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Saturday, August 27th, 2016
   

Does Your Company Underestimate the Power of User-Generated Content?

It may surprise you, but many smart marketers don't know that user-generated content (UGC) spurs 25 percent higher ad performance and 29 percent greater web conversion. Customers are twice as likely to share thoughts if they feel they can enable friends to consider new brands. But only 14 percent of brands understand that. Here's what you need to know to get the most from UGC on social media.

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CONSUMER OPINIONS ARE TRUSTED, SO SPARK THEIR CREATION

People have always trusted recommendations from friends and family. They also trust opinions of other consumers. Nielsen's 2015 Global Trust in Advertising report found two-thirds of respondents trust other consumers' opinions posted on social media. That's especially true with opinions of corporations. But before your brand can benefit from the opinions of your customers, you must motivate them to offer those opinions online. Read on for a number of strategies in doing just that.

We dig into the idea of leveraging user-generated content through social media, probing ways UGC can make brand messaging more persuasive and compelling.

WAYS OF ENCOURAGING UGC LIMITED ONLY BY YOUR IMAGINATION

The first step in generating and using UGC is to learn what social media channels your customers use. Next, devise a UGC strategy that targets these channels. Launch a contest to get people to write about their experiences with your product. Ask customers to send in photographs, display those photos online, and ask for Facebook likes. Suggest customers vote via social media on which of your products they like best. All of these mechanisms can generate valuable UGC that boosts your brand.

A number of distinctive approaches to UGC have been successfully employed by brands large and small. Taking cues from the following examples can help make your own UGC efforts all the more effective, in turn helping grow your sales and profits.

  • A Burberry campaign entitled "The Art of the Trench" encouraged customers to upload photos of themselves wearing Burberry trench coats. The campaign grew sales of the British clothing brand by 50 percent.
  • A Lay's UGC campaign ingeniously titled "Do Us a Flavor" spurred people to invent their own chip flavors and use Facebook and Twitter to vote on others' suggestions. The 3.8 million submissions generated confirmed the campaign's success.
  • A Coca-Cola UGC campaign spawned enormous global interest when it encouraged consumers to emblazon their own personal message on Coke bottle labels.
  • A joint campaign by Belkin and Lego asking folks to create customized mobile device cases resulted in creative images inundating Instagram.

 

 

Some 64 percent of Millennials and 53 percent of Baby Boomers are seeking additional options to share their personal opinions about brands.

Read Mining User Generated Content (Social Media and Social Computing) by Marie-Francine Moens and Juanzi Li.

University of Pennsylvania's Wharton reports UGC can strengthen the relationship between brands and consumers. Social media is the bridge that connects these two.

Email or call us at 708-246-4211 to learn how your company can boost marketing impact with UGC via social media channels.