Introduction

          In recent times the challenge for digital marketers has become rigorous as creating new engaging and creative content for their marketing campaigns is extremely difficult.

People are looking for reliable content, adds value, and engaging to them and not the dull promotional content. That is where the role of User-generated content comes into play.

What is User-generated content?

User-generated content or UGC is the form of content that is created and shared by the users voluntarily on digital mediums, especially social media platforms.

UGC is mainly relevant to the brands or commercial elements like their experience with a brand or reviews/opinions about the products, or maybe general discussions or ideas about a commercial entity mainly the brand that they buy products of.

User-generated content is the most trustworthy, authentic, and reliable form of content as it is driven by the real emotions and experiences of the users. 

Importance of UGC

          There is so much hype around the user-generated content and its benefits for the marketing campaigns of brands. But why is it so important now?

Well! We have gathered some facts to highlight why UGC has become a crucial part of current marketing strategies.

• 9 out of 10 people state that user-generated content influences their online purchase decision.
• UGC is almost 10 times more impactful than the influencers’ content
• Social campaigns empowered by UGC see a 50% increase in the user engagement
• Digital ads with UGC get over 5 times more click-through-rate from users.

Now that we know the actual importance and impact of UGC on people, let’s delve into how you can leverage it for your digital marketing strategies.

1. Build a campaign with social proof

          It is essential for you that people trust your digital marketing campaign as it will bring the results ultimately. Marketing message empowered by UGC will be highly effective due to the authenticity, reliability, and trustworthiness of the content among the people.

If the users will trust your marketing message, it will enhance the effectivity of your campaign as it will be more appealing to the people.

People will be willing to take action in response to your campaigns potentially leading to engagement and conversions.

2. Increase your reach, exposure, and awareness

          As an objective of your digital marketing campaign, you would like to reach maximum possible people so that it increases your chances of engagement and conversions.

As the engagement rate with user-generated content is comparatively higher than any other form of content and it also gets shared more. It provides extended opportunities to reach a wider audience with greater exposure and enhanced awareness.

Also, social media platforms give more importance to the user-generated content over branded content so you will get that advantage as well.

3. Content Curation Benefits

          Content is the nervous system for any digital marketing strategy as it will ultimately define the extent of user engagement and impact of strategy over the people.

You can easily collect and customize the user-generated content from social platforms as social media is a hub for UGC. With a social aggregator tool, you can gather the most relevant and valuable UGC.

It is extremely cost-efficient compared to content creation and it does not require extensive labor or capital investment for content creation & management. This helps in reducing the marketing budget tremendously for the brand.

4. Personalized marketing

          User-generated content is a great displayer of what the people are sharing, the topics of interest, what content excites users, what are they exploring or engaging with, and more insights that can help you understand the behavior of people.

Based on these insights you can formulate a more personalized digital marketing strategy that makes the consumers feel rewarded and acknowledged. This will help in attracting and engaging a huge number of people to your brand.

5. Increase engagement and conversions

          Engagement and conversions are probably the most important outcomes for any digital marketing strategy as they provide the returns on marketing investments.

User-generated content is immensely impactful in increasing user engagement with your campaign. People are more interested in exploring the content of other users as it is more humanized and can easily connect with the users.

Besides, UGC can also bring conversions as people tend to make their online purchase decisions based on the recommendations of their friends or peers.

Therefore, UGC is the perfect choice as it provides a clear and authentic image of a brand or product.

6. Community Building & Relationship Management

          Nowadays the marketing is not restricted to promotions and conversions but it is more long-term value-driven where the brands look for community building and user-brand relationship management.

As a part of your digital marketing strategy, you should encourage users to share more content, repost their already shared content, provides a rewarding opportunity for UGC creation.

User-generated content presents the perfect opportunity to create an online loyal community that constantly engages with brand and are advocates of the brand.

Conclusion

          Now that you have explored how user-generated content can be leveraged for digital marketing. You must create a content strategy that revolves around the appropriate repurposing or UGC.

Although UGC is available in abundance you can not directly repurpose it for your campaigns. It is important to acquire the UGC rights that provide you legal protection and make your users happy. For leveraging these benefits and UGC rights management, it is important to find the social media aggregator tool that can deliver both solutions together leading to greater effectivity and efficiency.