Views: 3419User-Generated Content: More Than Customer Reviews
The power and importance of user-generated content (UGC) are very clear in online retail and e-commerce since it’s basically a driving force behind the online shopping ecosystem. It’s a great solution for gaining customer loyalty, increasing brand awareness, generating more leads, and improving sales. User-generated content is beneficial because it’s all about customers marketing the brand’s products instead of the brands themselves.
UGC can be any content that can be easily found on different social media platforms and webpages as well, including text, videos, images, reviews, etc. Since this content is created by people and not companies, it gives the wider audience chance to see you in a different way and evaluate your worth based on other peoples’ experiences.
When customers start showing off the new clothes that look good on them or they start an unboxing video for a YouTube channel, you attract more interested people towards you. But it’s more than customer reviews. It’s a powerful tool that can help you to reach higher levels of engagement and customer conversion in the most cost-effective and beneficial way.
Benefits of UGC Content for Your Brand
One of the biggest benefits here is the trust that can be gained from customers. Numerous people pay attention to product and brand recommandations provided by their social circles and take reviews very seriously. They look at all the images, videos, and reviews of certain products. They create the first impression of your brand based on how other consumers in social circles perceive you. Customer reviews have even better results than promotional marketing content could have.
You can use the power and loyalty of your customers and brand loyalists and show your authenticity to your potential customers as well. Authentic reviews increase social media reach and ensure your growth. For example, #AtTheMoxy is related to the Instagram hashtag campaign that is done by the Moxy Hotels. These tags are used on every picture related to the hotel and give the participants a chance to be featured on the hotel’s main page. Users share hotel-related content on Instagram or Facebook. Another example would be the #ShotOniPhone6 campaign that encouraged iPhone 6 users back in the day to take pictures with the phone and share them. It was very popular and numerous people participated in it.
UGC campaigns cultivate brand loyalty. It convinces customers that the brand is trustworthy. Besides these factors, it’s a very cost-effective option for brand promotion. It’s great for SEO boost as well. Because most of the time when customers post their content regarding certain brands, they use the brand’s webpage link as well. For example, if they’ll decide to write about you on their blog, they will add the link to your website there. You just need to carefully monitor this kind of content, to make sure that some people won’t slow your progress.
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Types of User-Generated Content
User-generated content can be found in lots of forms. They can be displayed as images on social networks or other online platforms. They can be seen as videos as well, like YouTube videos, live video streams on different social platforms, etc. User-generated content could be in a form of a tweet, Instagram post, or Facebook update. Another type of UGC is customer reviews that can be seen on the brand’s official website or on different trusted websites.
Blog posts are a beneficial option as well. Q&A forums where customers discuss different brands, products, and services are very helpful for brand promotion and can improve your brand image. As for case studies, they include more detailed descriptions of everything that the brand represents. Customer-provided views can become well-known via surveys as well. There are numerous options and all of them can aid you to gain more financial benefits, leads, and visibility on the market. Additionally, you could improve your conversion and retention rates as well.
Build Engagement Through User-Generated Review Content
Nowadays, it’s more visible how the number of social media contributors increased. The great number of achievements, even for famous brands, is related to user-generated content. It’s mostly produced by consumers whose age varies from 25 to 54. Since UGC happens to be the dominant web content, it’s important to evaluate its true worth and know how to use it.
UGC as a very cost-effective marketing technique that can be visible in many different forms in different online channels, can be used to increase engagement levels as well. It can help you achieve the results that the brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Calvin Klein achieved along with many others. In order to use UGC to your own advantage, you can share all the reviews, videos, and images that were distributed in online channels by your satisfied customers. Building profitable brand engagement would be more cost effective for you and would help you to move forward.
The Conversion Impact of User-Generated Content
Modern shoppers rely heavily on user-generated content (UGC) like reviews, comments, and other types of content to make their purchasing decisions. Basically, they want to understand more from “real people”, not just companies. Incorporating UGC into your marketing strategy can give you an edge by providing social proof and peer validation. This can help you increase conversion rates and make your marketing more successful.
Improved ROI with User-Generated Content
As we already established UGC improves engagement and conversion. Also, it can increase click-through rates. It helps you to make people more interested in you, saves your time and money, and aids you with social commerce as well. It’s great for Omni-channel use as well. UGC is a great digital asset that can be placed in mail campaigns, videos, or even magazines. So when you want to have a good ROI and make sure that your investments are paying off, UGC will help you again.
What You Should Beware
Nothing in this world is flawless. Every other strategy and solution comes with its own set of pitfalls. It is extremely crucial to be vigilant in order to prevent them. Aside from providing you with useful content, UGC may also provide you with undesirable and damaging content. Be extra careful when relying on user-generated content to grow and sustain your digital presence. It does not necessarily mean that any critical comments should be cleared. They are necessary, and they must coexist with good ones in order to highlight your authenticity to your target audience once more.
UGC marketing campaigns are excellent for social media marketers and other businesses, but you must effectively observe everything. After assessing what might work for you as well as what might not, you can easily filter everything and begin incorporating some content into your online activities. You must exercise extreme caution while taking advantage of these options.
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Edana is a Digital Marketing Agency based in Switzerland. The specialists of our team develop and implement the most appropriate growth strategies not only in Switzerland but worldwide as well. To learn more about digital marketing and what it can do for you, read on publications of Edana. Contact us at any time to discover even more and decide on a course of action. Our team can assist you through the digital world to produce outcomes that are equivalent to those achieved by industry leaders.
