USER GENERATED CONTENT – REDEFINING MARKETING

Let’s get honest. We are plagued with more acronyms and fancy buzz words than we can handle.

Brands are fighting day and night to find something innovative and interactive with a tendency to go viral. And with their luck, some brands can hit that string right. Right now, there is only one strategy that is living up to the hype especially when it comes to social media and that is UGC.

Representing a simple way to engage customers and to build up your online presence, brands are using this strategy to penetrate in the lives of their consumers. To build up your brand’s reputation, user generated content is the cornerstone of social media.

Rather than constantly howling over the innovative and new ways to engage your audience, you can design a UGC campaign and let your followers do the legwork for you. Plus, it keeps them busy and engage as well. So, technically it’s a win-win for both.

So, what is UGC?

When you first read about this term it might appear a little lofty but the idea behind the concept is simple.
“UGC represents organic content created on behalf of your followers, fans or consumers. For example, testimonials, pictures, hashtags, shout-outs and check-ins”

How does it help Businesses?

Here are three key reasons UGC is a key marketing strategy you can’t ignore:

Authenticity:

Consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated content as authentic compared to content created by brands. That offers brands an important credibility boost, since most people say less than half of brands create authentic content.

Create Trust:

Whether it’s a product, a service, or an experience, modern consumers want to know what they’re going to get before they order. For example, 30 percent of millennials would not go to a restaurant if the location’s Instagram presence was not up to snuff. They just don’t trust that the experience would be what they are looking for.

Keep in mind that those diners are checking the restaurant’s own profile and content from other customers.

It’s all about creating trust. A full 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know, and 70 percent trust online consumer opinions.

Drive purchasing decisions:
Nearly 80 percent of people say UGC has a high impact on their purchasing decisions.

Don’t forget Instagram Stories when sharing user-generated content designed to drive purchases. Combining the immediacy of Stories with the staying power of Highlights, you can create a lasting album that lets potential buyers keep watching for as long as they need to feel comfortable heading to your website to buy.