What is User Generated Content (UGC) and why is it important?

What is user-generated content (UGC)?

User-generated content (UGC) is any content -text, images, videos, etc. -created by people rather than brands, and posted online via social platforms, blogs, reviews etc., or uploaded directly to brand sites.

In essence, it is the act of people sharing their experiences of a product, service, or brand.

Why is User Generated Content important?

1. UGC is Visual

Humans process visual information more efficiently than other formats. Studies have shown that after just three days people retain only 10% of written or spoken information, but when the same information was shown visually, retention increase to 65%.

Visual content dominated marketing trends in 2021 with brands re-evaluating their marketing strategies with creative ways to reach and engage wider audiences. The ‘content is king’ crown has passed on to ‘visual content is king’, which is set to reign supreme beyond 2022.

For brands seeking quick, clear communication with their target audience, visual is key. More importantly, images and videos trigger faster and stronger emotional responses than any other type of content. Emotionally connected customers buy more products, exhibit less price sensitivity and are more likely to become brand advocates.

With visuals at its core, UGC is highly relatable and shareable. By incorporating visual UCG in your marketing strategy, brands can cut through the clutter and become more memorable.

National Geographic’s #WanderlustContest Campaign is a great example of how visual UGC can reach a wider audience. The campaign invited anyone with a phone and a steady hand to share pictures of their travel adventures with the hashtag, which were then shared on National Geographic’s socials and website.

2. UGC is Diverse

User-generated content is content created by people for people, and inherently reduces the risks of brand created content that doesn’t resonate with its target audience or inspire purchase.

Modern consumers expect relevant and personalized experiences. UGC campaigns encourage a diverse range of narratives that reflect consumer complexities from appearance and values to personalities and lifestyle - on a scale that traditional marketing campaigns simply cannot match.

Content created by people, is also content deemed most important by people. UGC captures real-time events and cultural phenomena, reflecting current and evolving moods of consumers. As a result, brands can quickly and accurately reflect their audience’s needs and sentiments, becoming more accessible and relatable to a wider audience.

Greater representation and involvement mean people not only see themselves, their friends and family in your campaigns, but they can also be part of it.

With UGC, marketers can curate content from a multitude of talent, ideas, and perspectives - highlighting nuances of consumer life that can never be envisioned in the boardroom. Moreover, marketers can tailor their campaigns to specific consumer segments and regions. Building flexible marketing strategies that move at the speed of social and are more resilient to sudden shocks.

Take Warby Parker’s clever home try-on programme which let people order 5 pairs of glasses they could try at home, and only pay for the ones they kept. Customers would share pictures of themselves using the hashtag #WarbyHomeTryOn and could ask which suited them best.

By showing their glasses worn by a range of people with different complexions, face shapes and styles, customers found it easier to relate and choose the glasses were right for them – a decision that was previously a more difficult challenge.

3. UGC embraces Authenticity

Consumers have the feeling that authenticity has been withheld from them and marketing itself is viewed as inherently inauthentic. Consumers therefore seek greater authenticity from brands. 81% of consumers consider trust to be a deal breaker or deciding factor in their brand buying decision, and 40% of consumers no longer buy brands they love because of distrust of the company that owns the brand. It’s not surprising that traditional marketing assets of stock photos have become the inspiration for countless memes.

People trust people like them and since UGC is content created by people, 85% of consumers find UGC more influential than any other form of brand content, and 63% of consumers trust influencers more than brands. Relatability of influencers is 2x more important than popularity as a quality that attracts people to influencers – hence the growing importance of nano and micro influencers. The case for UGC is further strengthened when you consider that 61% of consumers will happily advocate brands, they fully trust - fuelling the UGC funnel.

The most authentic brands master the rule of walking the talk and they do that for a good reason: Brand authenticity accounts for 92% of the brand trust and increases socioeconomic KPIs such as purchase intention and loyalty.

By understanding that real people are the key to authentic relationships, marketers can address this disconnect with consumers by leveraging organic user-generated content to create genuine connections with customers that builds brand trust and fosters loyalty.

When iPhone users expressed dissatisfaction of the camera quality of earlier editions of the iPhone, Apple addressed the criticism by offering visual proof of the photographic capability of the new iPhone 6 edition. The #ShotOniPhone campaign invited users to submit their best photos using the hashtag of the same name. Photos from 77 users, across 25 countries and 73 cities were selected by Apple and displayed across media outlets and on over 10,000 billboards around the world. The campaign was regenerated for the launch of iPhone 7 and iPhone X, and has over 25 million beautiful shots to date, highlighting iPhone’s ability to take great photos.

