User-Generated Content: what is UGC and how to use it

Have you ever thought how amazing it would be to use content produced by other people to generate visibility for your products or services?

Despite being an efficient and low-cost strategy, many businesses still don’t know or invest in User-Generated Content.

What about you? Are you familiar with this concept and know how to apply it? Read on to better understand what UGC is and start investing in it!

What is User Generated Content, or UGC?

User-generated content (UGC) or User-Created Content (UCC) is the content created by customers or followers about a company.

But it’s not the same as the famous #ad that influencers use to indicate partnerships and paid posts, okay?

We are talking about content spontaneously generated by users, such as comments, product and service reviews, engagement in campaigns, etc.

On social media, people love to share good (and bad) experiences they have hired, either just to get opinions from their friends, family, and followers, or to influence people. 

This is why this content has so much potential to be used by businesses, especially if it’s used in a well-thought-out strategy.

Why is investing in UGC a good idea?

If the presentation of this strategy alone still hasn’t convinced you, here are some of the benefits of investing in UGC and letting users speak for your brand!

It’s free of charge

This advantage usually wins over many hearts, especially for those who aren’t able to invest a lot in marketing at the moment, right?

Of course, to make it work, it’s important that you think of ways to engage your audience so that they’ll talk more and more about your brand. 

You’ll also need to identify what should be used and how.

However, since users spontaneously generate the content, you don’t need to use your own team or third parties’ time for these creations, nor pay for them.

It boosts the SEO

Imagine several people talking about and tagging you or your business on the Internet. 

Google, social media, and other search engines will certainly be tracking and understanding your brand’s relevance to the audience, which is great for SEO.

Your work producing content will be boosted by the participation of people who have consumed your products and services and/or are fans of what you do. 

This is where the importance of you planning campaigns and ways to engage your audience to generate this content comes in. 

After all, if you direct this production by creating a campaign, an event, or a hashtag, you can use whatever term makes the most sense for your enterprise to be increasingly well positioned and found in search engines.

It increases brand reach

When you share something on your profile or your brand’s profile, that content is visible to all of your followers.

But when followers share it on their own profiles, it reaches people who might never have heard of your business or what you do!

This is great for reaching new audiences, gaining customers, and advertising your business in different ways.

It helps build customer loyalty

When you encourage and value the production of user content about your business, you show that you care about their opinion.

It also shows that you care about the experience people have with your product or service, which is key to building customer loyalty.

Therefore, it’s important to engage with the posts, share them on your profile, comment, and like them to show that you’re following everything that is said about your brand on the Internet.

It increases the desirability of the brand and its products

People now value the opinion of other users and customers before buying a product or hiring a service.

The ads you run for your business are great for attracting people, but nothing beats the spontaneous opinion of people who have had a great experience with what you deliver!

UGC helps foster interest in what you do and spark curiosity in people. 

No one wants to be left out of a trend that is being liked and enjoyed by others, right?

It helps generate leads

By increasing your brand’s reach, improving your business’ SEO, and sparking people’s interest, user-generated content also helps generate leads.

After all, customer recognition helps emphasize your authority in what you do!

Thus, more people will be willing to interact with your brand and share their contact info with you if they realize that they can gain an advantage by doing so.

It helps define your business’ persona

User-generated content also helps generate data that can be very valuable for your business.

You’ll be able to better understand your customers’ journey, what they are looking for, and what they value most in what you deliver.

In addition, you will have access to relevant data about their profile, such as age, interests, location, etc.

You will already have mapped all this out when building your persona, but it’s always important to review the information and update it in order to refine it.

Where can you use content generated by users?

Now that you understand all the benefits of user-generated content, some questions may arise…

But where and how do I use it?

First, it’s important to point out that the content won’t always be positive. 

It can often be constructive criticism that you can use in favor of your business. 

This helps you show that you care about always improving and providing customers with an increasingly positive experience.

Blog

You can use a blog strategy in two ways.

The first is by encouraging people to comment on your posts, which can generate good ideas for future content.

The content generated in other channels can also become posts that explain frequently asked questions or reinforce the positive points that were highlighted by customers, for example.

Evaluation on websites and online stores

Most people aren’t sure about what they should do with customer reviews. 

But you can get ahead of the competition by understanding how to apply them in your marketing strategy.

Invest in actions that convince your customers to evaluate your product so that you can learn from that feedback and use it to show your business’ value to potential customers.

YouTube

Interest in videos has grown a lot recently, and it seems that it’s not a trend that’s going away any time soon.

So don’t miss the opportunity to encourage your followers and customers to post content in this format!

You can create campaigns for sharing videos on your YouTube channel using specific hashtags, for example. 

Create a video that will serve as a template, and that contains all the instructions. 

Then, invite people to participate in exchange for something, such as giveaways, discounts, or simply visibility through your brand’s networks.

Social Media

On other social networks, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, you can also use the power of videos or stick to images. 

It will all depend on your goal and the audience you want to reach! 

Features, such as reels and stories, are great because they are more dynamic. You can encourage people to make fun videos with your products that follow a trend.

You can also ask them to share photos using your product or to use their creativity to suggest the name for a product you are launching.

The important thing is to use your creativity to get people motivated to participate.

Special Events

Is your brand’s anniversary or a special date that is interesting for your business coming up, such as Valentine’s Day?

How about taking advantage of social media to encourage users to produce content?

Use these events to create participatory actions that engage users and invite them to post texts, photos, videos, and opinions. 

The content doesn’t have to be completely related to your product or service, but try to relate it as much as possible and include your brand in the posts to boost the strategy.

And make sure everyone understands that this action has been made by you and your business, generating visibility.

Questions and Answers

Another possibility is to include a question and answer field on your website, blog, or even on your social media.

This way, you’ll have access to the frequently asked questions and can use them to create amazing content with high engagement potential.

You can also use this FAQ to increase interaction with users and encourage everyone to answer the questions you post. 

This helps create a sense of belonging and community in your customers and is also a way to identify promoters and perhaps, publicly acknowledge them with special thanks or posts with prints of their responses. 

Everyone enjoys acknowledgment, right?

Using UGC in after-sales service

User-generated content is free, it’s an excellent strategy to promote your brand, and it can also be an essential part of your after-sales.

There’s nothing like customer opinion and feedback to teach you how to improve their experience and offer even more value to those who trust your business.

Learn more about how to create memorable after-sales service and build customer loyalty!