COVID-19 has not only changed the world we live in, but it’s also significantly altered what we, as consumers, expect from brands. For content creators, the pandemic has presented a slew of challenges, the most critical being creating consistently compelling content with dwindling marketing budgets. However, in the wake of a worldwide shutdown in 2020 that had brands scrambling to pivot, User Generated Content (UGC) became a lifeline for smart content marketers – and it paid off.
According to recent studies, 90% of consumers reported that UGC influences their decisions to make purchases, which outranked all other forms of marketing. So, if you’re looking to produce high-quality content at scale and on a regular basis, one great way of doing so is to crowdsource. No one knows your readers better than they know themselves, and in this economy, your brand simply can't compete with the collective knowledge of an entire audience, so why not use this to your advantage? Join Wordsmith to find out how brands can successfully leverage User Generated Content (UGC) to empower consumers.
Brands must make use of their “owned media”. This refers to content that your brand has 100% control over, which helps to generate and nurture leads – this can include company blogs, official social media accounts, informative eBooks, etc. However, if your content marketing strategy solely focuses on owned media alone, your brand may end up being seen as product-centric, over-technical and self-serving which can ultimately result in a lack of consumer engagement. There’s only so much a brand can achieve in terms of lead generation and consumer loyalty if all of its conversations and interactions are one-way. To be successful, you need to build a community of engaged consumers.
Communities can be powerful. The stronger your community, the higher likelihood that these people will help to sustain your business. When it comes to establishing your brand as a thought leader and innovator in your industry, nothing is more compelling than having the backing of your strong community. Just take a look at the proof, not only do 80% of brands say that their community-building efforts have resulted in increased traffic but 86% of Fortune 500 companies say that communities provide actionable insights into their customers’ needs that ultimately help their ROI to skyrocket.
Marketers shouldn’t underestimate the value of brand recommendations from real people. If you can find a way to increase the chances of consumers sharing their delight with your products/services, you can begin to build a considerable supply of user-generated marketing materials with which you can generate new consumers to add to your community of happy buyers. This process is known as “earned media”.
Earned media refers to the media exposure your brand earns through word-of-mouth. Some of it could be a result of your brand’s SEO efforts or high-quality content going viral, but another big chunk of earned media comes from UGC. But why wait for individuals to start talking about your brand when you can open unique channels for them to create their own UGC on your website, forums or social media platforms? By doing this, you not only help to build your community through social proof, but it also provides you with user-created value which in turn offers even more opportunities for engagement and opens up the dialogue for two-way conversations.
This gives users the chance to express themselves and gain recognition from an engaged audience. For brands, this helps them improve user engagement, increase consumer satisfaction, build a stronger community, heighten online visibility through Google search rankings and also instil consumer loyalty. It's a win-win situation. UGC also helps to create a unique competitive advantage for brands that is inherently difficult for others to replicate because communities can't simply be copied.
Below are four key ways brands can leverage their user-generated content:
Encourage participation through incentivising
A great way to motivate your growing community to create stellar pieces of UGC is by organising a social media competition or contest. Humans are competitive by nature, that’s how we’re hard-wired to think. Research has shown that when we engage in a competition, and especially when we win, our brain's reward system releases a rush of dopamine, “the feel-good hormone”, into our brains. So, it comes as no surprise that UGC contests perform well on social media. Incentivising individuals in your community to submit a photo, videos or reviews in exchange for a prize at the end of an allotted time frame, can be a fantastic way to engage, reward and entertain your audiences.
Spencer Hadelman, CEO of Advantage Marketing, agrees, commenting that contests are “…a great way to repurpose UGC as it calls upon audiences to give their best submissions. You can use the existing content to set an example for other potential future consumer content. The main incentive for the consumer is exposure, to grab that moment in the spotlight.” T.Maxwell, Marketing Strategist from eMaximize, echoes Spencer by explaining, “If a brand truly understands what’s resonating with its base, and UGC is the goal, then give the people what they want: fame and fortune! Heavily promote an online contest for fans to develop content for your brand. Pick a winner, promote the content and reward the creator through publicising their content.”
Timely contests are a popular option for brands that are looking to gain exposure and drive engagement, and no one knows that better than coffee giant, Starbucks. Even though we’re all not ready to crack out the Bing Crosby just yet, Starbucks Customers always eagerly anticipate the iconic #RedCupContest UGC campaign.
Starbucks’ seasonal campaign incentivises fans to participate and engage online by asking users to submit creative shots of their coffees in Starbucks’ branded festival cups to be in with the chance of being one of their lucky 9 winners to win a $500 Starbucks gift card. This campaign not only helped Starbucks collect thousands of spectacular UGC images and content to repost, but it also helped to generate sales, because users had to buy a red cup to create the content. The results speak for themselves. On the 4th day of the contest, Starbucks received over 40,000 photos of #RedCupContest entries, with some Instagram posts receiving 300,000 likes, making this campaign a resounding success that not only bolstered user engagement but also online visibility and sales.
