User-Generated Content: The Infinite Landscape

“To infinity, and beyond!” This is where UGC takes your brand. To the land of infinite possibilities. “Why?” you may ask yourself. Well, let’s break it down. UGC is created constantly. Every minute of every day. According to Statista, about 500 hours of content was uploaded every day during the month in February of 2022. That’s not just a lot of content… that is a staggering, I can’t even wrap my head around it, amount of content. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We could work on the same project twice and find completely new content for the same specific brief within months of each other. This unlimited pool allows for brands and advertisers to keep their campaigns fresh. Let’s talk about point two now. Content is never going to go away. With the rise of the smart device era, it dawned a new technological time where everyone in the world has content producing software at their fingertips. After that the spawn of social media. Now, there’s not a chance in Hades that it’s going anywhere. People now rely on social media for so many things other than just posting about their lives. Catching up with old friends, news, shopping, business networking. You name it and social media has a place for it. Some people actually use social media as their main source of income, such as creators and influencers. We’ve worked with many and this is their livelihood. Our last point; obtaining UGC is very cost effective comparatively to its production counterparts. Licensing can be tricky, but that is why we specialize in this but overall, it is fairly priced in most cases, and we’ll get you the best deals that are also fair to the creators themselves. We’ve worked with over thousands of creators and influencers. This is not our first rodeo and we work hard for our partners. That said, content is QUEEN and she’s staying put. If you want to reach for the stars, then partnering with us will allow you to fly into infinite possibilities.

Content Intelligence

This is a new term being thrown around in the digital space but what is it exactly? It’s a technique that uses AI and software to measure the impact of content in order to give insights on what content should be used the most according to effectiveness. I mean, we do it all the time when we check the insights on Instagram from our posts. This is a human example of creating content intelligence. The beauty of using software & AI is that it streamlines the process for you. Typically, software includes metrics/reporting, analysis, automation and management tools for your brand content. Some benefits include:

1.     Understanding what type of content your audience enjoys

2.     Reduces guess work and takes less man power

3.     It makes your content user centric

4.     Predicting how content will perform

5.     Increases visitors and engagement

We know that a lot of people are sneering at the idea of artificial intelligence but for some purposes it can help businesses be more efficient. This is one of those times. So, how do brands go about finding the right content intelligence programs? Here are some things to look for when searching for software.

1.     Real time data collection

2.     Management tools

3.     Content creation assistance

4.     Automated repetitive processes

5.     Audience and competitor insights

6.     Third party integrations

There are a lot of options when it comes to choosing which one to go with. Some of them include Semrush, Contently, and even IBM has one now. Content is king in the digital space now and content intelligence will help you navigate this space more efficiently. Happy hunting.

Friday Feature 10/7/22

We’re taking you to the sunny beaches of your living room. Wait what? That’s right! You heard us. This surf video went viral back in March of 2020 of Sailah Nicol and her brother surfing on the rug in their living room. Their father is pro surfer, Yadin Nicol who is also featured in this video pulling the rug up into a wave. This video is probably up there with one our favorites that we’ve licensed over our years here at Locomotive. Head over to Instagram and show the families page some love and support with a follow.

Friday Feature

This week our spotlight goes out to a fitness trainer, Kari who specializes in women’s weight lifting. Also known as @thedonuttrainer, this Canadian woman is a certified personal trainer and gym owner in Sarnia, ON. It was a pleasure working with this creator on one of our previous campaigns. Her social media account focuses on fitness, nutrition and weight lifting. She posts often about nutrition information, workouts and fitness tips. Give her a follow for healthy lifestyle info and proper workout techniques.

Increasing Social Media Engagement

Having a large audience is great but that’s not all that is important on social media. Engagement with your followers will measure more success than just the number of people that follow you. What does engagement from your followers look like? It’s shares, comments, saves, likes, mentions and even branded hashtag usage. Here are a few quick ways to increase your engagement on your social media channels. 

1. Know your audience. This will help you dictate when it is best for your brand to post, what type of content to post and help you find your brand’s voice.

2. Spark up conversations. 

   1. Ask questions in your posts or stories. On the flip side of this, have them ask you questions with the “ask me anything.”. This can add value to your brand as helpful or knowledgeable. 

   2. Take polls or quiz them. This is another great way to mix it up and engage your audience. 

   3. Contests. Everyone loves free things. Offer something from your brand as a prize for a contest. 

3. Promote others in your field. This is a way to keep content diverse but can also be used in situations where you may not have the exact information they need so you send them to where they can get it. Your audience will appreciate that you care that they receive the information they’re looking for whether they get it from you or not. In turn, promoting others in your field will make them more apt to promote you as well should it be necessary. Cross promotion is a powerful thing. And supporting others is cool too! 

4. Create influencer relationships. Using influencers who believe in your brand to help promote it. Typically, a post for a freebie or discount is standard. This helps consumers trust your brand more and this type of marketing is expected to keep increasing in 2022.

5. Personalize engagement and be timely. Answer direct messages in a timely manner. Show that there is human behind the brand. 

Having high engagement will get your brand a higher ranking on social media platforms. The algorithm shows that people find it relevant and valuable. This means it puts even more eyes on it in the field getting your brand even more followers and so on and on it goes.

How to Develop Good KPI’s for Ad Campaigns

Measuring your ad campaign metrics are crucial for your campaigns in order to see what is working and what may need to be adjusted. There is no one size fits all to determine what KPI’s your brand should be using. It will depend on the overall goals of the brand and what the goal is for the campaign. Here are some steps to take when determining what KPI’s to use for your campaign efforts.

1. Look at business goals and objectives. Is your business goal to increase brand awareness or is it to market a new product or service?

2. Set SMART marketing goals for the campaign. 

   1. Specific

   2. Measurable

   3. Achievable 

   4. Realistic 

   5. Timely

3. Write out your KPI’s. Once the SMART goals have been set up, create your list and write it down. Make it clear and concise for your employees to understand. 

4.  Decide how you will measure. This will also depend on what your goals are. Let’s say you want to increase leads. Therefore, to measure the effectiveness of this campaign you would measure new subscriptions. 

You can see why a brand can’t use industry standard KPI’s due to the personalized nature of business goals. Using KPI’s will assist your brand in tracking the progress of marketing campaigns. Just a few common KPI’s that are tracked would be ROI, cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value and conversion rates. These are only just a few of many. Focus on crucial metrics between 2-4 KPI’s per campaign as to not get overwhelmed with too much data.

And as always, we suggest using some User-Generated Content! The ROI is always much higher. Real people trust real people!