4. UGC humanizes marketing

When Calvin Klein asked its audience to fill in the campaign line “I ___ in #MyCalvins”, the campaign went viral with over 500,000 photos posted on Instagram in only a couple of months. From influencers to the public, the campaign tapped into how its consumers naturally communicate across social. With Calvin Klein promoting curated content across their digital presence, they humanised the brand by allowing their audience to create, share and interact with the brand whilst giving them recognition for it.

People seek human connections and behind every brand is a human being that is passionate about the industry they work in and is driven by their area of expertise. In addition to being authentic and championing diversity, UGC presents brands with the opportunity to engage in two-way conversations with their audiences. And consumers are ready to engage - 62% of millennials are more likely to become loyal customers if a brand engages with them on social.

UGC campaigns put customers front and centre, humanising your brand. By directly engaging with people and encouraging them to share their stories and experience, brands can add genuine people-focused narratives into their brand story, creating lasting connections and positive brand association.

5. UGC builds Brand Trust

Faced with media scandals, data breaches and the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, people have become increasingly mistrustful of brands. Consumers have learnt to be sceptical of brand advertisements, grown tired of airbrushed photos and celebrity endorsements, and experiencing ‘Influencer Fatigue’.

The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reports trust in information being at record lows with news organisations seen as biased. It calls trust, the New Brand Equity where, voting with their wallets, 78% of consumers believe they can force brands to change its company’s societal impact. Culture, purpose, and society are now equally important to brand relevance.

With deeper dependence on brands, there is also an increased need for consumers to trust the brands they buy, and consumers today are more focused on the “we” than the “me”. Less interested in interacting with faceless brands, 86% of consumers expect brands to take actions beyond their product and business. Ranging from supporting communities and causes creating positive change in society, through to addressing societal challenges and political issues.

62% of employees and 68% of consumers believe they have the power to force corporations to change. Business integrity is also foundational to brand trust with workers’ rights and safety being the top two issues business sectors must speak out on or risk losing trust.

As a result, brands are increasing efforts and resources into working with employees, customers, fans, and relatable influencers to build trust through UGC and EGC across their customer journey.

Aerie took a stance by deciding they would no longer retouch their models and use excessive editing in their photos. They challenged women to love their natural bodies and share un-edited photos of themselves in their swimsuits with the hashtag #ArieReal. They also pledged to donate a dollar to the National Eating Disorders Association for every shared photo, up to $15,000 (~£11,000).

Aerie’s brand message resonated with its audience and sparked meaningful conversations around body positivity that turned the campaign into a global movement.

6. UGC is Social Proof

Social Proof - the psychological phenomena that people adapt their behaviour according to what others are doing, especially in times of uncertainty – explains why we look to others to help us avoid making potentially harmful choices.

UGC provides social proof through pictures, videos, reviews etc., detailing people’s experiences of products or services. It adds real-life context and increases purchasing confidence for consumers.

Including UGC across the buyer journey, for instance visual UGC on inspiration galleries and product pages, leads to higher add-to-cart-rates and lower cart abandonment. As happy customers share their experiences, shoppers viewing the UGC are connected to those experiences reassuring and nudging them to make that purchase.

Based on 46 different studies, the Baymard Institute puts the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate at 69.82%. Optimising abandoned cart email campaigns with personalised visual content, such as UGC of the abandoned products, can deliver up to 6x higher transaction rates.

Supergoop, the SPF skincare brand uses UGC to contextualise and explain its products in depth through video tutorials. By showcasing real customers giving their authentic feedback, shoppers gain inspiration and can make informed purchasing decisions. UGC bridges the expectation-reality gap, ensuring a positive shopping experience.

7. UGC inspires Purchasing confidence

UGC is considered ‘high-value’ content as it influences consumers’ online purchase intention and reduces perceived risk in decision-making.

When the price is higher, there is more risk involved in the consumer’s decision. Having more trusted information helps mitigate that risk. According to a 2021 study by Spiegel Research Centre, when UGC was displayed for a lower-priced product, the conversion rate increased 190%. However, for a higher-priced product, the conversion rate increased 380%.

Price is one of the primary factors that determines how ‘risky’ a purchase is, but it is not the only factor. Other factors that might cause a consumer to spend more energy evaluating a purchase decision—and hence rely more heavily on UGC—include how the product affects health and safety, how the product reflects the consumer’s personal identity, whether the product is a recurring or habitual purchase for the consumer, and whether it is a recently introduced product or brand.

