Sure, there are many ways of making your Singapore digital marketing campaign stand out from the crowd, but the most powerful and effective tactic is the incorporation of User Generated Content (UGC). The new breed of customers has an inherent urge to share their experience on social media sites and review sites. Such content can significantly help to increase the ability of your digital marketing campaign to get leads.
Here are three primary reasons why you should consider using user-generated content in your online marketing campaigns.
Helps Build Trust
Customers come across thousands of ads per day. As a result, they are less likely going to make a purchasing decision based on a blatant ad that you post on social media or any other platform online. This builds on the fact that they are aware that most advertisements are tailored to show the best possible outcome of a service or product thereby overlooking the chances of things going south.
As a result, customer reviews are considered more authentic as they are personal and more often address the interests and expectations of the customers. To get maximum benefit from UGC, you need to maintain its authenticity. That is, do not pay people to post positive reviews on an e-commerce site.
Boost Site Traffic and SEO
Research studies show that site that allows users to post reviews has more content to rank for than their counterparts who do not give their users this privilege. Creating a space that customers can interact with one another to get free and quality content. You can also monitor the conversation to get ideas on how to improve your service or product. The added content will also have to target key phrases that will boost on-site SEO thereby increasing the chances of the site being displayed on SERPs.
Helpful and Honest Feedback
Customer reviews are one of the most common types of user-generated content that you can quickly and easily find when you search your business on a search engine such as Google. Go ahead and build your credibility by picking some of the reviews or comments and posting them on your website and social network profiles.
You will get negative reviews, and the temptations to hide them will kick in. Such a move can have serious ramifications on your Singapore digital marketing campaign. The savvy customers can identify a fake review from a mile away. The wisest thing to do when you get such reviews is to respond to the concerns of the reviewer in a professional way. For instance, you can request him/her to get in touch with the support team directly. This will make the customer feel valued as well as show other customers who are considering buying your product that your brand cares about its clientele.
Complete Guide on How to Get More User-Generated Content
We have extensively discussed the benefits of user-generated content. The more, the better if you want to get ahead of the competition. 85% of online customers are influenced more by UGC than brand’s videos and photos of products. However, getting UGC is easier said than done due to the many hurdles you have to jump.
Not anymore, we scoured the web and here are five ways of getting more user-generated content without spending thousands of dollars.
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Run Contests on Social Media Platforms
Virtually all social media platforms allow brands to run contests or quizzes in adherence to the set guidelines. Align the contest goals with the digital marketing campaigns you are currently running to get the most results.
You can get genuine user-generated content such as photos and videos of clients using your product through the contests.
For example, Dove helped to push their “Real Beauty” slogan by running a Facebook contest. The brand requested fans were required to provide the names of their friends and why they think they “represent real beauty.” The contest also required the fans to provide two reasons or things that make them beautiful.
The contest was a major success and garnered a massive response from thousands of fans. Concisely, it helped increase the brand’s reach by creating more awareness. Clients who had never heard of the brand started following it on Facebook and most definitely purchased its products.
Photo credit: Dove Facebook Page
Here are five tips for running a successful contest on social media.
- Make it mobile-friendly
- Set clear rules and guidelines
- Have defined and clear objectives
- Offer valuable incentives to encourage participation
- Adhere to the social media platform rules for such promotions
Don’t worry if the first contest is not a success. Instead of focusing on failure, use the experience and lessons to craft better contests.
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Create a Brand Buzz
If you want your followers on Instagram, Facebook, or any other platform to talk about your brand, you have to give incentives to them. Why should they spend their valuable time discussing your brand?
That is the question you need to answer if you want to create a buzz for your brand on any social media platform today.
Share a Coke campaign by Coca-Cola is a perfect example of how creating a buzz can help brands get free user-generated content fast. The campaign was launched in Australia and quickly spread to more than 50 countries on different continents. The idea behind this promotion was to show customers that they are part of the brand and make them feel valued.
The company replaced its logo with the fan’s names. Fans would take a picture, hold a bottle of Coke with their name on it, and share it on social media.
Photo Credit: Twitter
Well, you may not be able to create such a campaign as Coca-Cola did, but you can look for engaging elements about your brand that can create a buzz. Here are three tips on creating excitement and other positive emotions about your brand on social media.
- Offer freebies
- Leverage sneak peeks, hints, and teasers
- Come up with a creative marketing hook
Engage all the personnel in the digital marketing and search engine optimisation departments to get the most results.
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Offer Rewards
People love to be appreciated by brands that they do business with or purchase products from frequently. Offering meaningful and valuable rewards to your customers will encourage them to create user-generated content for you freely.
We don’t mean cashback and discount coupons; it can be something as simple as a gesture of appreciation. For example, since most people are keen on getting followers on social media, posting their content by-line on your social media pages will get the work done.
Check out how Yo! Sushi does this for inspiration as you work on creating your promotion.
Below are creative and effective ways of rewarding fans and customers for creating content for your brand on social media. By the way, these tips apply to all platforms.
