User-generated content, or UGC, is any internet content that’s created by a person, not a brand. UGC is usually in the form of a review, testimonial, image, or video. For example, it could be a photo of you enjoying a delicious Thai meal that you upload to Instagram with the restaurant tagged. You’ve just provided the restaurant with some great UGC. If you’re neglecting UGC for your business, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity in your marketing strategy.
Why Add UGC to Your Marketing Strategy?
People Trust Other People More Than Brands
Let’s say you’re in the market for new noise-canceling headphones. You know about a few brands, but you aren’t sure which one is best. You’ve seen advertisements, visited websites, and talked to a store salesperson about Brand A and Brand B, but all of those avenues are trying to sell to you. Your next step is to look at product reviews from verified customers. You find that people like you prefer Brand B because the headphones sound better.
The reviews end up influencing you to buy Brand B because you are more likely to trust another person than a targeted brand marketing message.
Authenticity Establishes Trust
UGC is perceived as the most authentic content. As unbiased information shared by individuals, it plays a part in humanizing your brand. Authenticity has become even more important with so many of us shopping online during the pandemic.
UGC Saves You Time & Money
Think about the amount of time you spend generating content for social channels as part of your marketing strategy. You need to plan, create imagery, edit, upload, and write a caption for every post. With UGC, your social community is creating content for you. Intersperse users’ content in your feed. It takes less time than creating your own and the time savings add up—especially if you’re posting frequently.
UGC Improves SEO
Consumers love UGC, especially reviews. And Google wants consumers to have access to the most useful, valuable, relevant content—so it loves sites with embedded customer reviews. In fact, sites that leverage customer reviews generally see significant, measurable benefits such as increased organic traffic and click-through rates.
Statistics Don’t Lie
According to a study from Stakla:
- 90% of people believe that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support
- Consumers are 2.4x more likely to say user-generated content is most authentic
- 79% of consumers say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions
- Consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content when making a purchase decision
Take advantage of UGC marketing by adding user-generated content to your marketing strategy now! Ask us how to get started today.
Related Posts
3 Benefits of Remarketing Every Business Should Know
There are dozens of reasons why the marketing campaigns you put out in the summer didn’t convert into paying customers. Maybe they got distracted when visiting your website, or their finances didn’t allow it. Or maybe they meant to return to your page but forgot your name and couldn’t figure out how to find you again. Here are three reasons you shouldn’t give up hope, and try remarketing your business instead.
How to Utilize Marketing and Email Automation
Worried about your marketing efforts while on vacation? Taking time off is not easy for a business owner or marketing professional. You probably plan to make phone calls, answer emails, and respond to requests during your downtime. KP Kreative believes that running a business successfully requires a bit of rest and relaxation. This is why we've created a list of tips to help you keep your digital marketing campaign afloat!
3 Marketing Tips to Get Sports Fans Cheering For More
Sports fans are unlike any other community you could ever hope to market to. Why? Because “fan” is just a shortened version of the word fanatic. And if you’re dealing with a demographic that is downright obsessed with the sport you’re involved in, their love and passion is your best leverage. So here are three of the best ways to supercharge your social media marketing to sports fans.