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As social media becomes increasingly part of our daily lives, brands are finding new and innovative ways to connect more with their consumers.
This evolution has also changed how we market our products and services, making marketing campaigns more interactive and consumer-driven and getting loyal customers in on the fun.
User-generated content (UGC) campaigns are a great way to use positive word-of-mouth to amplify your brand message and spread your customers' satisfaction to a wide audience more authentically and engagingly than your ads or social media posts ever could.
But if you’re going to run a user-generated content campaign, you’ve got to do it right!
Today’s blog aims to be your guide! We’re walking you through the best practices for your next user-generated content marketing campaign so you can harness your audience’s voice to create deeper connections, boost trust in your brand, and drive more consumer engagement!
Best Practices for Your Next User-Generated Content Campaign
1. Have a Clear Call to Action
To kick off your UGC campaign, be sure that you have a clear call to action to invite your customers to start sharing their experiences using specific hashtags, tagging you on social media, or submitting their content directly to your campaign via upload, direct message, or email.
Consider using some of the following to get the user-generated party started.
- Share Your Story—Encourage users to share their personal experiences with your product or brand on social media, using a specific hashtag so they can be easily found.
- Photo/Video Challenge — Ask your followers to post photos or videos showing them using your product creatively, tagging your brand directly, and using your campaign-specific hashtags.
- Leave a Review — Invite your customers to write reviews on your website or third-party platforms like Yelp or Google about their wonderful experience with your product or service.
- Join the Conversation — Use questions or statements to prompt users to comment on your posts or share their opinions on a relevant topic using your campaign's hashtag.
- Create and Tag — Ask your audience to create content (art, music, stories) inspired by your brand and then tag you in their posts.
- Contest Entries — Everyone loves some friendly competition. Start a contest that aligns with your brand and invite your users to submit their entries through social media, using a branded hashtag, or by tagging your brand. Be sure to showcase and reward your winners!
- Use Our Filter/Frame — If you've created a custom filter or frame for social media platforms, invite your audience to use it in their stories or posts and tag your brand.
- Question of the Day/Week — Pose a question to your audience and ask for their responses to create an ongoing (and positive) dialogue around your brand.
- Share a Tip — For products that have multiple uses or require some expertise, ask customers to share their best tips and tricks or their favorite features, and how they use them.
- Tell Us What You Think—Ask your audience for feedback on new products, packaging, or features.
Whatever method you use, remember that a successful CTA should be clear, engaging, and geared specifically for the platform where your UGC campaign is running.
2. Set Clear Guidelines
If you’re going to ask your audience to send in user-generated content, be sure to do everything you can to ensure that you have plenty of usable, valuable content and that your audience doesn’t waste their time creating something that won’t be used!
To do this, before implementing any of the strategies above, be sure to provide clear guidelines on the type of content you're looking for.
Whether your guidelines include thematic direction, content dos and don'ts, or any technical requirements (like video length, image size, 9:16 format, etc.), establishing clear guidelines helps keep your user-generated content more relevant and high-quality.
It also helps to focus on specific themes or topics for challenges or contests. This can help guide the content creation process for your followers and ensure that your content, whether it’s UGC video, images, photos, or anything else, aligns more closely with your current marketing goals or product focuses.
3. Get Permission
Having users submit their content on social media is one thing, but if you’re going to use user-generated content in your marketing materials, landing pages, email newsletters, or website, be sure to get permission first.
Most users would be delighted if you shared their work, but it’s always a good idea to make sure. You can reach out through direct messages on social media, comment requests, or a terms of service agreement during the submission process.
Respecting creators' rights is not only legal and ethical but also builds trust in your brand and encourages more contributions.
4. Focus on Authenticity
The most valuable aspect of user-generated content is its authenticity.
So, if you find yourself wading through hundreds of submissions for a few to share or feature, it’s a good idea to go for the content that feels more genuine and relatable over polished and professional, nice as those might look.
After all, the whole point of having content that seems a bit amateurish is that raw and genuine user-generated content resonates better with your audience and shows your brand in a more relatable light.
5. Credit the Creators
You should always give credit where credit is due.
When sharing or repurposing user-generated content on your website, social media, email campaigns, landing pages, or wherever it's being featured, credit the original UGC creators.
