Any business that operates online is competing in a very crowded market. With the eCommerce market forecasted to reach a value of $9.3 trillion by 2027, everyone wants a slice of that lucrative pie. If you have quality products (or services), then the onus is on your marketing team to attract real customers and move them through your sales funnel and customer journey to the point of purchase decisions. 

Modern marketing has many approaches, from an omnichannel strategy to segmentation and personalization for your target audiences. One useful tactic is using UGC (user-generated content) to appeal to potential customers. Knowing how to leverage user-generated content can lead to increased conversions for your business.

But what is UGC, and how should you approach leveraging it? 

What is user-generated content?

Image sourced from searchlogistics.com

As the name suggests, UGC is content created by your customers and users. It can refer to any type of content, including videos, text, images, or even audio. 

Branded content, paid ads and even AI social media generated posts are all valid ways of creating content. And when done well, they can certainly increase brand visibility and reach. But UGC, although amateur in nature, has enormous appeal to people as they see it as being ‘free’ of fancy marketing messages and as more honest. 

In fact, around 85% of consumers think that user-generated content is more persuasive than traditional marketing content. Creators of UGC post their content in a variety of places, from their social media channels to independent blogs. Online reviews are also considered a form of user-generated content.                               

How to leverage user-generated content to improve awareness and conversions

Image sourced from embedsocial.com

At the end of the day, you want people to buy your products or services. While conversion rates can vary from industry to industry, you should consider that the average global eCommerce site conversion rate is 2.58% and in the US, it’s 2.57%. Those figures can provide benchmarks for your conversion expectations, but you should also research what the average conversion rate is for your particular area of eCommerce.

There can be many reasons for lower-than-average conversion rates, and you should ensure that none of the usual problems are responsible for yours (if you are low). These problems can range from unoptimized websites (or not optimized for mobile devices) to poor website navigation. Looking at the ‘usual suspects’ behind low conversion rates should be your first port of call.

If you’re sure all pain points have been addressed, then it’s time to look at how you can incorporate UGC into your marketing efforts and, more importantly, how you can leverage relevant content to improve your conversion rates.

Establish a brand 

You may already have established a strong brand identity that is recognizable across all your marketing content. 

It is something that communicates to potential customers factors such as quality and reliability, and should also communicate your organizational values. Extending that to UGC can involve a deep understanding of what you want to say and what you think people want to hear. 

For example, a company selling home entertainment systems may look at UGC videos of a family gathered together and enjoying a film. Combined with positive online reviews, this is communicating to consumers that your brand is high quality and your products bring families together. A strong brand strategy is as important as a digital contact center strategy.

Make voices heard

UGC is all about using the voices of your customers. So, you need to encourage them to ‘speak’ up, whether you want them to share their experiences of using your project time tracking software or how they style dresses bought from your eCommerce store.

The most common type of voice is leaving reviews or even, with long-term loyal customers or brand ambassadors, recommending your brand to friends and family. Asking people to leave reviews can be done via emails (follow-up or marketing) or through your website or social media posts. 

If you’re unsure how to do this, look at these business website examples for inspiration. Do your research and find a format that aligns with your brand and will allow UGC to truly shine.

You can choose to incentivize this tactic with discounts or other offers. This is an area where visual content can be useful too. While a written product review is great, a video demonstrating the product (or how to use it) can be very persuasive for potential customers. For example, if you are selling cloud call center software, then video demonstrations of how it works could be a deciding factor when it comes to a purchasing decision.

Use social listening tools 

How do you discover all the UGC that discusses or promotes your brand? A fantastic video that extols the benefits of your product will only have a limited audience unless you bring the creator and brand together. The main answer to this problem is to use a social listening tool. By using certain keywords, phrases, or hashtags, you can see what people are saying about you. 

With modern technology, many of these listening tools are AI-powered and will not only identify UGC but also analyze relevant data and provide valuable insights into the content posted. The thing to always remember is that you need the consent of the creator to leverage user-generated content in your marketing campaigns. 

