What is User Generated Content (UGC) And How To Use It?

UGC has a powerful impact on buying decisions for 79% of people.

Marketing strategy without UGC content can only mean one thing: leaving your money on the table, and then some.

Let’s face it: UGC is a trend that’s here to stay. It can help you increase not just sales, but also brand awareness, customer loyalty, and a strong, devoted community.

Today, we’ll show you how to turn your customers into active participants in your business. 

Learn what is UGC content, what does UGC mean exactly, and why UGC is important for your brand.

Stay ahead of your competition and reach out to your ideal customers.

What Is UGC Content?

The term UGC defines User-generated content, which is any form of content created by existing customers and UGC creators instead of the brands themselves.

Different types of UGC content include:

• Short videos

Almost 50% of people look for videos on the internet before a purchase: YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. Some of the most common types of UGC video are unboxing, testimonials, tutorials, and problem & solution.

• Photos and Stories

People trust user-generated photos 56% more than photos from brands. When customers share their pictures, they are shown to reach more people.

• Testimonials 

85% of people trust customer reviews in the same way they trust recommendations from friends.

Whether it's on Google, Yelp, or your website, testimonials help strengthen your brand's reputation.

Encourage your customers with follow-up emails, engage with their feedback, and offer incentives. Reviews can even increase conversion rates by 270%?

• Blog posts

The fact is that people still read and write blogs. 

Blogs are a unique way to additionally connect with your customers, and build a community. Adding blog content to your marketing strategy is a common practice to engage with your followers.

Marketing products with professional brand-created content is over. Nowadays, it’s all about the stories and experiences. And who can share an honest experience with your brand better than your customers?

Since UGC is such a powerful marketing tool, 87% of marketers already use it as a part of their content strategy. And for a good reason. 93% of customers make buying decisions based on UGC. On top of that, UGC content shared on social media has a whopping 28% higher engagement rate than branded content. 

UGC Meaning For Your Brand

Let's have a look at the benefits of user generated content for your brand. 

Builds Trust and Connects with Customers

UGC content has an honest and raw feel when compared to branded or professional content. 

That’s why brands feel more authentic when using UGC in their campaigns. And that’s what makes the consumers trust them more. 

Users trust consumer content 50% more than other media. That’s how much of an important factor authenticity is when it comes to making buying decisions.

Affordable, Scalable Content

Content creation isn’t easy. Coming up with great content that converts is challenging, time-consuming, and costly.

Surprisingly enough, UGC content is one of the few that’s cost-effective because you can reuse content you receive from the UGC platform all across your brand channels - advertising, website, social media, and email campaigns.

Builds Brand’s Authenticity

The more the consumers connect with the brand, its message, and its values, the higher the chances that they'll make a purchase. 

This is where UGC steps in. It showcases products and services in a relatable manner that feels and appears real, making it easier for consumers to bond with them emotionally.

On top of that, UGC helps to build a community and create a story around a brand or product. Instead of a soulless corporation with salesy pushy ads, UGC helps to erase the line between a brand and a consumer. It allows the customers to join the conversation (providing you with social proof) and shows them that they matter.

Strengthens Brand Loyalty 

Users are constantly surrounded by ads, which makes them super picky about the brands they trust. And it’s this trust that UGC can help strengthen. This is one of the most important benefits of user generated content.

Think about it: when real people vouch for your product isn’t the same as when you vouch for it yourself. Other customer reviews, look like a thumbs-up from someone customers know. After all, people trust peers more than brands.

Increases ROI and Conversion

Apart from building trust and increasing brand loyalty, UGC goes a step further. Bazaarvoice discovered that adding UGC on product pages can increase conversions by up to 64%! 

Speaking about the powder of UGC, huh? Including it in your marketing strategy is like talking to your customers with the voices of other customers. It's relatable, real, and clear, giving potential customers valuable insights into other users' experiences, helping them make better purchase choices. 

User Generated Content Statistics

Here are some statistics on how impactful this type of content can be and the user generated content importance in numbers:

• Campaigns or websites with UGC have a 29% higher conversion rate than those without it
• UGC ads cost 50% less than average ads with a 4x higher click-through rate
• According to consumers, UGC content is 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content
• Millennials trust UGC content over other types of media 50% more 
• Customer reviews are an essential part of buying decisions for 86% of consumers

UGC Marketing For Brands

Let’s have a look at how you can leverage UGC for your marketing strategy: 

1. Paid Ads Campaigns

You have a business. And you want it to be a successful one. But to do that, you can’t just leave anything to chance.

