User-Generated Content: Definition & How to Make It Works

If a common brand writes content to increase brand awareness and promote its brand, nowadays the customer can also express their satisfaction to the brand by creating user-generated content for the brand. It is very simple, just by creating an online review, testimonial or just leaving a social media comment.

User-generated is very beneficial for the brand to build brand credibility and get the trust of other potential customers. Want to know more about what is user-generated content and how to build it for your brand? Check out the article below for an explanation!

What Is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content, or UGC, is content written by customers to show their satisfaction with a brand. UGC content includes testimonials, videos, reviews, images, and social media comments.

UGC is very valuable for the brand in gaining customer trust. If the customer posts about your brand on social media, other people will trust their review as an honest experience. This is why 85% of people will say that UGC is more influential in increasing potential customers' purchase decisions.

Another report says that 79% of people agree that UGC is 9.8x more influential than influencer content when making a purchase decision. 

From this, both marketers and consumers agree that UGC can be the most effective marketing method that not only promotes the product but also builds relationships with the audience and community customers.

Benefits of User-Generated Content

UGC is a digital mouth-to-mouth marketing strategy that has some great benefits for a brand, especially when it comes to sales. Other benefits of UGC are:

• Increase your business brand awareness.
• Increase your conversion rates.
• Get a wider audience reach.
• Build customer trust.
• Increase brand trustworthiness.
• Increase brand loyalty.

User-Generated Content Type

There are lots of different types of UGC that can be used on your website or social media posts. These include:

1. Ratings and Reviews

The first example of user-generated content is ratings and reviews. This is the most common type of UGC that you can find on almost all variations of platforms such as a website, a social media post, or an e-commerce site. 

Rating is the evaluation given by the customer who bought your product, often using a star scale of 1-5, where the 5 stars show the customer is very satisfied with the quality, price, and brand services.

While ratings are about quantitative assessment, reviews are qualitative feedback from consumers, typically written as text to describe their experiences and opinions, often accompanied by pictures or videos.

For sellers on e-commerce, ratings and reviews are a very important thing to build. People tend to buy the product with good ratings and have some reviews from customers. It shows that the product has been bought by many people.

2. Photos or Videos

Photos and videos are types of UGC that can have a big impact because they're visually engaging and authentic. 

Photos and videos are usually posted with description text in the e-commerce buyers' reviews section. But sometimes they're posted on other platforms like websites and social media (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube).

As an example, you might have seen people posting on social media about unboxing products they bought or people making videos about makeup tutorials and mentioning the brand without any endorsement from the brand itself. 

3. Testimonials and Comments

The last type of UGC is testimonials and comments. If customers have a great experience with your brand, they're more likely to share that experience or recommend your product to their friends and family.

It's a good idea to include testimonials on your product pages and landing pages on your website. This will show that your brand is loved and trusted by a lot of people. 

How to Create a User-Generated Content Campaign

Once you know the benefits that UGC can bring to your brand, you can consider using it to build a great marketing strategy. But UGC does not just appear instantly, you should trigger it by creating a UGC campaign. Here are some ways to create a UGC campaign:

1. Define Your Goals

Of course, before you start your UGC campaign, you should first define your goals. You can find out what your goals are by answering the questions "Why are you using UGC as your marketing effort?" and "What do you want to get? And "What do you want to get out of it?

There are lots of reasons to run a UGC campaign. You might want to raise brand awareness, promote your product, build trust with customers, or increase sales. You can go into more detail about your goals and choose the right metrics to measure your progress at each stage. It's also a good idea to decide how long your campaign is going to run for.

Pro tips: You can take advantage of content calendars or project management tools to track and measure your progress. 

2. Choose the Right Platform

Once you understand your goals, you can start to choose the right platform and customize the content based on the characteristics of audiences on that platform.

For example, if you run a cosmetics online store by using an e-commerce type website, you can create user-generated website content by providing a testimonials section on your website to allow customers to share their reviews on your platform.

On the other hand, you can use Instagram and TikTok to share UGC and build connections with your audience. 

You can repost all of the UGC content that mentions your brand and thank the audience who created it. This will make them feel appreciated and loyal to your brand. You can also encourage customers to create UGC by offering giveaways or challenges.

3. Communicate Your Intent to Audience

Communicating your intent to the audience is an important thing to do to reduce confusion and save time. 

For example, if you're creating a challenge for your audience to create product reviews in the form of an image or video, you can create the guidelines. Communicate what content you want and what rules must be fulfilled to participate in the challenge. 

4. Leverage Hashtag

Hashtags are a powerful element to ensure that the post and UGC campaign is easily found by your audience. 

When users create content and post it on social media using hashtags, their followers can click on the hashtag and easily find the related post. The hashtag can also drive the audience to visit your social media account.

5. Build Your Brand Community

The next step to make your UGC campaign a success is to build your brand community. This is all about the forums where your customers can share info and updates about your product. You can build your brand community with the help of social media. 

For example, you can create a broadcast channel on Instagram, Facebook, or WhatsApp to discuss and communicate with your audience. You can also use it to share regular info about your products.

6. Repost Your Brand User-Generated Content

The last and most important thing is don't forget to repost your UGC. It's important to remember that your UGC goals are to get lots of customers to create content for your brand. If lots of people are taking part in your challenge or giveaway, it'll encourage others to join in too.

Reposting can create a positive feedback loop. When customers feel appreciated and noticed by your brand, they're more likely to share more. This can help your campaign grow and help you build stronger connections with your audiences.

User-Generated Content is a kind of content created by the customers to express their satisfaction with the brand. UGC is a very powerful approach that can be utilized by the brand to get a strong connection and trust from the audience. 

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