Ways to Incorporate UGC Into Your Marketing Strategy

It’s no secret that we love UGC. It’s what we do and we’re passionate about it! We deal with UGC in the advertising campaign spaces mostly. However, there are some other areas of marketing that you can use this powerful tool. First, let’s talk about UGC in advertising since that’s what we specialize in. This is a great way to get consumers to trust your brand seeing real people in real-life situations that your audience can relate to. This type of UGC marketing will increase your ROI immensely. Let’s dive in to the other ways your brand can use it for marketing strategies.

1.     Promote your next product launch. UGC influences purchases so using it promote a new product is a great way to get new customers.

2.     Highlight your customers. Everyone likes to be appreciated. Highlighting your top customers through UGC photos and videos will not only make them feel great but it will increase your brand awareness through reposts and reshares. This is great for increasing brand awareness.

3.     UGC in advertising. As we listed above, UGC is one of the best ways to create an emotional connection with your audience. People trust real people in real-life situations that they can relate to.

If you’re interested in learning more about how UGC can help your brand grow contact us today. The benefits of UGC marketing and advertising just keep growing. Every campaign that we’ve ever done for advertising agencies has been successful to say the least. Don’t wait to get UGC into your marketing and advertising strategies. Trust us. We know a little something about this one.

The Future of Video Content Creation

Social media has been growing and evolving over the past 15 years, so what’s in store for the future of content creation? We don’t have a crystal ball but we do have some ideas. This is what we predict for the future of video content.

1.     Tailored content. Video content will be tailored to fit each platform. For example, Instagram is big for reels right now, where TikTok is short form video. These trends will constantly change and will have to be adapted to on each.

2.     Livestream increase. This has been growing and we think it will only continue for content creation.

3.     Silent video content. Look at Khaby Lame. He’s made this trend blow up. However, it won’t be totally silent. Voice over is a new and growing trend so expect to see this over the silent video.

4.     Vlogs. This is just a glorified way of saying story telling. This is a great way for brands to tell their story and connect with consumers.

5.     Individuals. Not everyone has to be an influencer to create great content and the more people do it, the better they get. We source many of our user generated content videos from people who would be considered the average joe. We truly believe that the future of video content creation will be for the individual users. Real people, doing real things, in their everyday lives.

6.     Short form video. We all know attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Content creation will follow suit. Short form video will take the lead.

Though, we can’t say whether or not our predictions will come true, we will be keeping up with trends as they come along. Video content has come so far and we’re excited to see where it continues to go.

"More Human Than Human" Humanizing Your Brand Voice

Consumer trust is one of the most important aspects for the success of your business. Your brand voice is one way to secure this. Of course, UGC being the first. Wink, Wink. People respond to real people. Authentic people. This also adds to the personalization that everyone now expects in their customer experiences. So, having a unique voice that resonates with your audience is a way to create transparency but how do you do that? Think of your brand as an entity. A person. Who is this person who represents your business? What is their personality? What do they care about? Make sure that their tone is approachable and engaging that speaks your customer’s language. Here are some more tips on ways to humanize your brand’s voice.

1.     Transparency. Share your story. All of it. The good. The bad. The ugly. People appreciate honesty. This will help them empathize with your brand and its journey when they see there are real people with real stories behind the scenes. 

2.     Gratitude. Celebrate wins and give thanks to the community that devotes their loyalty to you. Gratitude creates abundance in your business and your personal life.

3.     Relationships. The foundation of any partnership, whether it be business or personal, is the prosperous, valuable relationship between two parties. Your customer is a person. With their own story. Focusing on engaging with them and connecting with them on a personal level. This will deepen the bond in an organic and genuine way.

4.     Availability. Be available. There should always be a real person on social media to respond to comments, reviews, questions and messages. Don’t leave people with impersonal bounce back messages. Although, these are ok for the short-term, make sure to reach out in response to them in a timely manner.  

5.     Blog. Keeping a blog on the brand’s website shows that you stay current in your industry. You stay educated in your field and that gives you credibility. Not to mention, it improves your SEO. If written correctly blogs should be conversational that easily invite others to read them. Thus, showing you’re a real person on the other side of the screen and not just some AI machine.

Showing your human side through your brand voice will only increase its success. Being relatable makes stronger connections and it makes you more interesting. Mysterious is out! Relatable and transparent is in! Stand out from the crowd with your brand’s unique, humanized voice to tell its story. Your loyal audience will thank you and so will your employees.

