By User Generated Content (commonly known as UGC), we refer to multimedia content generated by users for brands, which has become the trend defining the present and future of current digital marketing. For some time now, it has proven to be the most efficient way to create an organic connection between the brand and its consumers, ensuring increased sales and greater credibility.
UGC: What is it?
User Generated Content (UGC) refers to posts created by users for a brand with the aim of promoting it.
This strategy involves using on your social media channels, both organic and paid, photo and video content generated by "ordinary" users, with unrecognizable faces, who offer a spontaneous reaction to the brand's product or service and promote it through authenticity. This is precisely the key to UGC's success: the credibility of the content. This is because users tend to trust more the direct experiences and opinions of other platform users, with whom they can identify. It proves to be an effective alternative to both traditional advertising and Influencer Marketing, which consumers tend to trust less.
UGC can also help create a community of users around the brand, foster participation and engagement, and increase online visibility.
Benefits of UGC
Integrating UGC into your online marketing strategy offers several key benefits that help brands stand out from competitors:
Credibility and Trustworthiness: User-generated content is perceived as more authentic and reliable because it comes from the real experiences of "ordinary" people. Customer reviews and testimonials can significantly influence the purchasing decisions of other consumers.
Cost Reduction: Creating high-quality content can be very expensive and requires a significant investment of time and energy. Often, producing an entire advertising campaign has extremely high costs, as does implementing an Influencer Marketing strategy. While these two branches of digital marketing can and should be maintained by brands in certain cases, a good strategy can no longer rely solely on them today. On the other hand, UGC allows businesses to use content generated by users, keep their feeds active and dynamic, and create high-conversion, low-cost ads.
Engagement and Loyalty: When users contribute to a brand, they feel more connected and loyal to it. This can create a ripple effect that encourages other consumers to interact with the brand and leads to purchasing actions.
Increased Visibility: UGC also helps increase a brand's visibility on social media channels and search engines. The more users share content related to the brand, the greater its reach and the likelihood of attracting new potential customers.
How can you integrate UGC into your strategy?
We can divide UGC content into two main categories, the same as those in any modern online marketing strategy: organic content and advertising (ADV).
Organic UGC Strategy:
Alternating your regularly scheduled posts with UGC videos and photos not only helps differentiate and make your feed more dynamic, but also has a proven return in terms of engagement and views.
In high-level brands like Rhode, UGC makes up 80% of the content currently published in their feed and stories. Different faces every day, never recognizable, using the products and creating a community around them.
Advertising Strategy:
Let's be honest, nowadays nothing drives purchases more than a reel or TikTok that catches our attention while scrolling, especially if it's someone just like us recommending a particular product or service. Using UGC in your ads allows you to reach your potential customers directly and connect with them immediately through authentic and real content.
UGC in practice
We've understood in theory what UGC is and how it works. But how do we put it into practice?
Today, there are more and more users willing to generate content for your brand. Some of them have made UGC their job. Despite this, it's extremely important to differentiate creators so that the same faces don't appear for different brands (turning UGC creators into micro-influencers). This is why Oppla exists, an agency that specializes in finding creators suitable for your brand, who perfectly align with your vision and maintain quality standards capable of generating high-conversion content.
Discover how to get started: https://www.oppla.com/
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