The Power of User-Generated Content

By Jackie Wilson.

User-generated content (UGC) is content created by your customers or clients. It can come in various forms—reviews and testimonials, photos or videos shared on social media, or even just a simple mention of your brand or product in a post or a blog.

And if you want to know why you need to be paying close attention to it, and more to the point, why you should encourage it and leverage it at every available opportunity, read on.

Building Trust and Authenticity through UGC 

As marketing has increasingly moved into the online world, channels of communication between brands and customers have opened up that previously didn’t exist. Via social media, blogs and interactive websites, people who have used and loved a product or service now find it easy to tell the stories of their experiences for others to share. (They also find it easy to share their disappointment or disgust if something doesn’t measure up—but that’s a story for another day.)

Enter stage-left: User-Generated Content (UGC).

Many of the world’s biggest brands now use this kind of content, created by happy customers, right across their marketing. And it’s powerful. 

Think about it. Social proof has always been a vital element of marketing, and from straightforward customer reviews to elaborate reels and videos from fans, UGC is increasingly making an impact in a big—and, more importantly, measurable—way.

Just a small selection of stats:

•  82% of consumers say they’d be more likely to purchase from a brand that uses UGC in their marketing.
•  86% say they’d be more likely to trust a brand that publishes user-created content as opposed to influencer content.
•  60% of consumers regard UGC as the most authentic form of marketing content.

Not only does UGC bring credibility to your marketing claims by underscoring them with warm and emphatic praise from actual customers and clients, but It also goes a long way towards creating an engaged community of followers and customers, particularly on social media, who are not only likely to pass recommendations among themselves but to share with family and friends. Brand advocates, in other words.

GoPro is one company that built its brand around user-generated content, encouraging users to share their adventures using GoPro cameras. People enthusiastically participated, and the user-generated videos were shared across the brand’s social media platforms. 

Over time, this has created a powerful feedback loop, and the GoPro YouTube channel has over 10 million subscribers.

And we all know and love Fenty Beauty, right? Founded by music mega-star Rihanna, the brand promises inclusion and leveraged UGC right from its launch in 2017 by encouraging customers to share their makeup looks on Instagram using the hashtag #FentyFace. The community engages in conversations daily and the brand’s Instagram alone has 13 million followers.

And What About You? 

So … what if we don’t all have the celebrity status of a major star to help boost our brand?

UGC’s magic lies precisely in its accessibility to all. It’s low-cost and readily available to anyone and even if you have a relatively small audience or mailing list, there are ways that you can begin to get the word out and build an audience for your product or service.

To encourage and incentivise customers to share content, it’s best to focus on making it easy and rewarding.

Invite your social media followers, customers and clients to share content—photos or reels, reviews and comments—with a specific hashtag. You can share this hashtag and draw more attention to the campaign in your more ‘traditional’ marketing material.

Reward customers who share feedback with discounts or freebies. You can even offer a small prize to those who tag your brand.

Curate any UGC to use on your social media, newsletters, or website. Highlighting real customer experiences is what builds trust above all else. Some of your audience might create and tag with the sole purpose of sharing your platform and audience!

Important: Be sure to engage with the content that users share. Be an active part of the community so that your audience feels valued—and shares even more!

So, in Summary 

For small and micro-businesses, especially those founded by women, user-generated content is a powerful tool to help amplify trust and build credibility. It’s organic, raw and honest, speaking directly from the people who know your products and services best: the users. 

And let’s not forget: UGC is cost-effective, leveraging the voice of your community to market for you. It’s about turning happy customers into passionate storytellers for your business.

So, just one question remains: What are you waiting for?!

Jackie is the founder-owner of BrickHouse, a small content creation company that mainly serves SMEs, and a media professionals with many years of standing.

She has over 25 years of experience as a freelance writer, broadcaster, and media trainer. She is a scrupulously precise editor who is utterly pedantic and very word-choosy. As a trainer, she worked with young journalists and reporters in parts of Africa and Central Asia–something she still sees as thoroughly rewarding and the most fun to be had while working.

Her content these days includes marketing copy, but she describes herself as a storyteller rather than a copywriter. A journalist to the bone, she does nothing without research, and the research object is her client’s story.