- Include their content in email newsletters that you send out and go the extra mile to share it on social media
- Nurture a habit of responding to comments on your posts in a timely way
- Feature fan-generated content in relevant blogs and share links of the same on your social media pages
- Create an award such as “Top Comment of the Month,” targeting active fans. Please reward them for the time they spent participating in the contest.
- Collaborate with super influential fans to write content for your brand’s blog
The secret is appreciating the time and effort they use to create content for your brand with valuable rewards. The rewards will make them brand advocates and encourage other social media users to follow suit to win similar rewards.
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The Potent Power of Hashtags
When used strategically, hashtags can supercharge your content by making it visible to millions of people across the globe, especially if it goes viral. They are uniquely effective on Instagram and Twitter due to the nature of the content that the two platforms support.
#PutACanOnIt by Red Bull is an example of a good hashtag that went viral a few days after its launch. The overwhelming response that it got enhanced the brand’s awareness efforts significantly. More than 10,000 original photos with this hashtag were posted on Instagram and Twitter.
Photo Credit: https://www.redbull.com
They were inspired to create the company after coming across a picture of a fan holding the can in front of Mini Cooper. The photographer used his prowess to capture the can as it’s been carried by the Mini Cooper.
As a digital marketer who wants to get ahead of the curve, you cannot undermine the power of hashtags. Look into your brand for elements that stand out from the crowd, then create hashtags. Think outside the box to spark the fan’s interest in participating. Sure, the first ones may not be successful – learn from the mistakes and continue moving forward.
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Don’t Shy Away from Asking Fans Questions
Intriguing questions such as puzzles always attract thousands of social media fans who use the platforms to interact and for fun. Please note that not all questions will respond, especially if they are not interesting or there is no incentive to research and answer them.
The goal is to ask questions about your product and put the customer at the centre of it all. For example, ask them to share their personal experiences using your service or product.
If you decide to use this strategy, keep in mind the possibility of getting some negative feedback, as McDonald learned back in 2012 when they launched the #McDStories Campaign. People were brutal to share unpleasant experiences, and this tainted the brand’s image significantly.
Applying the five tips on how to get more user-generated content shared above will put your business miles ahead of the competition. However, it would help if you were careful not to share content without the owner’s consent. In the past, we have seen brands pick images posted by people on social media in their marketing campaigns.
The point is, make sure that you give proper credit to the creator of the user-generated content instead of assuming they will be OK with you posting it. The whole process of creating UGC should be a mutually beneficial relationship between the brand and the fans.
Here are five steps to turn loyal customers into brand advocates in the current competitive digital business landscape.
Step 1: Select Social Media Platforms Most Relevant to the Campaign
Knowing where your clients live is great, but you need to go the extra mile to identify the social networks they are fond of to get their attention. Instagram is perfect for sharing visual UGC but does the target audience use it?
86% of customers are likely to purchase products from a brand over a competitor if they follow them on social media platforms. Therefore, you need to know which network most of the target customers are in, then create a UGC campaign targeting them. Most online consumers prefer to be engaged via Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
Want to know exactly what works on different platforms? We got your back.
Facebook takes pride in having more than 2.85 billion users across the globe. It is the perfect network for sharing full video content as well as stories about your company. Make sure that the content is authentic and entertaining to boost engagement and possibly go viral. The algorithm that governs the videos is a bit stringent compared to other platforms, but that shouldn’t deter you from spicing up ads with UGC content.
Twitter has more than 199 million users, and despite the small number of permitted characters per post, it has powerful marketing capability. It is ideal for image sharing as well as videos. For instance, you can create a live Twitter feed when holding an event. Hashtags also work magic here – use the tip we discussed earlier to create a branded hashtag.
Instagram is a god of visual content and is widely used by companies to get and share UGC. Here you can post videos of customers using the products. Reposting story mentions is another great feature that you can use to show appreciation to your customers. You can even repost the reposts to get more exposure. Take the time to learn how Instagram Explore works to get the most results.
TikTok
It’s estimated that there are more than 1.1 billion active TikTok users. Its quickly becoming the home of viral content. Users record and post short videos on their profiles for free with hashtags to increase reach. Unlike Instagram and Facebook, here you can get away with scrappy but authentic videos. You could post refined reviews and stories also, but both options will get the job done.
When you find a video you like, remember to seek permission from the creator before downloading and sharing it.
With more than 740 million users, LinkedIn is a well-deserving social network for professionals. Rest assured that the user-generated content you publish here will be analysed and vetted by professionals in the industry. This is not the avenue to post half-baked content. Make sure that the content reflects the core values of your brand positively.
Step 2: Have Objective User Generated Content Goals
Every facet of your content marketing strategy should have specific goals and objectives. UGC content is no exception. Have a list of goals and guidelines to work as a blueprint for acquiring and distributing the content. They should be clear, attainable, specific, and simple enough for the fans – don’t make it unnecessarily difficult for them to create videos using your product.
Here are common UGC content goals for inspiration.
High Brand Engagement
Every brand is super thirst for followers, likes, shares, and comments. Setting engagement as the primary goal for using UGC is smart, but you need to bring influencers and active users onboard. Use the best social media analytics tools to monitor your efforts.
