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UGC statistics show that 90% of consumers trust user-generated content over traditional advertising regarding their purchase decisions.
UGC also quadruples click-through rates, doubles engagement rates, especially when employees share it, and boosts awareness.
Besides, UGC ads are also 50% more affordable than traditional ads.
This article shows you how to implement an effective UGC marketing strategy from A to Z.
We’ll discuss:
Let’s dive in.
- What Is UGC?
- Examples of UGC Done Right:
- Collecting UGC: Strategies include reviews, hashtag contests, and gamification, with a focus on incentives, engagement, and customer interaction.
- Managing UGC: Respecting best practices such as obtaining permission, giving credit, and making UGC shoppable is essential.
- UGC Marketing's Impact: UGC is more authentic and persuasive than traditional advertising, fostering trust and community around your brand.
- Use UGC Platforms: Consider using UGC platforms like Inbeat to streamline and optimize your UGC marketing strategy.
- Sign Up for a UGC Marketplace: A modern UGC marketplace like Showcase stands out with its vetting process, ensuring that every creator meets your stringent standards for quality and performance.
- Pro Tip: Hire a performance-based UGC agency to ensure the best results.
UGC in marketing stands for user-generated content.
It defines the many types of content users create regarding your brand, company, products, or employees.
Pro tip: These people should give genuine feedback about your brand.
UGC is usually one of the key components of micro-influencer marketing strategies.
Learn more about how to build a successful strategy with our ultimate guide to micro-influencer marketing.
Many of our clients have tried building UGC campaigns before coming to us.
Unfortunately, they didn’t ensure their loyal customers created the right kind of UGC.
Warning: While the U in UGC stands for users, you can't expect them to produce stellar content that drives results without any input from your end.
That’s why you should give clear UGC guidelines to your customers.
Many companies hesitate to tell their customers the specific type of content they need.
However, more than half of your customers expect those clear guidelines.
Pro tip: Using creators can be simpler because they’re well-versed in UGC production, and you can include those helpful guidelines in your influencer contract or influencer brief.
Besides, this approach is easier than sharing the reins of your UGC campaign with thousands of customers from all walks of life.
That brings us to the next point.
Here are other problems our UGC clients have dealt with:
1. Scattered content: Your diverse audience creates and posts content on different social media channels, which may be difficult to find and curate. This content can be valuable for your library and provide unique brand insights. So even if other people create that user-generated content, you must organize it and repost it on your social media accounts.
2. Bad reviews: UGC comes with the risk of unflattering content from actual customers despite careful guidelines.
3. Low-quality content: You might need more than the content posted by regular social media users or existing customers. That content is excellent because it’s honest, unique, and intuitive. On the downside, many customers can post grainy or redundant images.
A robust UGC platform can help you manage that risk because it allows you to:
inBeat is also an excellent tool for finding the proper influencers from Instagram and TikTok.
It helps you find the right people according to your brand’s personality and values, no matter your audience.
In return, you’ll get:
Insider tip: From our experience, it’s best to ensure the platform has a dedicated server for hosting your user-generated content. This will provide enhanced security and reliable performance, guaranteeing a seamless user experience.
Problem: UGC created by influencers and brand ambassadors isn’t 100% user-generated.
Solution: Some UGC platforms allow you to focus just on content created by your happy customers so that you can use these tools to:
These software tools will help you organize and use your UGC content according to your campaign goals.
And we all know that having a plan is essential in marketing — you can leave little off to chance if you ultimately want to drive purchasing decisions and increase your sales.
You can classify UGC content by its form into text, user-generated video, or images.
You can also organize UGC by its content into customer reviews, testimonials, or product featuring.
Insider tip: Knowing the best types of user-generated content helps you pick the right channel, so don’t skip this section.
For instance, you can’t publish lengthy product reviews on Instagram.
If that’s your plan, you can use blog posts, YouTube video reviews, or e-mail marketing.