You don’t want to build it on the ifs and the maybes. In order to succeed, you need a plan, a strategy, and set goals. 

Marketing is no different. For a successful marketing campaign that converts, you need a strategy, a plan, and set goals. There’s a reason why marketing is such an important part of any business. 

We’ve established how valuable UGC is, including in paid ad campaigns. But relying only on your customers for it is, honestly, irresponsible. 

Here’s why: you can only hope to get any content in the first place. Sure, users love to connect with the brands they love, but unless you’re Starbucks, getting a ton of photos & videos daily is not realistic. 

And then there’s the question of quality. Let’s say you get content. Can you honestly say that it’s the kind of thing you want to include in your paid ads campaigns?

Taking your marketing seriously means creating a predictable flow of high-quality content for a strategic approach to paid ads. You can’t rely on your customers to receive regular high-quality content that resonates with your brand. You have to have it made proactively.  

That’s where UGC creators step in. You can reap the UGC benefits by taking complete control over your video ad content. All you have to do is collaborate with creators with the skills to deliver your message to the right target audience while making it seem that it comes from your customers. Unlike other UGC platforms like Billo, Influe has unlimited revisions available, so confirm the content for your ads after you're completely satisfied with the end result.

2. Instagram 

Instagram is a great place to source UGC content. Here’s how to do that:

• Create a branded hashtag, run contests or giveaways, encourage users to share content
• Select the UGC content that matches your brand message
• Ask for permission, then share to your Reels, Feed, Posts, and Stories

3. TikTok

Videos on TikTok, right? They’re honest, and engaging, and they go viral. Just the kind of material you need for your brand. Statistics say that on average, we spend 95 minutes on Tiktok every day.

UGC content examples you can get from TikTok:

• How to videos: showing how to use your products
• Reaction: people reacting to your products
• Before & After: customer experiences before and after using your product
• Us vs. them: comparison between your product and that of your competitor
• XY reasons why: list of highlights/benefits of your product that customers love

4. SEO

Google is constantly trying to improve user experience, pushing only the content that’s helpful and valuable to the user. UGC is valuable for SEO. It is genuine, high-quality content that users trust and prefer. This content helps your website rank higher on search engines like Google. The advantages of user generated content are numerous.

Adding user-generated content such as photos, Q&A, videos, and reviews to your website can improve its search engine ranking. This, in turn, makes your website more visible to people who are searching for similar content.

5. Email campaigns

UGC can boost your marketing campaigns by improving conversions and click-through rates, filling any gaps you may have. 

Let’s face it, when it comes to email marketing, many brands struggle with engagement rates. 

But here’s how you can UGC to your advantage. Tweak your current email marketing campaigns by adding customer reviews or images. That way you’ll make them feel more personal and relatable.

Best UGC Examples

Discover some of the companies that have accelerated their content creation with Influee platform.

#1 EQUA Water Bottles

EQUA offers water bottles that “make you feel good, look good, do good”, with an emphasis on sustainability and reducing plastic waste.

The brand wanted to reach more potential customers with the use of UGC in their paid ads, so decided to use the Influee platform to increase their content creation and make the process smoother and easier for their content team.

The results? With the help of Influee, the Equa content team helped to produce more high-quality ad ads in only one month of collaboration than Equa did in a whole previous year! 

Talking about streamlining quality content creation.

Some of their ugc video examples include:

#2 Layoners Sunglasses & Swimwear

Layoners is a sunglasses & swimwear brand, that combines haute couture with street-style sunglasses for the quirky and the fashionable. 

Layoners was looking for a way to boost conversions with their swimwear collection. Since they were looking for people with a good sense of style, they ideally wanted to find fashion creators who would be able to capture that essence.

Through the Influee platform, they were able to find the right creators. Layoners collaborated with 93 creators who made great UGC content that fit their brand image and style perfectly. 

Generated content made their UGC Ads stand out from the crowd on Facebook and Instagram, helping them to increase sales.

#3 LUNA \TBWA Advertising Agency

Luna \TBWA is an international advertising agency that prides itself on using an engaging, out-of-the-box approach to advertising, transforming how businesses work.

