Take a moment and think about the last time you scrolled through your social media feed. Did you find someone posting about their favorite product, a travel destination, or a restaurant experience? That’s UGC in action. User-generated content (UGC) has become a prime marketing weapon for businesses, opening the door for them to connect with their customers and build a reputation. We are not only saying that, but even marketers agree with that, as 93% of marketers using UGC campaigns say it performs better than traditional branded content. Even with such impact, brands often overlook UGC campaigns as they are unaware of their impacts and ways. If you want to use UGC campaigns for marketing and want to know more about them, this blog is just for you.
What is the UGC Campaign?
A UGC campaign is a marketing strategy that uses user-generated content (UGC) to promote a brand or product. The user-generated content can be of various forms, like photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, blog posts, and social media posts; brands use all the forms for their campaigns. A UGC campaign aims to build brand authenticity and influence potential customers to make their purchase decisions.
Why Does Your Brand Need a UGC Campaign?
UGC campaigns can be a game-changer for your brand. Alongside being cost-effective and having a significant impact, there are various other reasons your brand needs a UGC campaign. Here are some of the most important benefits:
1. Builds trust and authenticity
UGC is created by real customers, which makes it more authentic and trustworthy than content created by the brand itself. We all can agree that star rating and text reviews are vital for a business, but UGC takes it one step further, and that is – seeing is believing. When you showcase all the UGC for your campaign, it surely helps you build brand authenticity.
2. Increases brand awareness
When consumers share user-generated content (UGC) related to your brand across social media or other platforms, it amplifies your brand’s visibility to their entire network. A UGC campaign exposes your brand to a broader audience. Consumers who share their experiences with your brand effectively spread the word.
3. Drives engagement
UGC surely helps catch customers’ attention, as engagement is around 28% higher with UGC than professionally created content. When customers see other people interacting with your brand, they are likely to do the same, helping to achieve the desired engagement.
4. Generates leads and sales
Users often showcase the USPs of the products or services they are using or experiencing, helping customers make their choices. UGCs are so impactful that it increases conversations by 10%. When potential customers watch real people using and enjoying your products, they are more likely to be interested in trying them themselves.
5. Improves SEO
UGC can improve your website’s SEO by providing fresh, relevant content that search engines love. When customers create content about your brand, they will likely use relevant keywords and phrases that can help your website rank higher in search results.
Tips for a Successful UGC Campaign
Successful UGC campaigns require careful planning and execution. Proper planning can make the difference between a successful and unsuccessful campaign. To avoid uncertainties, consider these points while planning a UGC campaign.
1. Define your goals
Before implementing a UGC campaign to market your brand, it is essential to define your goals. Under “Define goal,” note what you want to achieve with your UGC campaign. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive engagement, or generate leads? Noting the goal can help you create a tailored campaign.
For instance, if you have a fitness brand, you can aim to inspire customers to share their workout stories. Similarly, if you have a tech company, you may focus on showcasing how your product solves everyday problems for your consumers.
2. Choose a platform
To have a successful UGC campaign, you must reach the broadest possible audience on social media. So, to choose a platform, you must know which social media platforms your target audience is most active on. Thanks to the internet and the emergence of social media, you now have various platforms, like Instagram, where users can post UGC videos or visual mediums. Or you have X, formerly known as Twitter, for text and visual mediums, and many more. There are various options, so look for the platforms on which your audience is most active.
3. Create a branded hashtag.
A branded hashtag makes it easier for customers to find and share their content. Another great benefit of having hashtags is that you can track and monitor your campaign’s progress. You can even run a contest with hashtags, using which your consumers can participate. Ensure that you choose a unique and relevant hashtag for the campaign. Also, before using a particular hashtag for your brand, conduct a quick search to ensure it isn’t already in use and avoid confusion.
4. Encourage participation
To get more people to participate in your UGC campaign, make it easy for customers to participate. Provide clear instructions, use a user-friendly platform, and offer incentives, such as prizes or discounts, to encourage more participation and streamline the process. You can encourage audiences to use UGC photos, videos, or other mediums.
5. Track and engage
Once your campaign is live, content moderation is vital. It will help you build relationships with your customers and maintain the momentum of your campaign.
To run and monitor your UGC campaign easily, you can use tools like Tagshop. Tagshop provides analytics options that help you understand the performance of your UGC campaign. Moreover, you can learn about the performance while monitoring your campaign and work accordingly.
6. Showcase and amplify
Share UGC on different platforms to amplify your campaign reach. You can use various mediums, such as sharing it on social media, featuring it in your newsletter, or embedding it on your website. Sharing UGC shows appreciation and even encourages others to participate.
Keep in mind that amplification is more than sharing. You can even add a personal touch to your shared UGC by thanking them on social media or creating a compilation. This strengthens your connection with the audience.
Why Need a UGC Platform to Run a UGC Campaign?
A UGC platform can make managing and running your UGC campaign easier. Using tools like Tagshop, you can manage and display the UGC campaign on your website. Here are some of the benefits of using a UGC platform:
1. Centralized platform
A UGC platform provides a centralized location for all your UGC content, making tracking and monitoring your campaign’s progress easy. So whether you are running UGC ads or a hashtag campaign for a visual UGC contest, you can quickly analyze it. Also, you will know where to get all the data, so finding different data sets and analyses from different sources is no hassle. Getting everything you need in one place helps you save time and organize everything.
2. Easy to use
UGC platforms are designed to be user-friendly so you can easily create and manage your campaigns. It makes it easy to focus on other marketing activities while your UGC campaigns are easily managed.
3. Automated features
Many UGC platforms offer automated features, such as social media listening and content moderation, saving you time and effort. You can streamline the process and get better results using automated features.
4. Analytics and Reporting
When you run your UGC campaign, it is essential to know its performance; this is where these tools come in handy. UGC platforms provide analytics and reporting tools to help you track the performance of your campaign. Metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, conversations, and more can help you determine the performance of your UGC campaign. Once you learn about the performance of your campaigns, you can plan your future marketing strategies accordingly.
Conclusion
There you have it; this brings us to the end of this blog. In this blog, you learn about UGC campaigns and how you can plan them effectively. If used correctly, a UGC campaign can be a powerful weapon for promoting your brand and engaging with your audience. Following the tips in this blog post can create a successful UGC campaign and achieve your marketing goals.
Don’t commit the mistake of thinking that UGC is limited to huge brands and large enterprises. Keep in mind UGC is as effective for small businesses and startups. The secret of such versatility in UGC lies in their accessibility. The customers become collaborators, and their voices become part of your brand’s story.