1. UGC Reviews and Testimonials
Customer reviews and testimonials are text-based, so they include specific arguments.
Whether in video or written form, these reviews:
Product featuring is image-based, similar to traditional product placement in TV shows.
For example, loyal customers/influencers post pictures or videos using your brand with no other arguments.
Here are two examples of products featuring from one of inBeat’s campaigns for self-tanning products.
This strategy:
Here are five different types of user-generated content by form and channel, along with their explanations and best uses for businesses:
Social media posts are any content users create on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok.
This type of UGC can include photos, videos, stories, or text posts that mention or feature a brand, product, or service.
For example, you can give followers something they can identify with by creating UGC templates at Wepik—an online editor tool that lets you craft original images from scratch.
With this tool, you can create images that are perfect for your brand and use them on social media or even print them out.
Best Uses:
User-generated blog posts and articles are written content created by individuals not directly affiliated with the brand.
These can include product reviews, how-to guides, or opinion pieces that mention or discuss a brand's offerings.
Best Uses:
Video content created by users can range from unboxing videos and product demonstrations to creative shorts and vlogs that incorporate a brand's products or services.
Imagine the customers' feelings and reactions seeing their favorite brand's logo design, especially after they've contributed to your campaign.
Best Uses:
For example, Codecademy promises to help people learn how to code easily, even without prior experience.
The brand posts different UGC stories both on its website and on YouTube.
The real people featured in these video reviews share their life stories, explaining how Codecademy helped them make 180-degree turns.
In the video above, Christine explains how she went from medical professional to software engineer without formal education – just Codecademy courses.
You can see the video views jump over 1,110,000 at the time of this writing.
This type of UGC involves users creating original designs, artwork, or graphics that incorporate a brand's elements, such as logos, colors, or themes. Encourage them to create a logo that reflects your brand’s identity.
These can be shared on social media, submitted to contests, or printed on merchandise.
Best Uses:
User-generated content ads are a powerful way for businesses to leverage authentic, customer-created content in their advertising efforts.
Here are five types of UGC ads you can consider:
Social media ad campaigns incorporating UGC involve using customer-created photos, videos, or testimonials in sponsored posts or ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Best Uses:
Native advertising involves placing sponsored content on platforms or websites that match the form and function of the surrounding editorial content.
Incorporating UGC in native ads can make them feel more authentic and less intrusive to the audience.
Best Uses:
Video ads that feature user-generated content can be used on various platforms, including YouTube, social media, and streaming services.
These ads can showcase customer testimonials, product demonstrations, or creative content about your brand.
Best Uses:
Influencer-generated ad content involves partnering with social media influencers or content creators to produce sponsored posts, videos, or stories featuring your products or services.
Best Uses:
Display ads that incorporate user-generated content can be placed on various websites, apps, or platforms.
These ads can feature customer photos, testimonials, or creative content highlighting your brand's offerings.
Best Uses:
Integrating UGC into your advertising strategies allows you to create more authentic, engaging, and persuasive ads that resonate with your target audiences.
This approach helps build trust, drive conversions, and foster a sense of community around the brand.
The UGC examples below start from people’s need for authenticity from brands.
A personalized customer experience plays a major role in buying decisions.
Here are some things you can consider for your content marketing strategy for user-generated content.
Bluehouse Salmon, one of inBeat’s clients, is the best example of powering your content calendar with UGC.
If you look at their Instagram page, you’ll see that they use UGC to create almost all their social media content calendar.
Here’s why UGC works for businesses such as this one in the hospitality industry:
Results: inBeat Agency’s campaign for Bluehouse Salmon generated 200+ content assets that led to 500% follower growth.
The agency did:
Deux Par Deux Kids retails children’s clothes, focusing on kids and what they’re wearing.
Problem: Glammed-up kids’ photos can provoke a more massive cringe effect than those of glammed-up adults.
Also, when you’re selling kids’ products, you have to be anchored into current parents’ mentalities and understand their needs.
