Posted by User-generated content (UGC) is a crucial part of any brand’s marketing strategy today.
Authentic photos, videos, reviews, and testimonials created by real customers have a massive influence on purchasing decisions.
Over 80% of shoppers say UGC highly impacts their choices, more than celebrity endorsements or influencer promotions.
However, getting a steady flow of great UGC can be challenging.
While some loyal brand fans love to share their experiences, most customers need extra motivation to take the time to post online.
So how can you encourage more user-generated reviews, social posts, images, videos, and engagement?
In this post, we have covered the 9 most effective ways to get more high-quality user-generated content that drives results.
1. Run Contests
Running contests that incentivize users to create UGC is one of the best and most popular tactics.
The chance to win fun prizes will motivate many users to generate branded photos, videos, reviews, and other social content.
The best part? — Launching contests is quite easy. You just need to figure out how to structure your contests around the type of UGC you want and offer prizes that appeal to your target audience.
As for the rules, you need to outline content requirements, quality standards, rights/permissions needed, and promotion of contest entries.
With thoughtful planning, UGC contests can snag you a ton of high-quality, relevant user content perfect for your marketing.
2. Strategically Utilize Branded Hashtags
Hashtags are ubiquitous on Instagram, Twitter, and most other social media platforms, so take advantage of them!
For your brand, you can come up with a unique branded hashtag and encourage users to include it whenever they post something related to your brand. This makes it easy to track all the UGC with your hashtag.
For example, let’s say you’re running a dropshipping clothing store. On top of our mind, some ideas include hashtags like #outfitofthedaywithstorename, #dressedbystorename, and #storenamesummerchallenge which, of course, you can personalize according to your brand.
Once your users start posting content using your brand hashtag, you can then easily find quality user photos, videos, and posts to repost on your Instagram.
Plus, understanding the financial impact of your marketing efforts is crucial, learning how to prepare a cash flow statement can provide insights into the ROI of your UGC strategies. When other users see the re-shared UGC, they’ll become inspired, and create their content with your hashtag.
This creates a viral UGC loop that continuously generates fresh content.
3. Partner and Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing is still highly effective, and influencer partnerships can be a great way to score branded user content.
When negotiating deals with relevant influencers, stipulate that part of their obligation is creating an X amount of UGC (videos, posts, etc.) featuring your brand/products.
The content influencers make specifically for your campaign will come across as more authentic than traditional ads. This helps you tap into the power of UGC and genuine recommendations.
When you collaborate with an influencer, pay close attention to the performance metrics of the content they create. See which posts, videos, and other UGC get the most engagement from their followers.
The top-performing content can then be re-shared and re-purposed on your own social media channels.
Other than this, you can even use influencer-created UGC in other marketing materials like ads and website content. Just make sure you have permission to reuse the content as spelled out in your agreement.
4. Offer Exclusive Discount
Another proven way to get more user-generated content is by offering special “insider content” but only making it accessible to users who have created branded content.
For example, give UGC creators early access to new products/content, discounts, event tickets, or the ability to join a private community.
The exclusive perks incentivize audience members to generate posts, reviews, photos, and videos so they can gain access too.
Sooner or later, your other users will notice this and start creating content about your brand to gain an exclusive discount as well.
5. Embed UGC in Your Email Newsletters
Email marketing remains one of the highest ROI digital tactics. To boost engagement even more, try incorporating relevant user-generated photos, videos, and quotes right into your email body content.
For example, add a customer review or testimony quote to your product launch email, or embed a subscriber’s user video reviewing your latest offering.
Seeing real customer content naturally captures attention as it comes across as more authentic. You can source UGC for emails by proactively requesting subscribers submit videos, photos, and reviews.
Once you receive a fair amount of submissions, select and feature submissions that are most authentic, and offer incentives like discounts for included content.
While adding UGC does mean extra work editing emails, it can significantly increase open and click rates. If you’re not sure if this strategy would work, try A/B testing your email newsletters with and without UGC to see the overall impact.