Use hashtags 

Another way to curate content from users is through hashtags. Some social media platforms, such as Instagram, use hashtags as a primary marketing tool. If you’re looking to include UGC in your marketing strategy, consider the following steps:

• Have themes that people, both creators and consumers, will recognize. 
• Use your social media accounts to promote the use of hashtags, both for the brand as a whole and for individual campaigns.
• Incentivize campaigns with competitions offering free products or discounts.
• Showcase the best hashtag-related UGC on your website or social media platforms (remember to get permission to share). 
• Analyze the metrics and data from any UGC content just as you would with your own marketing content. 

Maintain quality 

Using user-generated content marketing does not mean compromising on quality. Your images and videos represent your brand and products, and the same quality levels need to be standardized for UGC, too. 

When images and videos (from any source) are consistently high-quality content, it helps engender a sense of trust in consumers. If written content, you also want to be sure it’s SEO-optimised. 

Given the technological advances in mobile technology, quality is not difficult to maintain. The editing and other aspects may be less than professional, but even that is something people will understand. In fact, a slight lack of professionalism may appeal even more than something that is ‘too polished’.

6. Build an online community 

You may already have a strong social media presence, but creating a separate online community can be a beneficial tactic if you want to leverage user-generated content. It can lead to higher levels of engagement and be the catalyst that drives your customers to create their own UGC, even if that just consists of online customer reviews or endorsements. 

You want your community to be as effective as possible and also to be a way to elevate loyal customers to ambassador status. To that end, here are some things to think about:

Selecting your platform 

Where will you host your community? There are specialist platforms such as Mighty Networks or Wild Apricot, or you may decide to build your own using a platform such as WordPress combined with the membership plugins they offer. A small to medium-sized business may even consider setting up a dedicated group on a site like Facebook. Some of the content that is posted in your community can be an ideal addition to any marketing brochure you produce. 

Enable UGC 

Your community is designed for the sharing of user-generated content. If a customer posts something that stands out, it can become UGC that you can use (with consent). 

You can also focus on the type of UGC you most want to highlight, and even incentivize sharing. For example, ‘If we use your video, we’ll give you a 10% discount on future purchases.’

Forums 

Think of your community as being like the forums from the early days of the internet. Have discussion areas (or threads) where members can engage with each other and discuss your virtues as a brand or focus on individual products or services. This can also provide members with opportunities to ask questions that can be answered by the staff you have assigned as admins/moderators. 

Consider an FAQ/knowledge base section

You probably already have this on your website, but your community should also have one. Peers can share knowledge or ask questions directly to you. It can also be a great place to share your guidelines on user-generated content. These sections can be a great resource for accurate product information. 

Host live events 

Free to use image sourced from Pixabay

Your community is also a great place to host live events for the members. This can focus (though not exclusively) on UGC. You could hold a webinar where your in-house experts can teach the basics of producing and editing any UGC. It can also allow you to have customers host (or co-host) an event and discuss their experiences. 

Bring people together 

Community is about bringing people together, and your online community can be a great way to nurture collaboration. Just as soccer talks about the crowd being the ‘12th man’, your community can act as an extra employee. Get your members engaged and working with each other to grow a sense of community. You may also find that they can act as unofficial customer support on your platforms. 

Get involved 

Don’t let your community exist in a vacuum. Have a team assigned to not only moderating the community but actively getting involved too. This demonstrates that you care about what people say and think. It can also help to establish clear guidelines as to the community’s purpose and what’s acceptable. 

Reward and promote

You want your community to grow, so promote it across your other platforms, especially when using UGC. You should also look at some form of reward scheme similar to a loyalty program if you have one. Give rewards to regular or outstanding contributors so that others may follow suit. 

The takeaway 

Image source

Knowing how to leverage user-generated content as part of your content marketing strategy can be a crucial step on the path to success and better conversion rates. Whether positive reviews or product demonstration videos, it’s content from peers that is more trusted than normal marketing materials and can be a powerful tool. 

As with other marketing content, you should analyze metrics and other data to see what content resonates best with potential buyers. It’s also worth remembering that UGC comes at no cost to your organization, so ROI can be very high.

Featured Image by Taras Shypka on Unsplash