Tap into trends your audiences love
Emilie Tabor, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of IMA - Influencer Marketing Agency, explains that one of the best ways to empower individuals to create UGC is to, “Start off by understanding your target audience and their behaviour, and then try tapping into a trend they love, as it will increase your chances of user participation. As an example, the newer generations love TikTok challenges. To maximise exposure, collaborate with influencers or micro-influencers to kick your campaign off, give it that human touch and encourage the general audience to adopt it!”
Much like when you’re creating your brand’s “owned media” like company blog posts or in-house social media content, it’s important to listen to your audiences to find out what they’re interested in and what their needs are. You can then use this audience research to develop interesting topics, themes and subjects that will encourage them to engage with your brand and create compelling UGC for free.
An example of stellar brand-focused user-generated content is the astounding collection of visual content that’s continuously shared by GoPro owners. GoPro has tapped into their audiences’ love for travel and passion for creating incredible photography and video. Over the years, GoPro has successfully been growing its community of engaged consumers by giving users platforms to share and upload their jaw-dropping content. And what’s surprising is that most haven’t been compensated for their enthusiasm, they’re just real examples of true brand advocates who love their GoPro products are keen to create UGC content that shows how their products work in action.
Offer rewards, discounts and freebies
Offering strategic rewards also helps to bolster fresh UGC content and continued engagement. The largest cash incentive challenge to date is their GoPro Million Dollar Challenge. Co-launching alongside GoPro’s latest camera release launch date every year, GoPro wants to encourage both the purchase of the newest GoPro and the creation of high-quality UGC content.
Each contestant has 3 months to film and submit their content, and at the end of the Million Dollar Challenge, GoPro creates a highlight reel across their website and social media channels showcasing all of the winning videos. In their last challenge, GoPro received over 42,000 clips with 45 winning creators splitting the million-dollar prize. Thanks to their UGC campaign, GoPro has not only sky-rocketed their engagement and online visibility, but they’ve also collected a mass of free, high-quality content to promote across their social media platforms for months. This allows GoPro to post 4x more each month than their closest competitors, which gives them fantastic opportunities to engage potential new customers.
Connect with influencers who resonate with your audience
Leveraging influencer marketing is one of the best ways to engage fans. Ricky Ray Butler, CEO of Branded Entertainment Network (BEN), suggests to “Partner with different creators to boost the message and content around a specific trend. It’s important to remember that you should always lean on creators’ expertise to guide the content creation process; they know their platform and audiences better than anyone and will work to ensure an integration feels authentic and natural”.
Even throughout the pandemic influencer marketing’s popularity and demand show no signs of slowing down; in fact, research predicts that brands will spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. Why? Because it’s a great way of encouraging UGC. Influencers and micro-influencers know how to create unique content that is genuine to them and their followers, giving your brand social proof that can be used across brand-owned websites, social feeds and newsletters to further boost SEO and visibility, while also giving you fresh UGC content.
Aligning with influencers and thought leaders whose aesthetic, values, message and audience are akin to your brand is essential for the success of the partnership and encouraging engagement. Partnering with Microsoft, National Geographic were able to achieve outstanding UGC engagement that resulted in over 3.5million social likes in one day. How? By tapping into their rosters of leading female explorers, scientists and notable thought leaders in the field to activate their “Make What’s Next” Initiative. Timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, the #MakeWhatsNext campaign celebrated women inventors in the hopes of inspiring young girls to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). With only 6.7% of women worldwide graduating with STEM degrees, this campaign aims to tap into what girls, parents and educators can do to help girls stay interested in STEMs.
Combining National Geographic’s expertise in science and creative storytelling with Microsoft’s advanced technology leadership, they set out to empower girls to change the world and be the ones to #MakeWhatsNext. Through a mix of Facebook LIVE and in-person events, key influencers from National Geographic and Microsoft (including a volcanologist, astrophysicist, marine biologist/photographer, non-profit co-founder, space architect and ecologist) were able to reach out to young girls across the world and create inspirational content that in turn spurred on consumer engagement and a flurrying of UGC.
But they didn’t stop there, National Geo and Microsoft wanted to go further than UGC and encouraged girls that interacted with the campaign to channel their incredible innovative ideas by joining a new patent program. The first of its kind, this program is specifically aimed at young female inventors, where they’ll receive the guidance and funding needed to file a patent to help on their way to #MakeWhatComesNext.
Combining both Nat Geo’s and Microsoft far-reaching social media footprint, and the key thought leader’s social media footprint, #MakeWhatComesNext was made accessible to a global audience, launching in 30 languages across 90 different countries. And the world took notice. Within a month, the campaign not only received 184 million media impressions, 754,000 shares and 14 million views of video content but both Nat Geo’s and Microsoft’s brand sentiment hit an unprecedented 83% and 99.8%, respectively, as the search for “women inventors” more than tripled.
As much as brands focus their energy on creating stellar “owned media” through company blog posts and in-house social media, it’s essential that they also give as much energy towards cultivating and nurturing “earned media”. Encouraging user-generated content not only makes consumers feel valued, seen and appreciated, but it allows you to build a truly engaged community full of loyal consumers, and that, is truly priceless.