6. Send Free Products to Micro-Influencers
Big-name influencers with millions of followers often charge huge sums for sponsored posts.
But, working with micro-influencers in the 10,000 to 100,000 follower range can be more affordable yet still valuable.
Identify relevant micro-influencers in your niche. Reach out and offer to send them free product samples in exchange for creating branded social posts, reviews, or unboxing videos. Be sure to outline content expectations upfront in a simple agreement.
Since micro-influencers have highly engaged, targeted audiences, they generate authentic UGC that often outperforms content from top influencers.
Let them sample your latest products first and require they create optimized UGC featuring it for their followers.
7. Gamify UGC Creation with Rewards & Leaderboards
Everyone loves to earn rewards and recognition, and you can take advantage of this by gamifying the user-generated content (UGC) creation.
One effective way is to set up a points and leaderboard system that rewards customers for creating and sharing UGC.
For example, you can give 10 points for writing a product review, 20 points for posting a photo featuring your product, and 50 points for creating a short brand video.
The more UGC a customer creates, the more points they earn. These points can be exchanged for discounts, free products, or entries into prize drawings.
To tap into people’s competitive spirits, set up leaderboards showcasing your top UGC creators. Give monthly prizes to the contributors who earn the most points. You can even highlight top contributors on your website or social pages, which gives them validation and encourages others to participate.
Gamification satisfies customers’ desires for recognition and makes creating UGC fun. With rewards and leaderboards, you’ll see greater brand engagement and increased user-generated photos, videos, reviews, and more.
8. Livestream Product Unboxings
Livestreaming has become a hugely popular way for brands to engage with customers in real time.
The most effective approach is to livestream product unboxings to give viewers an authentic first look and reaction to your latest items.
Schedule a weekly or monthly livestream where you open up new products on camera for the first time.
While you’re at it, provide plenty of commentary as you unbox each item, giving your honest opinions and highlighting key features. Most importantly, be sure to encourage viewers to ask questions and provide their feedback too.
The raw, unedited nature of a live unboxing video will feel genuine and exciting for viewers. It creates a sense of exclusivity and community as they get to discover new products along with you.
Alternatively, you can also consider collaborating with influencers in your niche and having them host the unboxing to tap into their follower base too. The more interactive and conversational you can make the videos, the better.
In short, live-streaming product unboxing in this way allows customers to get first-hand excitement, reactions, and insights. It’s an immersive experience that increases engagement and gives followers an incentive to tune in live.
9. Launch an Ambassador Program
Finally, identifying and empowering a group of loyal customers to become brand ambassadors can greatly amplify your user-generated content.
For the uninitiated, an ambassador program rewards top fans and equips them to organically spread the word about your products.
To implement this strategy, start by setting criteria for who qualifies to join your ambassador squad. Ideally, you should consider those who frequently interact with or mention your brand on social media, or customers who have created multiple UGC assets like reviews and videos.
After finalizing the ambassadors for your brand, offer them exclusive product previews, discounts, swag, and other VIP perks. You can take this even one step further by building a private online community for them to connect with your team and each other.
Once you’ve locked in some genuine and active ambassadors, equip them with assets like custom discount codes, product images, and sample newsletters to share. Create a style guide with guidelines on representing your brand online.
With the right incentives and resources, your ambassador squad will enthusiastically promote launches, post UGC, recruit new customers, and rave about your brand.
Put another way, an ambassador program can transform your satisfied customers into a loyal marketing team. It’s an impactful way to foster more user-generated content at scale.
What are You Still Waiting For?!
User-generated content from real customers provides immense value for brands by building trust, social proof, and engagement. While getting UGC can be challenging, these proven tactics can make it fun, rewarding, and sustainable.
Adding just a few new approaches to your user-generated content strategy gets those creative juices flowing from your audience.
The more UGC tactics you test, the more success stories you’ll have.
Remember, the key is to inspire your community and give them incentives to showcase their genuine experiences with your products.