Parents want:
Insider tip: Social media instills a huge coveting factor.
That’s why Deux Par Deux asked its influencers to post pictures of their babies wearing the brand’s trademark clothes.
This apparently simplistic strategy works because photos have a great advantage: they create desire.
Results: 200 unique assets; 10,000+ follower growth and 30% follower growth on Instagram, plus 500+ unique customers
After working with over 350+ clients and thousands of influencers, we found this:
One of the most significant problems for brands is attracting an audience of non-customers who aren’t by nature interested in their products.
But here’s the thing:
Encouraging user-generated content can lead to unexpected product discoveries that provide value to customers and widen your pool of potential clients customers.
To achieve that, create brand desire on social media with UGC by using tactics such as repetition, eliciting envy, FOMO (fear of missing out), and a feeling of belonging to a certain group.
Phone Loops is an excellent example in this case.
Even if the product is pretty basic – just loops you attach to your phone so that you won’t drop it – the massive visual content around it has lifted its symbolic status.
So Phone Loops has moved up from a practical accessory that makes taking selfies safer.
Now, this simple cord represents beauty, style, and fashion, but also traveling and adventure.
Results: inBeat Agency’s campaign for Phone Loops generated 250,000+ in engagement and 80% in ROAS through 300 unique content pieces.
Fitnessblender is an outstanding example of building brand loyalty.
They started as a small team of two – husband and wife – posting free fitness videos.
Their unique selling proposition was to cut through fitness fads like fast diets, exhausting challenges, or 5-minute miraculous workouts.
Thousands love their down-to-earth, work-smarter-not-harder approach.
People discouraged by aggressive approaches and false promises found a safe space in Fitnessblender.
This platform continues to evolve thanks to its community:
So, in the span of a few years, Fitnessblender has grown to offer paid subscriptions.
They also hired specialists with culturally and professionally diverse backgrounds that appeal to more communities.
Pro tip: They call their audience “Fitnessblender Family,” which shows you the importance of naming when building a brand community.
The idea of a family is compelling because you identify with the family members and subconsciously exclude those outside of the family.
Once you humanize a company and show it as an active community member, potential customers will interact with it as with an actual person.
Thus, they’ll trust the brand more and will probably choose to purchase from that brand.
Few companies use UGC in email marketing, although UGC stats show that this content strategy increases the click-through rate by 43%.
Also, your conversion rates can double or even triple.
Here’s how to do that:
Kickstarter’s campaign is a great example because they’ve used this UGC request in their email marketing campaign instead of posting it on their website.
Insider tip: Don’t forget to add that content to your other emails.
E-mail marketing becomes more potent if you feature actual recommendations from real customers.
Here’s an example from Dollar Shave Club:
Cold-press juice brand Hurom is another of inBeat Agency’s clients and they’re a prime example of how to use UGC in e-commerce.
They faced challenges with rising CPA, low profitability, and an over-reliance on promotional discounts to drive sales.
These issues stemmed from creative fatigue and outdated, overly promotional ad designs.
Solution: Hurom leveraged performance-optimized UGC creatives. The goal was to make the brand more relatable and increase its trustworthiness among potential customers.
The process involved a dedicated creative strategist who analyzed various factors of UGC, such as hooks analysis, variation of calls-to-action, and social proof.
Insider tip: Hurom shifted its messaging strategy from an "always on sale" approach to a "health-focused" one. This new approach addressed key health concerns such as gut health and skin issues, making the brand more relevant to its target audience.
The results of implementing this UGC-driven strategy were significant:
Genomelink, a company that likely offers genetic testing or analysis services, faced challenges with rising costs per acquisition due to creative fatigue and outdated image/carousel ads.
Due to tough economic conditions, the company's leadership also set tighter customer acquisition cost goals.
Additionally, Genomelink struggled with quickly dying creatives on content-hungry platforms like TikTok.
