User Generated Content (UGC): How to Generate It

User generated content (UGC) is a powerful tool for brands. It can help you build trust with your customers, increase web traffic, and improve SEO. But how can you get more user generated content? In this blog post, we will discuss 10 creative ways to generate user content for your brand!

User generated content meaning

User generated content (UGC) alternatively known as user-created content (UCC),is written by your users. They are your customers, existing and potential, who are online and can write about their tastes and preferences, opinions and suggestions.

User-generated content or UGC can be defined as content created by website visitors, customers, employees, partners, influencers and other business stakeholders, and you don’t pay for UGC to be shared online. These days the most popular format of UGC is an Instagram image or instagram reel but the UGC format can be text, tweets, reviews, comments, images, videos or sound files too.

Before we discuss how to generate user generated content, let us first look at why it is so important in the context of content marketing. User generated content is essential because most online users prefer to read such content and take decisions.

They know all about content farming and how brands always write positively about themselves. They want an authentic opinion about products and services and that is why they turn to user generated content.

What is user generated content?

User generated content is simply content that has been created by users of a particular product or service, rather than the company or organization who owns the product or service. This can take many different forms, but some common examples include things like online reviews, forum posts, comments on blog articles, and social media posts.

The rise of user generated content can be traced back to the early days of the internet, when people started to realize that they could use this new tool to share their thoughts and opinions with the world. This was a radical shift from the traditional one-way communication model that had dominated mass media up to that point, and it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for both companies and consumers.

For companies, user generated content can be an invaluable source of feedback and insight into how their products and services are being used and perceived. It can also help them to connect with their customers on a more personal level, which can lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. And of course, it can also be a great marketing tool, providing potential customers with real-world examples of how your products or services can improve their lives.

For consumers, user generated content provides a way to cut through all the marketing hype and get honest feedback about products and services before making a purchase decision. It also gives them a way to connect with other like-minded people who are using the same products or services, which can lead to valuable relationships and even friendship.

User generated content is not without its challenges, however. Because anyone can create it, there is always the potential for misinformation or even malicious intent. And because it is often created in an unstructured or informal manner, it can be difficult for companies to control or monitor its spread. But if managed properly, user generated content can be an extremely powerful asset for both companies and consumers alike.

The benefits of user generated content.

User generated content (UGC) is any form of content, such as text, images, videos, or reviews, that is created and published by users of a website or other online platform. UGC is often seen as more trustworthy and credible than content created by businesses or other institutions, since it is coming from regular people who are not being paid to promote a product or service.

There are many benefits of UGC for businesses and organizations. First, it can help to boost search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. When users search for something online, they are more likely to click on results that feature UGC, since it is seen as more relevant and trustworthy. This can lead to more traffic to a website or platform.

Second, UGC can help to create a sense of community and engagement around a brand or product. When people see that others are using and enjoying a certain service or product, they are more likely to try it themselves. UGC can also help to build relationships between a business and its customers, as well as between customers themselves.

Third, UGC can be used as valuable market research. By monitoring what users are saying about a product or service, businesses can get feedback about what people like and don’t like. This information can be used to improve the offering and make it more appealing to potential customers.

Fourth, UGC can serve as free advertising for a business. When people share positive experiences with friends or followers online, it can generate word-of-mouth marketing that leads to more customers.

Overall, UGC can be extremely beneficial for businesses and organizations. It can help with SEO efforts, create a sense of community, serve as market research, and generate free advertising.

How can you get more user generated content?

There are a few ways to get more user generated content. One way is to create content that is shareable and interesting. This will encourage users to share it with their friends and followers.

Another way is to make it easy for users to generate content. For example, you can create a contest or giveaway where users can submit their own content.

Finally, you can offer incentives for users to generate content. This could be in the form of discounts, coupons, or even prizes.

How to generate user generated content

Now, how can you generate user generated content for your content marketing? Get some user created content ideas below.

Related reading: Evergreen content ideas

Provoke their senses & engage them

The most basic trick is to provoke their senses. You can do so by engaging them in discussions, contest, gamification, reviews and debates on social media networks. Users who write such content are usually capable of writing in a presentable way but you need to edit things a little here and there. On the whole, the essence of what the user is trying to say must be retained during the editing process. Do not make it too smooth a work of editing as that might look doctored.

You can get user generated content by the following ways –

• Reviews
• Survey or feedback collection
• Contests (Photo contest, Selfie contest, Hashtag contest, Essay contest, Blog contest)
• Gamification
• Blog or social comments
• User videos
• User Images
• Free giveaways
• Life stories
• News submission by users
• Open QA sessions
• Social learning group or community
• Social cause or common interest
• Triggering emotions through opinionated posts
• Debate or discussions on trending topics

Comment back or respond to your users

Another way to generate user generated content is to comment back on their responses to your blog or article. Blogs have a field to make comments. You can take the discussion on the blog further by adding your two cents in answer to the user’s comment.

