How to inspire UGC content that will elevate your brand

One of the keys to selling products online lies in finding ways to draw in and engage customers who will probably never come into face-to-face contact with either you or your staff. 

Inspiring them to create and share their impressions of your brand affiliates them with your team while simultaneously inspiring others to look deeper into what you have to offer. This interest, in turn, can lead to even greater sales numbers and a broader customer base.

User-generated content defined.

User-generated content (UGC) is textual or visual content created by a brand's customers or fans. It is often used to publicize merchandise information and frequently helps to disseminate and elevate a brand’s voice and identity. 

This vehicle is far more compelling to shoppers than paying attention to a brand’s internal efforts to promote itself. It is a highly effective way to attract millennial customers with millions of dollars to spend.

What can UGC do for your business?

The potential benefits of UGC are clear and compelling. 

When customers are highly visible at the forefront of your marketing strategies, your brand and the merchandise you sell will gain an added air of authenticity that will serve to attract interested buyers and convert them into long-term brand ambassadors. This is a foundation of trust formed.

Prospective consumers who conduct a search and happen upon feedback from one of your satisfied buyers will often use it as proof. Knowing that a regular person just like them is happy with a product provides a huge dose of social proof that elevates the chances that they will pull the trigger and press that all-important “buy now” button.

How to increase the UGC content provided by your customers.

Start by working hard to bump up your social media follower numbers. The more regular visitors that you have to your pages, the greater the chances that additional people will create posts that will be attractive to others. You can also use your social media platforms to amplify, for example, positive reviews that customers leave about your business on third-party sites. 

Reviews are frequently what casual viewers search for, and this feedback frequently serves as their initial introduction to a store. 

Customers tend to post their opinions for one of two reasons: either they have bad things to say and want to help others to avoid making the same mistake that they did, or they love a product, service, or experience and want to spread the word. 

In this latter case, you as the seller can inspire the sharing of positive feedback. Ask directly, send an email, or offer a discount coupon or other incentive to encourage a post.

Visual UGC is also very powerful. Your customers are already taking pictures numerous times a day. Inspire them to share the images of your store and/or your merchandise on social media platforms that also contain hashtags of your company name or brand.

This can be done by hosting a UGC campaign. Provide tangible incentives to people who take photos of themselves that are related to your brand and products, encouraging them to append your preferred hashtags. 

Then follow this up by responding to their submissions. Provide feedback of your own along with added rewards such as branded stickers or mugs.

Take your UGC into prime time.

Now that the reviews, photos, and videos are flowing in, you have the chance to put your brand recognition strategy into overdrive. Begin by using UGC to jump-start your email marketing campaigns. 

Just as is the case with social media, it can increase engagement rates, convert subscribers into customers, keep people interested and motivated for the long term, and measurably help in selling products online.

Facebook can be another highly effective vehicle for your UGC. Potential customers on this platform will be more likely to pay attention to stories from real people than to straight ad content. 

The content can be connected directly to your product pages that are already linked to your point of sale, payment gateway, and payment processing for retailers software. Best of all, this type of marketing is cost-effective and flexible, and able to change seamlessly with every new marketing initiative that you put forward.

Harnessing the power of UGC helps to excite current buyers, attract new ones, drive sales, and expand your brand. 

Putting the powerful images and words of your own customers to work for your business just might be one of the best decisions you have ever made to take your company and brand to the next level.