With the help of the Influee Platform, the agency was able to get ahead and gain a huge advantage in content diversity, because it enabled them to collaborate with UGC content creators from all around the world. 

For an international brand, that is a major plus since they can keep complete control of their content creation, production, and creator communication in one single platform across multiple markets.

That way, they were able to source diverse ad creatives for their clients, leading to great results and satisfied clients.

#4 Silvi Pillowcases

Formerly Silvi, now Argie, offers silver-infused pillowcases for clearer and healthier skin.

While they were already including UGC content on their website to showcase the Before & After of their product, they partnered up with Influee to elevate their content creation. Before using Influee, they only worked with top-tier creative agencies. 

The result was that they doubled the view rates in their Paid Ad campaigns. 

Silvi Co-Founder Ben Goodman says “We're extremely happy with the diversity and huge selection of quality creators experienced in making engaging advertising content that sells.”

Impressive, right?

How To Get UGC Content?

From Existing Customers 

• Promote user community 

Engage with your customers on social media, connect with them, share tips, and answer their questions. 

• Run social media contests and giveaways

Create campaigns and a branded hashtag. Encourage users to create UGC related to your brand.

• Feature their content 

Share their content on your social media channels, website, and email campaigns.

However, when it comes to the pros and cons of user generated content and sourcing it from your customers, the odds aren't the best. Content quality may be poor, it doesn't match the brand message, and you might not have permission to use it. 

To avoid copyright and quality problems, brands are increasingly turning to UGC creators as a reliable source of content. 

From UGC Creators 

While your customers create UGC that’s free to use, there’s no way to constantly rely only on that for the reasons mentioned above. 

That’s why many brands choose to collaborate with UGC creators. 

To increase creative diversity.

To receive a steady flow of content.

To control brand messaging.

Getting your content created by vetted UGC creators is becoming the go-to method for many brands, and the process is very simple. All you need is a few of user generated content tools on from the Influee platform, such as UGC script generator, video editor, etc.

How To Get Started With UGC For Your Brand

UGC isn’t exclusive to big brands like Nike or Coca-Cola. Here are simple steps to help you create a powerful UGC campaign: 

1. Choose your channel

Start by deciding the best platform for your business. In other words, find out where your potential customers are most active on social media and start there. That way, you can maximize your campaign since each platform attracts a different audience.  

Instagram and TikTok are popular platforms. Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users. TikTok is gaining popularity, especially among younger people.

With many options to choose from, you must choose the best one for your brand to maximize your UGC campaigns.

2 .Set campaign goals

Next, clearly define your marketing goals for your campaign. While wanting to increase brand awareness or sales in the next three months sounds reasonable, try to get more detailed: 

• Specific: clear and defined goals - key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Measurable: determine criteria to measure these goals and determine their progress and success
• Achievable: should be realistic to your brand
• Relevant: they should include a key benefit
• Time-bound: set a deadline

These are the objectives that can then help establish whether your campaign was a successful one or not. 

3. Collaborate with creators

Next, team up with customers and content creators to get creatives for your campaigns. 

Connect with your users, build a community, and make your brand more human. Give your customers their voice and make them feel like they’re a part of your brand. UGC is a dynamic way of showcasing brand values, story, and mission.  

FAQ

How much does UGC cost?

The cost of this type of content depends on the country and the creator, so there is no one standard price. Choose your country or area of ​​interest to get a more accurate idea of ​​UGC prices.

Where can I find UGC creators? 

You can find UGC creators on the Influee User Generated Content platform; UGC creator USA, UGC creator UK, and UGC creator Australia. Choose your target country and a niche for your product or service. Vetted creators you choose to work with, deliver the content according to your requirements.

What about UGC Privacy and Copyright?

Before you feature any of the content created by your customers, make sure to ask for their permission. To use someone's content on your website, social media, or for marketing purposes, you need their permission.

However, using content from Influee UGC creators because you automatically own all the content rights. That way, you legally secure the use of UGC exclusively for your brand. 

What are UGC Ads?

UGC ads are advertisements with content created by creators or users, rather than by the brand itself. They leverage real experiences and testimonials to promote products or services. These ads are seen as more genuine and reliable, often resulting in increased interaction and sales.