What User Generated Content Is and How Important UGC Is in Marketing

What is UGC?

UGC (user-generated content aka consumer-generated content) is original content related to a specific brand or product and created by regular internet users rather than brands. This content can come as a text or a voice comment, a photo, a video, or any combination. Besides being useful for consumers, this content is also beneficial for brands since it can influence purchasing decisions and increase sales. When you fully understand what marketing is and how it differs from advertising, you can use UGC campaigns to strengthen your overall marketing strategy.     

Some typical examples of UGC include social media posts, product reviews, testimonials, unboxing videos, etc. (more on that later).

For instance, this Instagram post is a typical piece of user-generated content: 

While there are several types of UGC, all of them fall into one of the two categories: organic or paid. 

Organic UGC is content created by users on their own accord, without direct involvement from the brand. 

Paid UGC is ordered and paid for by brands, which makes it similar to sponsored content produced by influencers — sometimes so much so that these two become indistinguishable. 

That’s why some argue that paid UGC is not “real”, authentic UGC. However, brands successfully use paid consumer-generated content in their campaigns.    

With that in mind, let’s discuss the most common UGC types in more detail. 

Types of UGC in marketing

For several years in a row, UGC in its various forms remains one of the most relevant marketing trends. But to leverage it successfully in your campaigns, you have to be aware of different types of UGC. Below is a brief overview of the most popular ones.  

Social media content

Have you ever shared a photo of yourself in new clothes on social media? Or filmed a video of you using a new gadget and posted it online? At least you’ve come across such content on various social media platforms, that’s for sure. 

Social media UGC is easy to discover and easy to share, which makes it perfect for internet marketing campaigns. To amplify the effect, encourage social media users by organizing a challenge or a flashmob and creating a unique hashtag to go with it. 

Here’s an example of UGC collected in a social media challenge by Vogue magazine: 

And here’s organic UGC found on TikTok — a beauty product review by a beauty enthusiast with under 100 followers. 

Ratings and reviews

Ratings and reviews are another common type of UGC that is easy to find on the internet. 

People write reviews for various reasons, but mainly to help others make informed buying decisions. Think product reviews on marketplaces or online stores, Google My Business reviews, or content on industry-specific review websites such as TripAdvisor or Capterra. Finding this content is even easier than discovering UGC on social media, plus you can also collect ratings and reviews on your website or online store. 

Here’s how ratings and reviews look on a popular software and services reviews website Capterra: 

Testimonials

Testimonials are similar to reviews, but they tend to be less informative and more emotional. A review focuses on the pros and cons of a product, service, or brand, while a testimonial typically showcases user experience and the effect interaction with a brand or product produced. Also, the sources are different: while reviews can amass organically, testimonials are usually collected by the brand on purpose. Apart from that, the differences are subtle, and it isn’t always easy to tell a testimonial from a review. 

Here’s a bunch of testimonials featured in a marketing email from Sling TV:   

Visual user content

Visual UGC is not exactly a standalone type because users can incorporate photos and videos into any UGC they create. Social media content features visuals all the time, and reviews tend to have more value when accompanied by a photo or a video clip. That’s why brands encourage customers and buyers to produce more visuals by offering them incentives, either material (bonus points) or in the form of exposure (sharing content to brand accounts). 

For example, here’s a typical product review section on Amazon. As you can see, reviews with images are put upfront because people want to see how a product looks:  

Plus there is also a video review section on the product page, and it is placed above all other reviews too: 

Also, there are YouTube videos such as Shorts, unboxing and tutorials, Instagram Reels and TikTok videos, and more. All these are great examples of UGC that you can use in your marketing campaigns.  

Here’s a YouTube short video about McDonald’s made by a popular YouTube food blogger: 

Other

Some other common types of user-generated content include blog posts and comments on online forums such as Quora and Reddit. Also, brands can collect feedback through online question forms and surveys and use it in their campaigns afterward. 

Where do you get user-generated content?

Any internet user can become a source of UGC. However, the majority of this content comes from these three user groups. 