Solution: Genomelink implemented a comprehensive creative strategy that focused on testing various hooks, CTAs, spark ads, voiceovers, and actors.
The goal was to increase creative throughput and keep refreshing dying creatives to avoid creative fatigue.
The process involved developing an ongoing creative production system where Genomelink maintained a pipeline of at least 5-10 performance-based UGC videos.
The company increased its chances of going viral and achieving success by having more video variations.
Results:
Creating a successful UGC campaign isn’t as easy as copying what worked for other brands.
You will have to strategize your content plans, starting with your goals and finding a way to incorporate them into your content strategies.
Let’s begin:
Setting a budget is important because it keeps you in check.
It also forces you to choose the most effective strategies to reach your marketing goals and achieve business growth.
Who are you talking to? Options include, but are not limited to:
It’s important to figure out who you are addressing because that will help you craft your message.
For example, you don’t have to build awareness with existing loyal customers through UGC; instead, you may use this tactic for upselling.
Pro tip: Use the right social listening tools to analyze different potential audiences.
Here’s what to focus on:
Understanding these factors will help you get social proof and boost engagement by becoming number one in their mental hierarchy of brands.
Let’s start with this: you need a UGC strategy.
You can’t simply rummage through your tags or search by your brand keywords to find relevant content you can repurpose.
You need to be intentional about your Instagram UGC strategy, just as you learned in school about any product marketing strategy.
So, you need to:
Convincing Instagram UGC includes:
Now that you’ve seen great examples of user-generated content, it’s essential to know how to collect it.
Here are a few great ways to get started.
95% of people buy products based on reviews, and if a product has at least five reviews, people are 270% more likely to buy it.
Stats like these show that honest and competent reviews are the key to any purchase.
To get those reviews:
Insider tip: You can even include negative reviews in your UGC strategy if you have a higher risk appetite. For example, you can point out that many people have highlighted a specific problem and how you plan on fixing it. That approach generates more buzz but can also increase awareness of your downsides. So, make sure you fix that “bug” quickly after first mentioning it.
A hashtag campaign elicits consumer engagement as it gets people hyped up about posting things about your brand.
The more people use this branded hashtag on social media, the trendier it becomes.
And, as you know, repetition and building a community lead to more conversions.
Pro-tip: You can easily calculate ER with our TikTok Engagment Rate calculator and Instagram Engagement Rate calculator.
Best hashtag contest practices to increase brand awareness and sales:
Pro tip: A larger prize helps you get more user-generated posts.
For example, fashion designer Marc Jacobs ran a massive hiring campaign on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, asking people to post photos of them under the hashtag #CastMeMarc.
People felt the excitement, and so the UGC campaign saw about 15,000 social media posts within a day.
Pro tip: Real people are still using the hashtag, years later.
Gamification means asking people to complete some tasks to receive a particular reward.
As a result, you’re turning user-generated content into a game that has:
As people compete for more prizes, their brains release dopamine – the reward hormone.
That’s how you create easy customer engagement.
Besides, this technique can become a building block of your long-term relationship with your customers.
That means they’ll be more likely to think of your brand when they make their purchase decisions.
Partner with influencers in your niche to create content featuring your products or services.
Influencers have a loyal following and can help generate authentic, high-quality UGC that resonates with your target audience.
Provide top content creators exclusive access to new products, behind-the-scenes experiences, or special events. In return, ask them to share their experiences and create content showcasing your brand.
For instance, inBeat worked with YouTube influencer Carter Sullivan to promote Mogo.ca.
Mogo is a mobile app targeting mainly Gen-Z-ers that allows people to budget their expenses, get out of debt, and win rewards in the process.
As you can see from the YouTube videos she created about Mogo, Carter is very passionate about this app.
You can sense that she used it, so she knows all the app’s features and intricacies.
As a result, she may recommend this app to her viewers.
Psst: you can read more about MOGO and other brand ambassador examples here.