Related reading: Blog commenting & Comment marketing tips

That will make the user feel important because you are valuing his words and ideas. They generally write back in such situations. You can extract the part that you think might be useful for your content marketing team. Always inform the user about your decision to blow up their content in your content marketing plan.

Check your social media networks

User generated content can be picked up from social media networks. Encourage users of Facebook or Twitter to talk about your products and services on your page. If you find something worth promoting or highlighting, do so.

User generated content can sometimes be disjointed or fragmentary. It is an editorial decision to chisel it into structured writing or leave it raw. No matter what you decide, make sure that you are exploiting user generated content in your content marketing’s bag of tricks.

10 creative ways to generate user content for your brand.

1. Create a contest: Encourage users to submit their best content for a chance to win a prize.

2. Collaborate with other brands: Reach out to complementary brands and ask them to promote your content to their audiences.

3. Leverage user-generated content: Use platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to source user-generated content that you can repost on your own channels.

4. Create exclusive content for social media followers: Give your social media followers access to exclusive content that they can’t find anywhere else.

5. Provide incentives for users to create content: Offer discounts or coupons as an incentive for users to create and share content about your brand.

6. Make it easy for users to submit their content: Create simple, user-friendly forms or applications that make it easy for users to submit their content.

7. Select the best submissions: Choose the best submissions from your users and showcase them on your website or social media channels.

8. Allow users to vote on their favorite submissions: Use voting mechanisms like polls or ratings to let users choose their favorite submissions.

9. Host a contest for the best submission: Have users submit their best pieces of content and then select a winner who receives a prize.

Which User Generated Content to Pick?

Most online companies are wary when it comes to user generated content. Despite understanding the need to publish user generated content, brands shy away from doing so because they are concerned about the effects of such posts.

It is an accepted fact that brands will have to fall upon user generated content because many online readers look upon these posts as the only credible writing about a brand’s products and services. At the same time, you cannot end up publishing content that is detrimental to your brand. So, the trick lies in which user generated content you are going to use. Here are some tips!

Related reading: Guide to online reputation management

Firstly, dig out user generated content that is written sincerely and with purpose. All your users are not going to write about your products and services. This is even truer for those who are not too impressed with what you offered them.

Among those who will write up for your brand, there will be few posts that deal with the subject matter in hand with a certain amount of precision and correctness. Such posts get the idea across and also ensure that your readers find it all rings true at some level.

Secondly, you can prompt your users to write about specific areas about your products and services through the social media networks. Encourage them to share their feedback about your products’ features, the discounts you offered or the after-sales services, free installations, etc.

Other users will be encouraged to buy from your brand when they find user generated posts addressing specific concerns that they run up against. Such posts are also able to connect with users better than the others.

Thirdly, user generated content written by influential online users, like website administrators or even Facebook group admins will be crucial for online publicity. If you publish posts written by these users, their personal ‘followers’ will surely troop in to read what it’s all about!

In turn, these influenced readers will be more convinced about your products and services as compared to the usual users. Such user generated content has all the hallmarks of being shared and liked by numerous users across their own personal circles. This is will mean well for your brand and your website’s online traffic.

User generated content Examples

Most of the popular social media platforms mostly depend on user generated content. Prominent user generated content examples are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Quora etc. Other examples include blogger.com, WordPress.com, Tumblr & even Wikipedia. CNN’s ireport was also an example of UGC. Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign and GoPro’s #GoProFamily campaign are also examples of UGC.

Why user generated content is important for your business.

User generated content is important for your business for several reasons. First, it can help you reach a wider audience with your marketing message. Second, it can create a sense of community and loyalty among your customers and potential customers. Finally, it can provide valuable feedback about your products or services.

When done right, user generated content can be an extremely powerful marketing tool. It allows you to tap into the collective wisdom of your customer base, and leverage their insights to reach a wider audience. In addition, user generated content can help build a sense of community around your brand. When customers feel like they are part of a community, they are more likely to be loyal and engaged with your company. Finally, user generated content can provide valuable feedback about your products or services. This feedback can help you improve your offerings, and make sure that you are meeting the needs of your customers.

How to use user generated content in your marketing strategy.

User generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool that can help businesses connect with their target audiences in a more authentic and engaging way. When used correctly, UGC can humanize your brand, build trust and credibility, and boost sales and conversions.

There are many different ways to incorporate UGC into your marketing strategy. For example, you can encourage customers and fans to submit photos or videos of themselves using your product or service, post user-generated reviews and testimonials on your website or social media pages, or run contests and giveaways that require participants to create and share original content.

No matter how you choose to use UGC, remember to always respect the rights of the creators. Make sure you have permission to use any UGC that you post, and give credit where it’s due. When used ethically and responsibly, user generated content can be an invaluable asset for your business.

Tips for creating high-quality user generated content.

It’s no secret that user generated content (UGC) is one of the most effective ways to market your business. After all, it’s a form of marketing that is entirely based on the opinions and experiences of your target audience.

