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How To Leverage User Generated Content

Ways to repurpose UGC

There’s no denying that UGC (user generated content) is a powerful marketing tool; it can help your brand authentically connect with customers, increase conversions and ultimately grow your business. You may already be reposting your customers’ Instagram pictures or tweets, but there are many other useful techniques that are well worth considering.

In this article, we explore the most effective ways to make the most of the content your customers are creating.

Feature UGC on Your Website

One of the most impactful ways you can repurpose UGC is by featuring it on your website. This allows shoppers to see your product being used in everyday life and can help them picture themselves enjoying it. As a result, adding customer photos to your site can help increase your conversion rate.

Eyewear brand iolla features an Instagram gallery on their product pages. This gives the impression that iolla values their customers and can help reassure potential customers who are hesitating about making a purchase. For example, they’ll be able to see which face shapes suit the eyewear they’re interested in.

UGC on iolla\'s product page

Image source: iolla.com

Yotpo’s Instagram Galleries feature, available on their premium plan, allows you to showcase customer photos in galleries across your site. Customers’ images can be featured on different pages, which can all bring great benefits:

  • Homepage: Adding a shoppable gallery here can shorten the pathway to purchase by reducing the clicks required to get to the product
  • Product page: Featuring images of your customers using your products can be aspirational, helps build trust and increase conversions
  • Category page: Displaying a gallery here can help turn more browsers into buyers
  • Checkout page: Featuring UGC of complementary products here can help increase average order value

Instagram galleries can also inspire customers to share their own photos with your products. Alongside the UGC gallery, add a CTA that includes a dedicated hashtag they can use when posting the picture on Instagram.  

Use UGC For Your Ad Campaigns

Have you considered featuring user generated content in your ad campaigns? Not only is it a cost effective way to advertise, it can be a great way to capture your target audience’s interest. According to Yotpo, social ads with UGC have a 4x higher click-through rate compared to those without. Consumers are becoming less trusting of advertising imagery created by brands. By putting your customers in the spotlight instead, your adverts should appear more authentic and relatable.

Innis & Gunn recently ran a fun integrated marketing campaign using the hashtag #YourPint. They looked at what their fans were saying on social media and shared witty responses on billboards across Edinburgh as well as on their social media and even in newspaper ads. They also encouraged fans to share a photo of themselves enjoying an Innis & Gunn pint, with the chance to be featured on their site’s Wall of Fame. This campaign is a great example of using UGC to raise brand awareness and to connect with customers.

Innis and Gunn YourPint Campaign

If you’re going to feature UGC in any of your marketing campaigns, make sure you ask permission from the creators in advance. This will help you avoid any copyright disputes.

Learn About Your Customers

Once you’ve run a UGC campaign, you’ll be left with lots of content that can be extremely valuable to your business. Look for recurring themes and find out which products are most popular, how customers use your products and what other products they pair your own with. These findings can help you create future campaigns and even help you discover potential business partnerships.

Reviews are another valuable form of UGC. They can help you learn not only what your customers think about your products, but how they feel about their shopping experience. These insights can help you develop future strategies which could include actions such as improving your mobile checkout or offering additional fulfilment options.

Post Reviews on Social Media

In addition to sharing your customers’ images and videos, repurposing positive reviews on social media can help drive quality traffic to your site. According to research carried out by Cone, 87% of consumers agree that positive reviews confirm their decision to purchase a product. Sharing some of your best feedback on social channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, can help drive sales.

You can feature the review in your copy along with an image of the product or screenshot the feedback displayed on your site or review platform. Don’t forget to include a link so your followers can easily find the product or service mentioned. Some review platforms such as Trustpilot and Feefo can connect with your social channels and make it easy to share your favourite quotes from reviews.  

Reviews on social media

To showcase your reviews in a more eye-catching way, why not create your own graphic using Photoshop or Canva? Make sure you create it with the required dimensions of whichever platform you’re posting on.

Feature UGC in your email campaigns

By incorporating authentic customer photos into your email campaigns, your brand can connect with customers in a more personal way. This type of content also tends to be inspiring and relatable, which can help keep your subscribers engaged when they open your email.

Research carried out by Salesforce found that UGC drives a 73% increase in email click-through rates. Why not start including this influential content in some of your emails and see if it can help boost your CTR and online revenue? There aren’t many brands currently integrating UGC in with their email marketing strategy, so it’s a great opportunity to make your email campaigns stand out.

 

Hopefully you’ve now got a good idea of how you can harness user generated content. Our previous post can help you learn how to encourage more customers to create UGC.

References

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