Customers, buyers, and brand fans

The main source of UGC are people who interact with your brand. From one-time buyers to brand advocates, these people make authentic content about your brand, products, or services, out of sheer desire to share their experiences or in response to email and social media campaigns. The downside is, their experiences are not necessarily positive. Luckily, you can count on your brand fans to be on your side.  

Employees

Perhaps counterintuitively, a company’s employees can also be a source of UGC-like content. Knowing the brand and its products from within, they can offer exclusives that regular customers and even brand fans don’t have access to. Think behind-the-scenes photos and videos or first impressions from a new product. Whether you call this content “real” UGC or not is subject to debate, but you can use it in a similar way in your marketing campaigns all the same. What is more, employees can help increase brand awareness and improve brand image by sharing nice things about the company they work at. 

Professional UGC creators

Likewise, some argue that brand-specific content by professional creators is not really UGC. Indeed, paid UGC created by professionals resembles influencer ads because it is sponsored by a brand as opposed to being produced without incentive, as organic UGC is. Also, content created by professionals is more polished, which can make it look more like a brand commercial. Yet there is still a slight difference between paid UGC and influencer ads since professional UGC creators tend to have smaller audiences. 

Key benefits of using UGC for marketing

Now, we’ve come to the most interesting part: why exactly is UGC so valuable for marketers? Let’s zoom in on some of the biggest benefits of user-generated content for brands. 

Making your brand more authentic, building trust, and fostering brand loyalty

UGC, especially when it’s organic, is super effective for making your brand more authentic and trustworthy to potential customers. In a survey conducted by Stackla, 59% of consumers said user-generated content is the most authentic one, as compared to brand ads and content produced by influencers. 

What is more, clever UGC campaigns can help you increase brand loyalty and turn existing customers into brand advocates. That is because creating UGC allows people to feel a part of a community — especially if you provide feedback, let them join in discussions, or feature their content on your brand pages.    

Scaling up campaigns with minimum investments

Also, marketing campaigns based on UGC are more cost-effective than both paid ad campaigns and influencer ads. So, for smaller businesses with tight marketing budgets, campaigns featuring consumer-generated content is a perfect way to scale up with minimum investments. While big influencers ask hefty sums for their services, organic UGC is practically free. 

Even if you go for paid UGC, it is still going to cost you less than influencers and paid ads — and it will probably be more effective too. According to a case study by Roster, one of their clients’ ambassador programs turned out to be 85% more efficient than the brand’s influencer program. 

Getting more conversions and increasing ROI

Most businesses are about making a profit, and leveraging consumer-generated content for marketing is a proven way to earn more if you apply it correctly. This is especially true for the e-commerce and retail industry: for example, according to research by Spiegel Research Center, featuring at least five customer product reviews on a product page can boost conversion by 270%.    

Other studies also confirm the significance of UGC for generating purchases and making businesses more profitable. Research by Power Reviews reveals that featuring UGC of any type on product pages increases conversions by 8.5%, and Bazaarvoice mentions a study that showed a 31% conversion rate increase and a 45% revenue increase per user visit thanks to visual UGC.  

Gleaning insights about your brand and products

Finally, customer feedback is a valuable source of information about your brand and products. By analyzing UGC, you can understand your strengths and weaknesses, learn more about your audience, and identify areas for improvement. Customer reviews are particularly helpful for this purpose, but you can also gain insights from social media content and other UGC.  

Do all reviews mention a particular drawback or praise a certain feature in your product? Or do customers wish you would offer a certain service? This information can help you hone your existing products and services and even create new ones that your customers really want. Plus you can use it to highlight your greatest strengths and advantages in further marketing campaigns.

Tips for using UGC in your marketing campaigns

Now, let’s see how you can use UGC in actual campaigns and make them truly effective. Here are a few proven tips. 

Define the goal of your campaign

As with every process in marketing, start with setting a clear goal for your UGC marketing campaign. Otherwise, you likely won’t get any satisfying results. What is more, you won’t be able to assess your results unless you know what you want to achieve.    

For UGC campaigns, typical goals include:

• Boosting engagement.
• Making your brand more authentic and trustworthy.
• Increasing conversions and ROI.
• Creating a cost-effective, scalable campaign.
• Learning more about how your customers perceive your brand and products.