Boost Conversion rates
53% of customers follow brands on social media to get first-hand information about their new products and services. Customer reviews and unboxing videos will help increase sales by distributing the content via the right social media channels.
Building Brand Credibility and Trust
93% of online customers trust user-generated content than branded content. Building credibility and trust should be among the top goals on the list regardless of the brand’s position in the market. You can diffuse the bad press by posting videos of satisfied customers regularly. It will help you win back consumers who had written you off after reading negative reviews.
Educational Purposes
Customers want to learn as much as possible about your brand before they purchase. Start by offering solutions to common problems and answering frequently asked questions. Your influencers can help you cut through the clutter and provide clear answers to most questions through their page comments sections. However, liaise with them to ensure their responses are consistently accurate.
Free Up Your Content Creation Schedule
If your content marketing team is running short of time, UGC content can help fill the gap. All you need to do is consolidate the best and relevant photos, videos, comments, hashtags, and anything else that resonates with your brand’s image and post it.
Step 3: Tell Customers Which Type of Content you Want
Did you know that more than 50% of the consumers with whom they purchase products would inform them about the type of content they should create and share? Considering that less than 16% of brands have a user-generated content strategy, this is your perfect opportunity to speed past your customers.
Be bold enough to let them know the type of content you want them to create and share. Set clear but easy to follow guidelines to encourage them to participate. Already, we have discussed the different ways of getting more UGC – use the recommended strategies to get the content you need to get to the top of the food chain.
Use hashtags to increase the photos or video reach. A repositing tool will come in handy to save time that you would have spent posting the videos manually.
Step 4: Collaborate and Remember the Focus is on Community
The beauty of user-generated content is that it sparks engagement faster than other forms of branded content. It also helps to fortify a community of loyal fans and customers who are not afraid to advocate for the brand.
For fans and clients alike, an unexpected repost or mention is a delight moment and a right surprise they will treasure for years. 51% of clients are likely to engage and purchase products from brands that include their posts in their marketing campaigns.
Sharing their content creates a bridge between the customers and your brand and increases the customer’s exposure online. Rest assured that other fans will follow suit and create content to get a similar mention or reward.
Ultimately, the bridge builds trust, credibility, and relevance. If well-executed, you will find it easy to drive customers down your marketing funnel than before.
Don’t undermine the importance of followers to your social media marketing strategies. The customer is always right – treat them will the respect and give them attention. Respond to their questions and comments, invite them to events such as product launches.
Concisely, customers are more likely to buy from a brand that exhumes a human personality than a faceless brand that doesn’t bother to reach out to them. So, give your brand a personality and think of social media engagement as an opportunity for growth, not a chore.
Step 5: Benchmark your User Engagement Efforts
You must know what works and what doesn’t work for your brand. The only way to do that is by benchmarking your user engagement efforts continuously. 90% of digital marketers are of the idea that social media gives them a higher cutting edge. Surprisingly, the same research found that only 55% use social data to understand the target customers better.
Track everything and anything that means something to your brand, from mentions to comments on videos and photos. All the social media platforms featured in this article have an analytics page that you can use to track the performance of your posts.
The report is a true reflection of the kind of content that the customers prefer to get from you. If user-generated videos and photos get more engagement than mentions and hashtags, focus on them more.
Go the extra mile to bring onboard social media listening tools to know your brand’s conversations on different social media platforms. Whether it is an analysis of hashtags, keywords, and even customers’ experiences with your product or service, it will help you craft a better UGC marketing strategy.
Bonus Tip
There is a huge gap between consumers and marketers. Most brands are unaware of this gap, which could be why their sales keep dwindling despite investing thousands of dollars in marketing campaigns.
51% of customers believe that less than half of the brands in the world create authentic content. 92% of the digital marketers think that most of the content they churn out is authentic and resonates with the audience’s needs.
There is a need for brands to be more genuine when it comes to content creation and distribution. The conventional product reviews and buying guides that are written with a marketing angle won’t cut it.
As repeatedly mentioned in this article, customers rely mostly on customer reviews than what brands say about their products and services. Therefore, you need to rethink your content marketing strategy to get ahead of the competition. There are countless ways of encouraging customers to create and share videos or photos using the product.
Offer them meaningful and relevant incentives so that they feel encouraged and motivated to take the time to create the content. If you don’t do that, very few of them will take time to respond to your call for contribution.
Final Thoughts
User-generated content is a low-hanging fruit that you can grab and use to generate more sales. It will increase your ROI from the content marketing strategy. More importantly, it will reward you with a fresh stream of new customers and increased brand awareness. There are many benefits of incorporating UGC in your marketing campaigns, but that’s it for today.
Over the years, we have helped companies from all parts of the world grow by providing customised services. We adhere to the recommended best practices and keep tabs on trends to ensure clients stay ahead of their competitors.
We will help you get started with UGC and equip you with everything to monitor the efforts and results. Get in touch with us today for SEO and content marketing services.
