IMPOTRANCE OF USER GENERATED CONTENT IN MARKETING

Content does more than just filling up your website. 

It plays a pivotal role in building brand awareness, which drives traffic, with a possible conversion into sales. 

In the last couple of years, there has been an explosion in content marketing, and there are no signs of stopping. In a survey by Curata, about 74% of companies accepted, content marketing increased both the quality and the number of their inbound leads. 

Content marketing is highly effective because it focuses on creating and distributing valuable-relevant-engaging content to attract as well as retain potential customers. 

But, not all companies can tap into the benefits of User generated content marketing. 

That's because content creation and distribution take an enormous amount of time and resources. A study by GoodVid reveals that only 27% of businesses have a concrete strategy in place. 

Coming to aid is a more effortless and better way to scale your content marketing efforts without increasing your content budget. It's through User Generated Content, the benefit of which has been understood by many companies

SEMrush found in a study that 86% of businesses have tried User Generated Content. 

What is User Generated Content?

In the most simple terms, any content generated by users (instead of brands) is deemed "User Generated Content" or UGC. It can be text, videos, images, reviews, and more. Brands that actively work in this direction don't miss any opportunity to share User Generated Content on their social media accounts, and other marketing channels, as they see fit. 

Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and many other social media channels are the primary platform for users to share posts featuring brands they love and want to show off. They inadvertently, in the process, promote your products and services to their audience. 

With a perfect UGC strategy, you can grab this opportunity and share the content with your target user base. This will significantly boost the credibility of your product without producing the content yourself. 

What's more effective - you telling everyone that your product is great - or - scores of people sharing their positive experience with your product. 

How are big brands using UGC to reinforce their brand value?

When Coca Cola recently introduced its personalized coke bottles version, people went crazy for it. 

The craze among fans could be felt throughout the world. Coca-Cola took the entire hype to the next level by encouraging raving fans to share pictures of themselves enjoying coke on their social media account. This had an immediate explosive effect. 

People from all over the world were generating UGC and essentially assumed the role of advertiser and brand advocate for Coca Cola. 

This is one of the best cases where big brands made perfect UGC use to further their brand message, nurture relationships with fans, and build an army of strong brand evangelists. 

Not to mention, this campaign resulted in millions of additional revenue and a whole new brand image. 

How can UGC benefit your brand?

People don't trust marketers easily and don't buy in their pushy sales tactics in today's information age. 

In a study by Cohn & Wolfe, 63% of correspondent said that they prefer to buy from trustworthy, authentic brands only. And another study found that 92% of people trust recommendations from other people over brand content. 

And what can be a better way to build trust among your target consumers? It's User Generated content, which has always been there. Also, check this out best Multi niche blog.

Take, for example - product reviews. When was the last time you purchased something significant without considering online reviews? 

Your potential customers naturally tend to trust user-generated content because they come from unbiased sources, in comparison to content created by brands. 

Look at the image below. It garnered more than 15,000 likes and thousands of comments.

But do you think the brand would have attracted such a response, had they staged this image with an actor? 

How to get users to create content for your brand?

Big brands like Coca-Cola have deep marketing budgets. They are everywhere, from TV commercials to billboards. 

Yet, the above example shows that they understand the power of User Generated Content. 

The best thing about User Generated Content is that you don't need a big budget to move the needle. Brands don't need to pay users to create content. They do it for many reasons, such as sharing their experience or connecting with like-minded people. 

If you want your users to start creating content for your brand, you will need to get creative and think strategically. 

You will have to give them good enough reasons to start producing UGC. You can take some cue from the Coca Cola example above. You can also continue reading our blog for more ideas on UGC.