But what exactly is UGC? And how can you create high-quality content that will actually benefit your business? Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Keep It Relevant

The first step to creating high-quality UGC is to make sure that it is relevant to your brand and audience. There’s no point in creating UGC for the sake of it – it needs to have a purpose and be something that your target audience will actually find useful or interesting.

2. Make It Visual

People are far more likely to engage with visual content than text-based content. So, if you want your UGC to be successful, make sure it includes plenty of images, videos, infographics, etc.

3. Encourage Conversation

Make sure your UGC encourages conversation and interaction. The whole point of UGC is to get people talking about your brand – so make sure your content is designed to do just that!

4. Be Authentic

Your UGC needs to be authentic in order to be successful. People can spot inauthenticity from a mile away – so make sure your content is genuine and relatable.

How to promote your user generated content.

User generated content is a powerful marketing tool that can help promote your brand and increase customer engagement. Here are some tips on how to effectively promote your user generated content:

1. Make it easy for customers to submit their content. Provide clear instructions and a simple form that they can fill out.

2. Use social media to spread the word about your user generated content campaign. Create a hashtag and encourage customers to share their submissions using that hashtag.

3. Select the best submissions and showcase them on your website or social media channels. This will show potential customers what kind of content you’re looking for and also encourage them to participate in the campaign.

4. Offer incentives for submitting content, such as discounts or free products. This will help increase participation rates.

5. Keep track of the submissions and analyze the results of your campaign. This will help you improve future campaigns and make more effective use of user generated content.

The future of user generated content.

User-generated content (UGC) refers to any type of content—text, videos, images, etc.—that is created and published by users of a given platform, instead of by the platform’s staff or owners. It’s a relatively new phenomenon that has arisen with the popularity of social media and other web-based platforms that allow for easy publishing and sharing of content.

There are a few reasons why UGC is so popular. For one, it’s a great way for platforms to get free or low-cost content. But more importantly, it helps create a sense of community and connection among users. When people see that others like them are creating and sharing content on a particular topic, it makes them feel more invested in the platform and more likely to return.

UGC can take many different forms, but some of the most popular include user-created videos, images, and blog posts. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are all built on UGC, as are many popular website hubs like Reddit and Yelp.

While UGC can be a great asset to any platform or website, there are also some potential risks that come with it. Because anyone can publish anything they want as UGC, there’s always the possibility that offensive or inappropriate content could slip through. That’s why it’s important for sites that rely heavily on UGC to have clear policies in place about what is and isn’t allowed, and to moderate content accordingly.

Looking to the future, it seems likely that UGC will only become more common as more people turn to the internet for their news and entertainment. With the right policies in place, UGC can be a great way to build community and engagement around your site or platform.

User generated content case studies

User generated content (UGC) is a hot topic in the marketing world, and for good reason. UGC allows brands to harness the power of their biggest fans and followers, and turn them into brand ambassadors.

When done right, UGC can be a powerful marketing tool. It can help brands connect with their target audiences in a more authentic way, and build trust and credibility.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using UGC in your marketing efforts. First, make sure you have a clear strategy in place. What are your goals for using UGC? What kind of content do you want to create? Who is your target audience?

Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to start creating content. There are a few different ways to go about this. You can ask your fans and followers to submit their own photos and videos, or you can create content yourself and encourage your audience to share it.

Whichever route you choose, make sure the content you’re creating is high quality and aligns with your brand’s voice and values. UGC is all about building relationships, so make sure the content you’re putting out there reflects that.

Finally, don’t forget to promote your UGC campaign! Make sure your fans and followers know how to participate, and give them a reason to do so. Use social media, email marketing, and even traditional advertising to get the word out there.

User generated content is a great way to connect with your target audience and build trust and credibility for your brand. Just remember to put together a solid strategy before you get started, create high-quality content, and promote your campaign effectively.

Summary

1. User generated content (UGC) is any content that is created and published by users, rather than by businesses or other organisations. This can include anything from blog posts and reviews to social media posts and comments.

2. There are many benefits of UGC, including that it can help to build trust and credibility, increase engagement, and boost SEO.

3. There are several ways to encourage more UGC, such as by offering incentives, making it easy to contribute, and creating compelling content.

4. Some creative ways to generate UGC include hosting competitions, using user-generated visuals, and leveraging influencers.

5. User generated content is important for businesses because it can help to create a connection with customers, build trust and credibility, and increase engagement.

6. There are several ways to use UGC in your marketing strategy, such as using it in social media campaigns, on your website or blog, or in email marketing.

7. Tips for creating high-quality UGC include ensuring that it is relevant and interesting, focusing on quality over quantity, and making sure it is properly labelled and attributed.

8. To promote your UGC, you can share it on social media, include it in your marketing communications, or even create a dedicated page on your website.

9. The future of UGC looks promising, with more businesses expected to start leveraging this type of content to connect with their customers and build trust and credibility.

10. Some recent examples of successful UGC campaigns include Coca-Cola’s #ShareACoke campaign and GoPro’s #GoProFamily campaign.