How to Encourage UGC from your Brand Followers
These days, user-generated content is a powerful source of marketing material used by many brands. One of the main reasons behind it is the fact that this type of content allows companies to generate more engagement and awareness while connecting with their audiences on a personal level. Companies that want to take advantage of user-generated content will first have to put in place the right strategies. Those strategies should motivate their consumers to start creating and sharing their own user-generated content. Then, the company can then start incorporating it into its marketing strategies.
Audit
Auditing is the first step businesses will have to take to start incorporating user-generated content in their marketing strategies to identify the existing content that their consumers have shared in the past. To do that, businesses will have to head to some of the most popular social media platforms their consumers enjoy using, including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Then, the company can begin their audit by looking up its name, any branded hashtags the company has created, and its physical location where possible. Companies have to remember not all consumers will end up tagging the brand on the content they’re sharing across social media platforms or even using branded hashtags. That means companies should think outside the box when conducting this type of audit.
Trends
The next step for companies to take is to look through all the content consumers have already shared about the company and its products, and identify trends among them. Some of the things that companies should take into consideration when analyzing past user-generated content include the people most likely to share content about the company and its solutions, the products or things they’re sharing the content about, and the location of the content when they shared it. Brands will need to identify the reason why the users decided to tag the company or use a branded hashtag.Identifying these details can help companies develop a more data-driven user-generated content strategy. This strategy will inform all user-generated content campaigns in the future for the business.
Incentive
Once the company has conducted an audit and analyzed the content that previous customers have shared in terms of user-generated content, it’s time to think about incentives that will motivate other potential customers to start sharing their own content. Call to actions should encourage users to create content that doesn’t focus on the brand, but rather content that focuses on the customers and their experience with the brand. This type of content succeeds because it showcases the way the customers are using and enjoying products while connecting with the brand. Companies can use the data they’ve gathered to figure out the best strategies to get more people to share their own content about the company and its solutions.