Dustin Pagliughi 1/23/23 Dustin Pagliughi 1/23/23

Disconnection Crisis: How to Solve with UGC

In an ever-connected world, how is it that brands are more disconnected than ever with their audience? According to Forbes, “only 13% of consumers said that content from a brand is impactful and a mere 8% said influencer-created content would highly impact their purchasing decisions.” So, what’s going on that despite all these digital spaces to meet customers where they are at, brands still can’t connect with their audiences? Well, let’s start with the obvious. The pandemic changed everything. The way we work is no longer a 9-5 in an office and probably won't ever be again. According to HubSpot, “40% o

In an ever-connected world, how is it that brands are more disconnected than ever with their audience? According to Forbes, “only 13% of consumers said that content from a brand is impactful and a mere 8% said influencer-created content would highly impact their purchasing decisions.” So, what’s going on that despite all these digital spaces to meet customers where they are at, brands still can’t connect with their audiences? Well, let’s start with the obvious. The pandemic changed everything. The way we work is no longer a 9-5 in an office and probably won't ever be again. According to HubSpot, “40% of remote workers miss spontaneous in-person connections with colleagues.” There are big internal disconnections in the workplace. Another reason for the disconnect is the gap to obtain high-quality data, which is needed to understand your audience for your marketing strategies. It seems that strategies that were once working aren’t anymore and this data is crucial to fixing that. Fortunately, there is a way to reconnect with your customers! Focusing on customer connections will improve your brands relationship with its customers, most of which, are suffering from digital fatigue. Found content campaigns can strengthen these connections with brands. What better way to reconnect than through shared emotions? And what better way to get their attention on social media than with a real person doing a natural human thing? Influencer marketing is trending to be one of the top marketing tools this year but we think that found content marketing is trend that will supersede this one for authenticity and connection purposes.

Dustin Pagliughi 1/5/23 Dustin Pagliughi 1/5/23

Found Content is the New Word of Mouth

Word of mouth marketing is the oldest advertising strategy out there. Although times may have changed greatly to that of a digital age, one thing is for sure, WOM is still the most common way that people find a brand. 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and WOM marketing influences 99% of B2B purchases. Those numbers are truly staggering. In our digital world, WOM is no longer restricted its literal meaning. It now extends into the online space and is just as important, if not more, on social media. This is the new word of mouth. Instead of telling one or a few people, you can tell thousands if not millions. It will spread through the grape vine quickly.

Organic, unproduced and authentic found content. That is the wave of the future and 2023 advertising trends are leaning toward it. Trusted and proven time and time again to be more trustworthy by consumers and influential for purchasing power of your audience. Found content can help your brand engage, equip and empower your audience. It creates emotional connections with your audience. It can give your customers a reason to talk through product reviews, social media challenges or just a revel over a great UGC clip embedded to your advertisement. It can also empower them to spark conversations and share the love of your brand. Found content is the new word of mouth and there are millions of new pieces uploaded every day. Brands that incorporate this tactic into their campaigns are taking it to the next level. If you haven’t already done so, take your brand to the next level. Contact us today about using found content in your next advertising campaign.

Dustin Pagliughi 12/12/22 Dustin Pagliughi 12/12/22

Increasing Creative Control Through Found Content

Creative Control: the power to exercise the final authority over the planning and execution of an artistic medium, such as a film, commercial, a song, etc. We often think of produced shoots as having complete, immense creative control from the production and directing teams from start to finish of a campaign or project. However, here at Locomotive, we believe that when using found content in marketing and advertising campaigns, it in fact gives the team more creative control than that of a produced shoot. Not to mention it saves time, money and the environment.