Useee social media features like polls, questions, and challenges to encourage user engagement and content creation.
For example, ask your followers to share their favorite ways to use your product or to post a picture of themselves with your product.
Pro tip: Regularly interact with your followers and customers on social media by liking, commenting, and sharing their content.
This shows appreciation and encourages them to continue creating content related to your brand.
Build a branded community on social media or through a dedicated platform where customers can interact, share experiences, and create content related to your brand.
Encourage community members to share their stories, photos, and videos.
Pro tip: Incorporate user-generated content into your website, such as a gallery showcasing customer photos or a dedicated section for customer stories. This not only provides social proof but also encourages others to contribute their own content.
Create educational content, such as how-to guides or tutorials, that showcases your products or services.
Encourage customers to share their own tips, tricks, or results using your products, fostering a sense of community and generating valuable UGC.
You can address people with the same interests, build a strong network, and motivate your customers.
Once you get that user-generated content, you must organize it carefully.
Sure, UGC gives regular people a lot of freedom, but that doesn’t mean you can let your campaign unfold by itself.
That’s why you need a content calendar.
Pro tip: Use every little tool your social media channel has to offer.
For example, the Tagembed Instagram Widget for website is a great all in one Instagram feed for website owners.
Repurposing content is an excellent idea because it’s an affordable way of attracting your target audience.
Here’s how you can leverage UGC on Instagram:
UPS’s #TheUPSStoreCustomer is a perfect example because it allows customers–in this case, B2B companies–to associate themselves with your brand. They’re entering this brand’s family and claiming their position in its community.
Pro tip: Add a quick button to allow people to buy your products immediately–you’ll see those conversions skyrocketing.
Keep track of your campaign, ensuring you’re achieving the desired results.
If not, ask yourself what you can adapt, remove, or include to make things work your way.
Remember that you don't have to push your products to people; you must attract your audience to your brand.
Once you have a UGC library, you can scale up your content campaigns.
Remember that this awesome content is free and can be repurposed in any way you need to.
For example, you can leverage UGC in your email marketing campaign.
E-mail marketing has a lot of holes:
Here’s how you can use Instagram UGC as a complimentary tool for your e-mail marketing:
"#Overtone and show us your creations” is an excellent e-mail marketing example because the brand encourages people to connect to the Instagram community after using Overtone products.
Basically, the brand doesn’t promise a good product; it promises a connection.
Of course, people must purchase conditioners to become part of that community and show off.
Many other brands use e-mail marketing to promote specific Instagram contests that will bring loyal customers together.
Remember: You can also use this strategy because it allows you to connect authentically with your customers and makes content curation easy.
MeUndies has the #meundiesfam, under which people can post their photos, reviews, and videos over many social media platforms.
The company can repurpose some of these photos in their e-mails, giving credit to those who originally posted those pics.
This strategy works for MeUndies because it’s a breath of fresh air:
People are self-conscious about buying lingerie, and they know most models in lingerie ads are heavily edited.
That’s why an e-mail posting regular people having fun and looking beautifully natural in their underwear can increase conversions.
Remember:
You can scale your Instagram UGC campaign on other media, not just email campaigns.
Consider adding the content you get from your happy customers to your:
User-generated content marketing starts by respecting some best practices.
If done incorrectly, it can go bad.
So, let’s see how you can build an effective UGC campaign:
A UGC marketplace will help you source the most effective user-generated videos for your campaign.
inBeat’s UGC marketplace can connect you with the top 2% of influencers to create compelling UGC clips, such as product reviews, unboxing videos, and recommendations.
That authentic content will convince more people to try your products and create their own content about your brand.
Pro tip: Not all user-created content is amazing.
Instagrammable content requires multiple edits, and prospective customers usually lack proficient editing software. By comparison, a user-generated content platform can help you do that.
For example, if you’re looking for customer reviews, offer a discount or free product as an incentive.
If you’re looking for social proof, give away branded products or experiences.
