill and annoy some of your best brand advocates.

When you ask permission, yous show the original affiche that you appreciate their content and become them excited near sharing their post with your audience. Yous also go on yourself out of hot water regarding copyright concerns.

Credit the original creator

When you lot share user-generated content on your social media channels, make certain to give clear credit to the original creator. This includes tagging them directly in the mail service and indicating whether you're using their visuals, words, or both. E'er give credit where credit is due.

London fashion make Lazy Oaf crediting the original affiche of the image.

If you programme to share user-generated content across social media platforms, cheque for how the creator wants to be credited on the various channels. For example, if you want to share a photo from Instagram on your Facebook page, inquire the original creator if they take a Facebook folio y'all could tag.

Providing proper credit is an of import mode to recognize the piece of work of content creators and helps make sure they stay excited about using and posting nigh your brand.

Information technology has the added benefit of making it piece of cake for fans and followers to verify that the content truly was created by someone exterior of your firm.

Be clear about what kind of content y'all're looking for

UGC creators desire you lot to share their content. That means they want you to tell them what kind of content you lot're almost likely to share.

Only 16%t of brands offer articulate guidelines on what kind of user-generated content they desire fans to create and share, but more than half of consumers want brands to tell them exactly what to practise when it comes to UGC. And so don't be afraid to get specific and make it easy for people to share content that fits your needs.

Be strategic and set goals

How volition you lot know what type of UGC content to ask for if you don't know how it fits in with your campaign strategy? Sure, it'south prissy when people tag you in pretty pictures, only how can you lot use that content to support your marketing goals?

Firstly, sit downwards with your social media strategy certificate and look for ways UGC aligns with your existing marketing goals. And then, create a simple statement based on that data that tells users specifically what kind of content you lot're most likely to feature.

Once you take a articulate UGC ask, share it anywhere people are likely to collaborate with your brand:

  • your social channels bios,
  • in other user-generated content social media posts,
  • on your website,
  • in your physical location,
  • or even on your product packaging.

UGC strategy goes beyond understanding the types of content you need from your customers. You too need to marshal your UGC campaign with broader social media goals.

For example, are yous looking to increase make awareness or drive more conversions (or both?)

Measure the success of your campaigns using a tool like Hootsuite Analytics or a social listening tool such as Hootsuite Insights to understand brand sentiment and trust.

The short video below shows how Hootsuite Insights can bear witness yous your brand sentiment, among other valuable metrics.

Get a Free Demo

If y'all're serious about scaling UGC, invest in a UGC management platform such as TINT to assist uncover relevant user-generated content and insights for your campaigns.

User-generated content tools

Looking for more tools to help you craft accurate and compelling user-generated content? Hither's our pick of the agglomeration:

  1. Hootsuite Streams
  2. TINT
  3. Chute

Set up to start displaying authentic user-generated content beyond your social channels? Utilize Hootsuite to aid manage your campaigns with our advanced Streams, Analytics, Insights, and integrations with TINT and Chute.

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