How UGC Can Help Recession Proof Your Brand

50% of people say that they are already experiencing financial hardships due to inflation (Gallup). Most brands are already cutting budgets or see it on the horizon due to the fact that their consumers are already watching their spending more frivolously. During these times, the best way to keep your audience is through brand loyalty that is fueled by trust and transparency. UGC checks all of those boxes and will be less costly than traditional advertising. 92% of consumers trust UGC more than traditional marketing and it cost 62% less than traditional marketing, according to Demand Metric Report. Brands and ad agencies listen up. This can help you during times of economic downturns that result it cut backs on advertising budgets. Harnessing the affordability of UGC campaigns can save your brand a ton of dough and time since the turnaround time is much faster than production campaigns. You can save money while increasing brand trust through adopting a UGC campaign strategy for your ads. It’s really a win, win situation so what are you waiting for?

Contact ustoday for your consultation.

Top Reasons to Adopt UGC Into Your Advertising Strategy

It’s no secret that we love user generated content pieces. We’ll scream it to the mountain tops and swear by its effectiveness. We’ve written articles on the cost effectiveness of UGC, building brand trust with UGC and overall UGC statistics for making our case. But…just in case you aren’t sold yet, we’ve decided to put a list together to show you just why you should incorporate it into your advertising if you haven’t already.

1.     Increased customer engagement. People are more likely to share content created with UGC. Millennials share more UGC as well. There is a “28% increased engagement rate when UGC and product videos merge” (Comscore). 

2.     Brands are focusing on UGC. 16% of brands have an effective UGC marketing strategy already and 86% of companies understand the importance of it according to an article in Taggbox.

3.     Increases return visitors. Digital Information World Brands claims that brands featuring UGC on their sites have a 20% return rate.

4.     High impact. People spend more time watching UGC than produced content and it has a higher impact on the viewers.

Do you believe us now? We hope we’ve made you a believer as we fully trust what UGC has to offer in the advertising space. Contact us now for your consultation to get started! 

UGC Stats

We’ve all heard it a million times now. People trust people more than paid actors. It’s for this reason and many others that user generated content is now at the forefront of digital advertising. The purpose of this blog is to shine some light on some statistics about user generated content, otherwise known as sourced content.

·      79% of people are strongly influenced by UGC when making purchase decisions (Rachna & Khajuria 2017).

·      71% of people have positive attitudes toward UGC in digital advertisements (Rachna & Khajuria 2017).

·      73% of people believe that the presence of “real people” is the most important component of sourced content (Olapic Survey).

·      Consumers are 3x more likely to say content created by a consumer is authentic compared to content created by a brand (Stackla).

·      Roughly 70% of advertisers believe that sourced content is more cost effective than traditional advertising (Catch & Release Survey).

·      90% of consumers say that UGC influences their decision to make a purchase (Cision PR Newswire).

·      Demographically, Gen Z YouTube viewers prefer UGC to professional videos more than older generations (YouTube 2020).

·      Ads that feature UGC garnered 73% more positive comments on social networks than traditional ads (IAB Study).  

·      UGC generates a 25% higher ad performance than traditional advertisements (AdAge).

·      85% of companies incorporate UGC in their marketing strategy (Semrush).

·      Almost half of customers say that UGC is a way for them to discover new products (Forrester.com)

·      UGC is 35% more memorable comparable to other media (Mediapost).

·      92% of consumers trust UGC more than traditional marketing (Marketing Insider).

This is reason enough to make sure your brand is incorporating sourced content into the advertising strategy. Of course, we will always believe it is one of the best ways to connect with your audience but don’t just take our word for it, let us show you. Contact us today for a free brief evaluation!

Consumer Empowerment Through UGC

A customer who feels empowered is a customer for life. People who feel supported by a brand to make smarter choices will then develop a stronger bond with that brand. With the continued digital space for advertising and brand promotion, the communication between customers and the brand has ultimately changed. The customer now has the power to state what they want, what they need and what they expect from brands. Businesses that listen to their customers will lead to an increase in overall customer satisfaction and retention rates. With social media, customers can now connect with their favorite brands online. This is where UGC can come into play for your brand to empower its audience. User generated content can be created by anyone, anywhere. Your brand will benefit from creating customer empowerment through the use of UGC. We’ve all seen videos on product reviews and promotional videos from a customer at some point while scrolling through the gram or YouTube. This is where customers feel empowered to be part of a brand’s journey. They are invested with them as their values align. Social media now gives customers authority on decision making for a brand. They will publicly state whether or not they like a product and you want them to like it but if not, this is where the brand can benefit from the feedback and make changes for the benefit of the consumer by way of the consumer, if that makes sense. Brands can also license this UGC content from their audience in order to further promote their brand and/or products. It’s a feedback loop where everyone wins. Most brands now understand the importance of sourced content within their advertising strategy but if yours has not, it’s time to start looking into it. Contact us today!