Tagging or mentioning them within an article or caption shows respect and appreciation, makes the content visible to their followers, and potentially encourages them to engage with your brand.
6. Be in Legal Compliance
Copyright and privacy laws are still in effect even for content not created by your brand.
Before using any user-generated photos or user-generated videos for marketing purposes, check them to make sure they don’t contain any copyrighted music or brand elements and that you have the consent of everyone depicted to use their likeness.
This will help you avoid any legal issues down the road and save you from the hassle and potentially awkward situation of having to remove content from your social media or website after it’s been posted.
7. Promote Positive and Inclusive Content
Promoting a positive and inclusive environment plays a big role in an effective UGC campaign and has the double benefit of being a strategic move and just the right thing to do.
By actively promoting content that celebrates diversity, positivity, and inclusivity, you’ll encourage participation from a wider audience, improve the variety of your content, and position your brand image to potential customers as one with a welcoming and supportive community.
In time, this will build a loyal community of followers around your brand, where everyone is included, represented, and respected.
Positive content is more likely to be shared and engaged with anyway!
8. Use Your UGC Across Multiple Channels
Don’t box your user-generated content in a corner!
Use all types of UGC content across multiple marketing channels — social media channels, email newsletters, website content, offline marketing, and whatever touchpoint your customers can expect to find you.
This cross-channel approach will maximize the reach and impact of the content, bringing your brand and products to new eyes and more potential followers, resulting in a more effective UGC campaign!
9. Provide Content Creation 101
If you want awesome user-generated content, don’t be afraid to teach your followers how to do it right!
Offer resources or workshops on creating engaging content, covering basics like lighting, sound, storytelling, and simple video editing or quick Photoshop tips for images and photos.
Educating your audience improves the quality of their submissions and gives them the skills they need to become more confident UGC creators and contributors.
It’s also a fun and unique for your audience to see from the brands they follow and something they’ll appreciate and enjoy engaging with!
Benefits of a User-Generated Content Campaign
Even though your customers are sending in content for you, setting up a successful user-generated content campaign can still be a lot of work.
But, if done right, all that hard work will pay off a big deal.
User-generated content campaigns offer your brand several benefits, including:
- Trust and Authenticity — UGC is overwhelmingly perceived by customers as more genuine and trustworthy than traditional advertising since it comes directly from other consumers.
- Increased Engagement — Content created by users tends to be more engaging, which encourages more interaction from your followers.
- Cost-Effectiveness — UGC campaigns can be more cost-effective than content produced in-house or through professional agencies.
- Improved SEO — User-generated content can help improve search engine rankings as it generates fresh, relevant content for your website.
- Valuable Insights — UGC is the voice of your audience. It provides direct insight into what your customers like or dislike, which is helpful for your product development and marketing strategies.
- Greater Reach — Engaging UGC can seriously extend your reach, as your users share content with their own networks. Sometimes, you can even go viral!
- Brand Loyalty — Inviting your customers to contribute content can make them feel more connected to your brand, which builds up consumer trust and brand loyalty.
- Content Variety — Creating UGC campaigns results in a wide range of interesting and engaging content, offering different perspectives and something for everybody.
- Social Proof — UGC is excellent for social proof, showing potential customers that existing customers are satisfied and happily engaged with your brand or your products.
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Looking for Some Guidance with Your Next User-Generated Content Campaign?
As mentioned before, even though your users are producing and contributing the content for you, running successful UGC campaign strategies is still a tough job!
And if you want some help with it, you might already be in the right place.
Why not partner with Designity for a user-generated content campaign that crushes your goals and connects with your followers like never before?
Designity is made up of the top 3% of US-based creative talent, including social media experts to guide you through your campaign, talented video editors and graphic designers to tweak submissions, and the guidance and expertise of a designated Creative Director to manage your account, lead your creative team, and make sure that your campaign assets are delivered on time and of the highest quality.
If that sounds like a plan to you, then why not take a peek at our portfolio and our user-generated content video services page to see how Designity’s innovative Creative as a Service (CaaS) platform can make a difference for your followers and your brand?
When you’ve decided, go ahead and click here to book your demo call and get started with your two-week, no-obligation trial so you can see firsthand what Designity can do for you.
Are you ready to elevate your next user-generated content campaign?