When deciding on your campaign goal, follow the SMART formula to achieve the best results. You can also set a primary and a secondary goal for a single campaign if odds are you can hit both with one shot. 

Create a system for collecting UGC

So, you’ve set your goal or goals — but where do you get the content? To gather user-generated content quickly and efficiently, use one of the two main strategies: 

• Gather UGC from sources across the internet, such as social media, review platforms, and other sources mentioned earlier in this article. 
• Collect UGC on your platforms, such as a website or an online store. You can also run an email or a social media campaign specifically aimed at collecting UGC. 

Collecting UGC yourself rather than searching for it on outside sources is the surest way to have enough of it for your marketing needs. Luckily, running such campaigns is no rocket science. For example, you would likely put together a decent feedback email campaign right after studying our guide on email marketing for beginners. 

Here’s a great example of a feedback request email that is short, well-designed, and straight to-the-point: 

If you prefer collecting user-generated posts and visuals through social media, hashtags and online challenges can work wonders. Creating UGC gives customers a unique opportunity to be useful while also helping them grow their follower number, so such activities are usually popular with social media users.   

Decide on what you want and what you can offer

While collecting UGC might seem the hardest part, weeding through what you’ve amassed and picking the most relevant items is no easier. To make the process less tedious, decide on what you want early on. Keeping your campaign goal(s) in mind will help you identify the best-fitting pieces, plus you can also define the type of content you want in your feedback requests via email or social media. 

Also, think of offering incentives to those who submit quality UGC. This will help you gather more content and allow for setting rules to cut off low-quality stuff. For example, you can award bonus points to users who post reviews with visuals since visual UGC works best in e-commerce. Other popular incentives include gifts, coupons, and free online exposure such as reposts to brand social media accounts. 

You can also always use paid UGC if you need some high-quality pieces to showcase. In this case, you might want (or even be legally obliged) to acknowledge that a particular piece of content was incentivized. For example, Capterra always mentions the source of the reviews featured on the website:

Consult with legal experts

User-generated content is cost-effective and efficient, but there is a catch: to use it for marketing, you need to secure the creators’ consent. While some people won’t mind if you feature their creations in your promotional campaigns, others might object to exposure or ask for compensation. Consulting a legal expert before launching a campaign will ensure you’re in compliance with relevant regulations and save you from possible trouble. 

Also, think about protecting your brand’s image, especially when running UGC campaigns on social media. To avoid situations where users share defaming or fake information about your brand and product, set clear guidelines and come up with a reliable system for content moderation.   

Analyze negative UGC but showcase the positive

As already mentioned, negative customer feedback can be a useful source of insights about your brand and product, helping you make things better and learn from your mistakes. That means you should never ignore low ratings, negative reviews, and other UGC about your business with negative sentiment, especially when it features well-grounded arguments. 

However, using consumer-generated content in marketing campaigns is primarily about showcasing your bright sides. So wanting to share the pieces that praise your brand and product is only natural. Positive user experiences, beautiful visuals, and recommendations are great for making your brand image stronger and increasing sales. That said, research indicates that people feel suspicious about products with too high ratings because they believe this overwhelmingly positive feedback might be fake. So you might want to add some spice to your honey pot.   

To sum up

User-generated content is a powerful marketing tool with multiple benefits. Well-planned and well-executed UGC campaigns can improve your brand’s image and make it more trustworthy, increase conversions and ROI, and gain valuable insights about your company and product. What is more, such campaigns are remarkably cost-effective and easy to scale. 

When working with user content, it is important to remember that UGC is an umbrella term encompassing several content types. The main types of UGC include: 

• Social media content.
• Ratings, reviews, and testimonials.
• Visual user content, and more.

UGC mainly comes from the brand’s customers, buyers, and brand advocates. Additional sources of such content are the company’s employees and professional UGC creators (not to be confused with influencers).  

To make the best out of your campaigns featuring customer-generated content, make sure you follow the tips from this article and do the following: 

• Set clear goals for your UGC campaigns.
• Create a system for effectively gathering consumer content.
• Understand the legal aspects of running such campaigns.
• Showcase the content that shows your brand and products in the positive light yet also learn from negative reviews and take action to make things better.