Every December, Starbucks holds the #redcupcontest.

Inviting people to submit creative photographs of their coffees, for the chance to win a gift card.

The result?

Over 35K+ posts across social media talking about the brand. 

The #Redcupcontest is a perfect example of how to get customers to promote your brand. 

Consumers today want authentic, relatable content. And this content can be sourced from actual users, bringing unmatched levels of authenticity and engagement. Studies also show that 70% of consumers value peer recommendations and reviews over professionally written content. User-generated content marketing can be a vital tool for your business growth.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What is UGC Influencer Marketing?
• Why is User-generated Content For Influencer Marketing Important?
• How to Run a Successful UGC Influencer Marketing Campaign?
• Best UGC Influencers Marketing Campaign Incentives

What is UGC Influencer Marketing?

User-generated content is any type of content that is created and posted by consumers online on social platforms. Brands can leverage this content by collaborating with influencers in their existing customer network. It’s a powerful tool for both brand and influencers because,

• Marketers organically engage with their target audience, and
• Influencers are rewarded for endorsing products or services.

Why is User-generated Content For Influencer Marketing Important?

Here’s what UGC influencer marketing can do for your business:

1. Encourages engagement (Brand engagements rise by 28% when consumers are exposed to user-generated content).

2. Builds consumer trust in your brand (Eighty-six percent of millennials say that user-generated content is generally a good indicator of the quality of a brand or service).

3. Drives sales (Eighty-four percent of millennials report that UGC on company websites has at least some influence on what they buy).

4. UGC is cost-effective (On average, UGC can save brands $72,000 on the cost of a specialized content producer).

5. Increases brand’s reach (Twenty-five percent of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content).

If all these benefits of UGC have you intrigued then keep reading. We’ve come up with a few suggestions to help you develop the best UGC influencer marketing plan possible.

How to Run a Successful UGC Influencer Marketing Campaign?

1. Set Goals and KPIs

Before you deploy your UGC campaign, ask yourself and your team – How the campaign connects with the customers and what goals it will accomplish? Having specific goals can guide your overall UGC marketing strategy.

Furthermore, setting up key performance indicators (KPIs) can also help you measure the efficiency of your UGC campaign. Here are some common performance metrics to keep in mind:

• Cost per acquisition
• Conversion rates
• Content costs
• Ad impressions
• Click-through rate
• Social follows
• Customer retention rates
• Revenue generated

2. Identify your most satisfied customers (NPS)

Positive user testimonials and reviews online are crucial in attracting new consumers, and businesses are always looking for innovative ways to increase their numbers. 

Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys to identify your most loyal and satisfied customers. Along with collecting net promoter scores, you can include questions to understand why they love your brand or products. Finally, have your support team follow up with them through online interactions to encourage them to create user-generated content for your brand and post it on social media.

3. Unveil the power of UGC video

UGC can increase your brand’s reach but if it’s video, it can do wonders. Research states that 79% of consumers have watched a video testimonial to learn more about a company, product, or service.

Let’s look at an example. Coca-Cola’s marketing team recently came up with the concept of a TV commercial composed entirely of sourced user content. This started to see massive reach all over.

Why did this work?

Studies show that 63% of consumers were annoyed by generic brand ads. Also, Customers trust each other more than they trust branded content.

Using user-generated video content, Coca-cola turned consumers into advocates for its brand effortlessly. This is what UGC marketing is all about. 

You can leverage UGC videos for your business’s marketing too. Find your most loyal customers and reach out to them. Collect user-generated video content from these customers, and use it to influence consumers’ trust and promote your business. 

But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Here’s how UGC tools can help:

4. Use UGC Video Tools

User-generated content (UGC) platforms enable brands to find, schedule, and track user-generated content all in one place. Have a look at some of the features a good UGC tool can provide:

– Automatic collection of UGC

Collecting user-generated content is going to be an integral part of your campaign. Most of these platforms provide an automated process for collecting and showcasing content posted by customers. These can include reviews on your brand’s website, visual content on social channels, etc.

– Easily manage UGC

UGC content platforms have dashboards to organize the creation, review, and approval of content. This can improve the overall efficiency of your campaign by bringing data from across different digital platforms to one dashboard.

– Track user/influencer performance

It’s important to keep track of each influencers’ performance and measure the impact of their content. Performance analytics makes it easy to track engagement rates and revenue driven by each influencer. 

– Automate the issue of rewards

When you run a UGC campaign on a large scale, it can be difficult to measure and manage the performance of each user and then issue them rewards accordingly. 

But some platforms automate this process for you. For example, Happine’s AI-powered system measures the performance of each user/influencer and automatically issues rewards to influencers when they hit a milestone specified by you.

Best UGC Influencers Marketing Campaign Incentives

1. Organize contests and giveaways

A social media contest is a great strategy to collect content from your followers. Host simple yet fun product contests that will get your fans to voice their opinions on your brand. Creating custom hashtags for your fans to use when posting can expand your brand reach.

2. Product reviews

Customer reviews and ratings are certainly the most influential kind of UGC. Ask your customers to rate you and identify the ones who are happy with your product or service. Ask these happy customers to submit reviews on your product or service.

Here’s are a few tips to boost the process:

• Make sure to respond to reviews online, this shows that you’re paying attention to your consumers.
• Offer rewards and incentives to entice customers.

3. Offer discounts

As per our social media research, 86% of consumers would “like” a company’s Facebook page if it offers discounts and incentives on the products.

So, giving customers discounts on items they buy on a regular basis can be an excellent approach to expand your brand’s reach and build a loyal customer base. It can also help you retain existing customers and start conversations about your brand.

4. Brand influencers

Collaborating with influencers can be a great way to get loyal customers to generate content for your business regularly. Create exclusive benefits and perks for these influencers in return for the content.

5. Create unique hashtags

Creating a unique hashtag for your brand can help you keep track of user-generated content across social channels. Run hashtag challenges to encourage customers to post more content about your brand or product. 

6. Question and answers

Customers may learn a lot about your brand and items by offering a question and answer session. You provide a feeling of peer endorsement by inviting your consumers to participate in this conversation. This also allows your brand’s fans to show and prove their loyalty to the brand.

Final words

User-generated content can not only bring leads and revenue for your business, but it can also encourage conversations and build a community around your brand. UGC is definitely worth considering in your marketing strategy, and we hope that this post will help you in building a UGC marketing campaign for your brand.

And if you’re starting out, we would suggest you use a UGC tool like Happine, that can help you easily manage, track, automate, and implement your UGC marketing campaign.

When done right, this cost-effective strategy can be the best way to turn visitors into loyal customers.