Ensure your incentive is attractive enough for people to create and send those videos.
You need to offer your audience:
Leverage your social media channels to:
You must do this for all other UGC, paid ads, or influencer marketing campaigns.
Ensure your requirements, incentives, and framework respect the current legislation.
For example, you must:
A clear, memorable, and short hashtag will help people find your campaign and post their content in the right place.
That means you’ll also benefit because you can collect that UGC easier and keep track of all posts under that hashtag.
Even better, using hashtags means:
Even your most loyal customers will hesitate to send you their videos unless you offer a big enough incentive.
Whether that’s recognition or cashback – it depends on your current audience and marketing goals.
But remember that specific UGC, like UGC videos, is hard to make and is more personal than other types of content.
Even photos are more impersonal because they lack sound and movement.
That’s why you need that strong reward and gamification to keep people interested.
Crediting users may be legal in your area, but it’s also nice and effective from a marketing perspective.
Mentioning the original creator by name:
Ultimately, that’s how you get more UGC.
Keep track of your results with an open mind.
Your campaign might not get the desired traction, but that doesn’t mean UGC isn’t the right strategy.
It may mean that you implemented it incorrectly.
So:
Studies show that marketing e-mails with visual content like user-generated videos have:
So, include your UGC photos and videos in paid ads, marketing e-mails, social media posts, and any other campaign you build in the future.
Pro tip: Use our free ad mockup generators to test different UGC ads before rolling them out.
Yes, user-generated content is technically free when people create fresh content for you on their own accord.
These people can include your fans, employees, loyal customers, or even your company owners.
Here’s the problem:
You must use some resources to include UGC in your marketing efforts.
For example, you have to pay someone to:
Consequently, strategizing and managing user-generated content is what will end up costing you.
That’s why it’s a solid idea to use content creators:
Here are our influencer platform’s top tips to manage user-generated content:
Even if you’re not explicitly tagged, those posts can be gold.
That’s how you can find excellent posts that you can repurpose.
With the advancements in technology, many brands are also exploring the use of AI photo editors to enhance and curate user-generated images, ensuring they align with the brand's aesthetic while retaining the authenticity of the original content.
That brings us to the next point.
The UGC library you’ve created will help you for years to come.
You can repurpose that content however you like within your website or social media channels.
You can also curate it to create infographics, e-mails, PowerPoint templates for your potential customers, ads, flyers, Instagram stories, jingles, and so forth.
Remember: don’t leave user-generated content to chance.
Ensure you have a thorough strategy and that you’re very precise about your goals.
You need to start with specific variables and follow clear performance indicators to evaluate the final results as you’d do for any marketing campaign.
By contrast, a poorly thought UGC campaign can bring you the other type of recognition—aka bad publicity.
To get the results you want, choose the best platforms and tools for the job.
You can try inBeat's influencer database for free and see for yourself.
Even if you don’t repost something, try to find its core unique insight or perspective. Every feedback is a lesson.
Enable two-step check-out because you want them to act on them quickly once people have made those purchasing decisions.
So, make sure that the check-out process runs smoothly.
Pro tip: You can evaluate collaboration cost with influencers with our calculator.
Leveraging UGC in your marketing campaign helps you gain more recognition and awareness, creates loyalty, and improves product consideration.
All that leads to increased sales.
As you already know, the problem is knowing which strategy to use.
You will have to be very intentional in assessing your options.
For example, some people respond well to Instagram Stories, while others prefer Instagram Shopping & Feed.
You’ll have to understand very clearly what makes your audience tick.
Of course, you can and should scale up your UGC campaign once you begin producing results.
If you’re new to this, inBeat can help.
Our UGC marketplace saves you hundreds of hours you would otherwise spend with content discovery and curation.
Instead, we’ll give you access to our platform of 30,000+ creators plus a dedicated campaign strategist.
You will get access to your content library with one click and unlimited copyrights to that content.
