User-generated content or UGC is a powerful marketing tool that is most often associated with influencer marketing and social media. Probably you have already figured the main trait of UGC — it’s not produced by marketers, brands, or media, it is developed by customers themselves. It has a “real” vibe, it is more relatable than common ads, and it is much more engaging. Here’s what the statistics tells us about UGC:
- An average user spends more than 5 hours/day watching UGC.
- 75% of marketers believe that UGC makes any brand look more authentic.
- 86% of brands use UGC.
- 31% of users claim that UGC ads are much easier to memorize.
These are the main reasons why UGC has become a big hit for advertising. Let’s take a better look at its benefits, shall we?
Why UGC is good for your campaigns
People hate in-your-face ads
Let’s face it, today’s user is drowning in all kinds of advertising, real-life and digital. Most people would skip an ad for the sole reason that they know they are looking at another several minutes of pushy or cheesy marketing efforts. The point of any ad is to sell, and people are tired of being pitched stuff. On the other hand, UGC feels down-to-earth because it is created by fellow users. Yes, we all know that it’s a form of advertising, but it still rings differently.
Social proof
This is one hell of an important point for anyone who wants to buy stuff online. How do you know it’s alright and that it’s not going to fall apart the moment you unwrap it? You look at other people’s reviews and unboxing videos. This provides a brand with more credibility and converts the undecided customers-to-be.
UGC is cost-efficient
UGC clips and posts are virtually free for the advertiser (unless we are talking about influencer paid integrations, which we’re not). This makes UGS one hell of a profitable solution for marketing campaigns.
How to fill your site with UGC
To leverage the power of user-generated content, you as a marketer or a media buyer have to make these testimonials somehow available on your landing pages. There are several ways to do that.
Manual parsing
This is the most cost-efficient and the least effort-saving approach when you simply go online and start browsing for testimonials and reviews in Google, YouTube, and other channels. Then you will have to upload or transfer this content to your website. And you need to do it on a regular basis to get fresh content. Another way is to schedule numerous publications in advance. The upside is — you choose the content to add to your site, so no bad reviews!
Testimonials plugin
WordPress and other website management platforms provide users with access to multiple plugins that can be really useful. For instance, there are solutions that will monitor the portals with reviews on autopilot and post them to your landers without you lifting a finger. Here are some WP plugins that might do the trick. These will perform great for reviews websites like Yelp or Trip Advisor, as well as for collecting testimonials from Facebook or Instagram.
With such plugins you can style UGC as a post, a full page, a widget, and more. Most solutions provide a preview, so you would be able to smooth things out.
The only disadvantage is that most plugins will drag all the reviews to your landers, including the low-raters.
Custom-made software
In most cases, you wouldn’t think of contacting a software developer for such a petty thing as collecting reviews. But for an e-commerce lander or a similar page, UGC testimonials may be a turning point that defines the success of the whole marketing campaign. And if the solution is custom-made, you hold all the reigns: decide the exact platforms to parse for content, the rate of the reviews you’d like to copy, and even the format (maybe you want only videos for your site).
Conclusion
UGC is a great way to leverage an “effortless” vibe in your campaigns, as it looks rather native. This type of content is relatable to the audience and can become that success driver your e-commerce and nutra campaigns have been needing all along. There are multiple ways of bringing UGC into your campaigns, choose the one that suits you best. And may the power of user-generated content be with you.
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
