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What Are The Benefits of User-generated Content And How to Leverage UGC For Your Small Business?

Last Updated: March 2024

Let’s face it, traditional advertising no longer works as it worked a decade ago. In fact, 96% of consumers distrust advertisements. That’s why marketers have started leveraging new marketing tools to win consumers’ trust.

One of the most effective tools to influence consumers’ trust is – User-generated content.

According to a study, 72% of consumers trust user reviews as much as peer recommendations. Moreover, 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.

So, user-generated content marketing can be a game-changer strategy for your small business.

But going from traditional marketing methods to UGC isn’t an easy transition to make. This guide walks you through effective steps and tools to easily integrate UGC into your campaign today.

5 Ways to Leverage Consumer-generated Media

1. Add video reviews to your website

Studies show that 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.

Most brands already use photos to boost engagement, but video content can have more impact. And if the video content is generated by users, it can do wonders! By incorporating user-generated video content (UGC) in the form of customer testimonials, you’ll have a powerful tool to promote your business.

Some ways to use the UGC video content:

  • Add to the landing pages and various websites
  • Share it on social media
  • Use UGC videos to craft ads

– Benefit: Increase credibility and authenticity

One of the strongest advantages of UGC is the amount of consumer trust it can build.

2/3 of consumers say they’re more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product, or service helped someone like them.

It’s no surprise that people can relate to a peer’s customer experience more easily than they can to branded content. Leveraging customer testimonials in your marketing can potentially build credibility among new customers.

2. Sharing UGC on social media

You might be already interacting with your audience on social platforms. And it can be a great place to leverage the power of UGC.

Brands are also choosing to partner with micro/nano-influencers to share authentic content on social media. According to research, over 80% of marketers find influencer marketing effective.

Why? Research shows that micro-influencers on social channels have 22.2 times more conversations weekly about recommendations on what to buy when compared to an average consumer.

So, sharing UGC on social media and collaborating with influencers can be a great way to leverage UGC.

– Benefit: Boost traffic and conversion

UGC on social media may be the most effective way to increase conversions and generate leads for your business. The numbers say it all:  When brands use user-generated content, they see a 161% increase in conversions across all industries.

Furthermore, Nearly 80% of people say UGC has a high impact on their purchasing decisions.

3. Encourage users to make video testimonials

More than half (50%) of consumers wish brands would tell them what kind of content to create and share.

The point is – Your loyal customers want to talk about products online, but most companies don’t give them a platform or guidelines on how to do so.

And connecting with your customers and encouraging them to talk about your product can be a great way to leverage UGC marketing.

Some ways to encourage your customers to create video testimonials:

  • Contests: Start video contests under branded hashtags to give them a channel to post content about your brand.
  • UGC Tools: Consider using influencer marketing platforms that help reach out to your customers to collect valuable content.

– Benefit: Improves engagement

User-generated posts shared on social channels see a 28% higher engagement rate than standard brand posts. Also, UGC helps engage existing users by motivating them to get featured for the brand. This study shows that 60% of people preferred to share UGC because it allowed them to get more likes or to have their content featured by a popular brand.

4. Rewards & Giveaways

Incentivizing users is one of the most important aspects of collecting user-generated content. One way to do this is by starting a contest or giveaways and rewarding people who generate UGC for your brand.  This gives users the opportunity to talk about your products, creating powerful brand advocates.

-Benefit: Gain product exposure and save money

Organizing contests and giveaways can allow you to raise product/brand awareness. This survey shows that brands saw an increase of 62.2% in brand/product awareness from hosting contests.

In comparison to traditional marketing, gaining product exposure this way is more cost-efficient.

5. Use Influencer management tools

Manually Finding, managing, and analyzing UGC can be overwhelming for you. This is where an end-to-end influencer marketing platform like Happine can help.

Happine is an AI-powered platform providing marketers with built-in collaboration and content management features.

How does it work? Happine can help you identify your most satisfied and loyal customers using NPS surveys. Analyzing this data can give you valuable insights into your customer, allowing you to position and promote your product/brand more effectively.

– Benefits:

  • Collection of UGC – Team of dedicated professionals to help with influencer collaboration and content collection.
  • Manage user-generated content – Automated dashboard to easily manage user-generated content.
  • Track performance – A unique trackable link is provided that allows tracking the performance of each user/influencer.
  • Automate issue of incentives/rewards – Happine’s AI system automatically issues rewards to users when they hit a milestone specified by you.

Final words

Putting your customers in the spotlight by integrating UGC into your marketing campaigns can help your business in many ways, it can help you win consumer trust, increase your brand’s reach, and eventually, increase leads and revenue.

If you have a business and aren’t using user-generated content (UGC) to market your brand, now is the time to start. Connect with your customers and encourage them to create influential content for your brand.

And if you’re just starting out, Happine can help you begin your UGC marketing journey.

Also, you can try Saufter – the customer service software that can help you convert the UGC into a new marketing pipeline. And, it can automate and scale your customer support services.

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