The Most Powerful Content Your Brand Can Share

Your audience might enjoy seeing the social media content that your brand comes up with, but there's something they like more!

Can you guess what potential clients and customers want to see??

You guessed it...

They want to see authentic and honest content created by your fans!

Basically, if you want to sell more stuff on social you need to shift your content strategy to include content that has genuinely been created by your happy customers and clients!?

But how do you do that?

The answer is UGC or user-generated content.

User-generated content is any form of content – images, videos, text, audio – that has been posted by users generally to social media but can also include online review websites, forums, etc. Instead of just the brand promoting itself, you now have consumers or employees creating on the organization’s behalf, talking about the product, services, or company culture.

UGC Examples?

Some examples might include a screenshot of a Google review, a short-form video of a person speaking about their customer experience, or a script recited by a paid actress that is sharing a hypothetical experience.

If you want to see what I'm talking about, here's my portfolio.

Why Add UGC to Your Monthly Content Calendar

UGC allows you to expand your reach to connect with new potential customers. It also puts your customers and employees at the front of your brand, which humanizes your marketing and sales further. ?

As you'll notice if you read the upcoming stats content generated by customers, brand fans, or employees is seen as far more genuine and authentic than content created by the brand itself.

Here are a 10 Stats Shared by EveryoneSocial that You Can't Ignore

1. 92% of consumers?turn to people they know for referrals above any other source.
2. 90% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support (up from 86% in 2017). (Stackla)
3. 84% of consumers?say they trust peer recommendations above all other sources of advertising.
4. 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. (Stackla)
5. Consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content when making a purchasing decision. (Stackla)

6. Millennials (ages 25 and above) are the biggest content drivers — contributing over 70% of all UGC. (DMNews)

7. Millennials trust UGC?50% more?than original content generated by the brands.

8. A staggering 93% of customers?believe user-generated content is very helpful when making a purchasing decision.

9. Brand messages are?re-shared up to 24 times more?when distributed by your employees instead of a brand.

10. 35% of Gen Z?believes that in the next 3-5 years, user-generated content will have more credibility than content created by a company or independent source.

Where to Start When Creating a UGC Content Strategy

Now that you're convinced that UGC is a must-add to your current campaign strategy, you're probably wondering where to start.

You have a few options. You can reach out to social media followers and happy customers to see if they will create something for you. Another option is to hire UGC creators on platforms like Upwork, Fivver, or TikTok. Additionally, you can source social media or Google for content that may have already been created by people who love your brand.

A training I recently took cited statistics that claimed that social media followers could tell whether UGC was created on an iPhone or utilized stock photos. Therefore, the #1 thing to remember is that the more native the content, the better.

If you're a brand looking for help with strategy or looking to hire someone to craft UGC-style content for you, feel free to reach out to me.

I would love to support you in improving your social media strategy so your brand can improve its reach and make a bigger impact in the world.

MEET EMMY

Founder of Connect Well Social & Mom of 3.

After 7.5 years working in the field as a school psychologist, I started building my own business out of a desire to spend more time connecting with my children.

Now, 4 years later, I have a proven track record for helping businesses like yours create and execute a genuine and personalized social media strategy so that you can grow and go where your customers are.