Creative Control: the power to exercise the final authority over the planning and execution of an artistic medium, such as a film, commercial, a song, etc. We often think of produced shoots as having complete, immense creative control from the production and directing teams from start to finish of a campaign or project. However, here at Locomotive, we believe that when using found content in marketing and advertising campaigns, it in fact gives the team more creative control than that of a produced shoot. Not to mention it saves time, money and the environment. With an extensive and endless supply of creator content out there, this leaves the imagination with limitless possibilities. Brands create their initial briefs based on their own set of guidelines. But, with millions of new content being uploaded each day, no matter what their creative parameters may be, there will always be fresh content to curate from. You can literally take the same creative brief from two months ago and find completely new content to fit the same exact bill. The content that is found can also shift the campaigns themselves as they progress. It depends on what kind of stuff we’re finding. Maybe we find something that they hadn’t intentionally set out to include and the brand loves it, so they decide to make a slight shift in their creative direction. The beauty of found content campaigns is that the brand gets to decide which pieces of content align with their values and appeals to their particular audience. They set the tone. They choose which pieces they want or don’t. We provide our clients with a monumental list of content during the curation process. If they say they need five pieces we’ll give them twenty to choose from. Brands can also get creative with how they use UGC in their marketing strategies. The creative possibilities are truly endless.

Dustin Pagliughi 12/1/22 Dustin Pagliughi 12/1/22

Found Content: Recession Proofing Costs

Americans feel terribly about the state of the economy right now. We can’t say we disagree. Just this week we wrote an article on holiday consumer spending trends during times of financial distress this season. Advertising agencies and brands are not immune to the economic hardships that we are all currently facing. Everyone is navigating budget cuts for advertising spend. This is yet another reason how found content in your marketing and advertising strategies can help recession proof your brand’s budget this year. The cost effectiveness of UGC makes for a good plan to combat these budget cuts and rising cost of production.

Let’s break it down for you. Most produced commercials can cost anywhere between $5,000 and $20,000. But, depending on the resources used, it can hike up to $50,000-$100,000. That’s seriously a lot of dough for something that’s going to last a roughly 60 seconds! UGC campaigns can run anywhere from $3,000 to $25,000. Starting costs are much lower for UGC campaigns than a produced one. Even the highest amount that you could possibly pay is way under top dollar production shoots. Of course, there will be editing costs and some others associated with them in post, but it still won’t rack up to what a production team would cost you, plus actors, plus post. You get the idea.

There is also evidence that the ROI on found content campaigns is very high in comparison to money spent, according to case studies conducted by Pixlee. So, not only do you spend less of your budget, you see higher returns. This means higher engagement, high click through rates, high return to site visitors, more credibility. We could go on for a while. We love found content. If you think that your brand would benefits from found content campaigns, please don’t hesitate to reach out this holiday season and let’s get a conversation started. Happy Holidays!

Dustin Pagliughi 9/19/22 Dustin Pagliughi 9/19/22

Explanation of Terms in the UGC Space

UGC. User generated content. Sourced content. Found content. What do all these terms mean? People get confused by what it is and how they are different. We thought we’d clarify a few things for you. They’re not different. All of these terms are literally synonymous with one another! They all mean the exact same thing. It’s anything on the internet.

UGC. User-generated content. Sourced content. Found content. What do all these terms mean? People get confused by what it is and how they are different. We thought we’d clarify a few things for you. They’re not different. All of these terms are literally synonymous with one another! They all mean the exact same thing. It’s anything on the internet. Organic, non-organic video and photos. 720,000 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every day. That’s 500 hours per minute. It’s not shocking really. Everyone with an iPhone can record high-quality content and that number is roughly 6.6 billion people worldwide. About 83% of all humans inhabiting this wonderful planet. The only reason to call UGC “sourced” or “found” is when you come to a service, such as ours, to find it for your advertising campaigns. Hence, why some change the name of user-generated content to those terms instead. We hope this cleared up any confusion for you and hope to work together on your next campaign. Unlike our competitors, at Locomotive we personally hand pick every single of content that comes through our screens for each specified creative brief for our clients. Compounding content, steam powered forward.