Why you should be putting UGC content at the heart of your ads

It's been around for a while, first taking off with the advent of Web 2.0, but UGC or 'user generated content' is celebrating another resurgence in the ads world right now due to it's popularity as a content type on TikTok.

But what exactly is UGC?

Think of like promotion of your product when you haven't asked for it.

If it mentions a product or a brand and isn't promoted by the company that made the product, then it can be considered UGC.

And posts like this are great for business. 54% of Americans (big TikTok adopters) said that UGC makes them more confident in their purchase decision than professional photography (46%) does.

If someone feels THAT compelled to make a video about you and post on their social channels then it holds a level of authenticity that you as a business owner can't compete with.

You are just selling after all and they are recommending.

To see the power of this head let's head back to 2020 when TikTok user Nathan Apodaca was 'vibin' to Fleetwood Mac on his skateboard while drinking Ocean Spray.

This TikTok was seen more than 46 million times.

It inspired a global craze with remixes and tribute from everyone including Mick Fleetwood!

Ocean Spray reported that the product had sold out across many stores with a bounce in sales and since launch several new products since it rose to fame.

Nathan's video provided massive, incredible amounts of brand awareness, engagement, and?sales?for the brand they could not have done on their own and savvy wannabe-influencers have realised that talking about products in their videos open up opportunities for brands to reach out them and ask for content.

There was certainly a gold rush of this type of organic content on Instagram in that late 2010s, but we have moved to the next level where brands and advertisers have realised that this content can make them viral on TikTok and they want to recreate vitality, not just get in front of an influencers audience.

Think 'TikTok Leggings' for the ultimate goal: you don't need to pay a big influencer, just have millions all reviewing your products at once...well that's the dream anyway.

For brands with ambitious this is very possible but you need to make your content look natural.

Who wants to see another stock photo?

Or another selfie of the product owner?

You need to find real-life people to help review your product and this is where the UGC Experts and nano- influencers step in.

You can find them all over Twitter and Fiverr looking to pitch you a UGC video using your product.

They'll know what makes something trend and if not, you can always use your videos as ads on other platforms like Facebook.

69% of TikTok users are under 25 and 85% are under 35 years old so if you are on Facebook and see a UGC-style video pop up in your feed, having never logged into TikTok before, then the content would seem genuine and fresh.

At The Social Ads Squad, we have been testing TikTok-style UGC videos in our ads and they have been converting more than we could have hoped for in our tests!

This event promo ad below for artist Ruth Mulvie is a great example.

We wanted to promote her event to the Brighton and Hove area but in a way that recommended it as a fun thing to do as opposed as a way to shop for prints.

In steps UGC to act like a real-life attender of the open event and provide a review.

Watch the video here.

Using TikTok as the native platform, we filmed a quick walk around of the event and a light review over several shots ending with a call to action to "see you there!" letting the ad link do the rest.

It helps that as a client Ruth is brilliant to work with and has a fantastic body of work that she displays in locations as unique as the one in the video but the UGC ad trounced the stills in terms of click through rate:

It's also clear that Meta will prioritise video over stills in the same ad set too. If you're not running 1-2 videos per ad set then you're missing out on this reach opportunity.

Glitter Body Art, another client of The Social Ads Squad, got the UGC treatment during the run-up to the UK Jubilee Bank Holiday.

Tasked with raising awareness of the special glitter kits that had been made the event, we focused on creating an ad in the style of a helpful mum that showed the glitter being applied to children's arms - a big customer of a glitter tattoo at parties!

The video was shot from above without showing any faces, focusing the viewer on the process of opening the kits and applying the glitter using the stencil while text explained the benefits and provided a call to action at the end.

They're not quite perfect (the creator can tell you that these arms were very wriggly! ??) but that's the point - anyone can do these. If it was Glitter Body Art dong this it might not have as much authenticity.

Watch the video here.

This time we ran four video creatives against each other with the UGC option in the mix.

It didn't make the most sales but it did provide a much higher return on ad spend when compared to the winning ad which means we are making sure we will include UGC in every campaign that we run for them now as standard.

So if you're not on TikTok yet, chances are you've ventured into making Reels on Instagram and if you're not again, you are missing out as it appears Facebook is changing it's algorithm to take on TikTok.

This content, aside form being wildly popular, working on an algorithm that can turn a product from unknown to an overnight success or revive older brands, can also be what your ads need.

If you want to talk more about how The Social Ads Squad can help you achieve your UGC video goals, feel free to reach out to us here: socialadssquad.com