The power of UGC to influence sales means retailers have powerful incentives to develop effective strategies for acquiring, curating, and displaying UGC on their websites. UGC that is viewed as representative and credible can be a significant competitive advantage.

8. UGC Increases Conversions

So, if UGC is diverse, authentic, builds trust and inspires purchasing decisions, what is the impact of UGC on the bottom line?

Marketing efforts ultimately aim for some combination of awareness, engagement, conversion, or retention. User-generated content is one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s arsenal and it’s here to stay.

Here are some interesting conversion stats for UGC:

• Visitors to websites that include UGC galleries spend 90% more time on the site.
• Social campaigns that incorporate UGC see a 50% lift in engagement.
• UGC drives a 73% increase in email click-through-rates.
• 270% increase  in conversion when UGC is displayed on product pages.
• Ads with UGC generate 5x greater click-through-rates.
• When an ad has social context – in other words, when a person sees their friend likes your business – the ad drives 50% more recall and 35% higher online sales.
• UGC fan videos are viewed 10x more than owned brand content on YouTube.

Coco Cola leveraged UGC in its hugely successful #ShareACoke Campaign. The campaign replaced its bottled labels to say ‘Share a Coke with…’ followed by one of the 150 most common names. Many were inspired to share pictures of themselves with their bottles using the hashtag. In the first summer alone 250 million named bottles were sold and over 500,000 posts shared within the first year.

9. UGC is Cost-Effective

Today’s consumers demand fresh, relevant, and personalized content. Marketers are feeling the pressure to deliver against the backdrop of supply chain difficulties, economic uncertainty, budget cuts and having to keep up with changing consumer trends.  

Marketers consistently feel they don't have adequate resources to succeed – citing time, budget, and team size as the main challenges. Reduced budgets and head count lead to marketers having more responsibilities with fewer resources.

While there is an expectation that marketers should produce more engagement and tie it back to ROI, creating and properly marketing engaging content takes time and costs more.

Brands incorporating UGC across their marketing can significantly reduce costs whilst stretching budgets by using UGC to supplement branded content. When compared with creating original content in-house or outsourcing to agencies, sourcing hundreds of pieces of UGC is a practical and cost-effective solution.

UGC offers an unlimited flow of diverse, relevant, and authentic content. Allowing marketers to focus on curating rather than creating content and integrating it across their marketing touchpoints faster, and with considerably less resources and effort.

As a solution, marketers are turning to user- and employee-generated content to supplement content production and demonstrate ROI.

The Netflix #StrangerThings2 campaign was able to drive its audience to almost a million in just 2 weeks. The hashtag, which shares the name of the much-anticipated show, StrangerThings2, had users sharing strange objects in their daily lives.
Though the use of the hashtag was driven by avid and amused fans, Netflix was quick to seize the opportunity, reposting content on their Instagram page.

10. UGC fosters Brand Loyalty

Humans have a strong desire to feel a sense of belonging. UGC provides a visible space for fans to show their brand love and fosters deeper connections between a brand and consumers by facilitating the sense of community.

Capgemini’s recent and extensive research highlights how sustainable organisations are deriving significant customer-facing and financial benefits from changing consumer preferences.

Consumers
•    64% say buying sustainable products makes them feel happy when shopping.
•    52% feel an emotional connection with a product or organisation which is sustainable.
•    79% are changing purchase preference based on the social or environmental impact of their purchases.

Brands
•    77% say that sustainability leads to increase in customer loyalty.
•    69% say that sustainability increases the brand value.
•    63% say that sustainability initiatives helped boost revenues.

It’s not just sustainability, this shift in consumer behaviour is seen across the board with 43% of consumers saying they will stay loyal to brands they fully trust vs. those they do not trust - even if something goes wrong.

With 61% of consumers willing to advocate brands they trust – including recommending it to others, displaying it on their person or in their home, and talking about it in their social media – it sends a strong signal to brands that consumers are willing to engage.

Consumers develop more trust with brands that are executing purposeful and emotive marketing strategies. Trusted companies have stronger consumer buyers and advocates. UGC and employee-generated content (EGC) exert true influence by turning customers, fans, and team members into visible and impactful brand advocates.

Starting as a Kickstarter campaign appearing on Dragon’s Den, to having over 1.4 million Instagram followers, Inkbox’s success is owed to their great use of UGC to build a cult following and embedded shoppable content. They used UGC from their hashtags #inkboxlove and #inkfam to encourage customers to join their conversation, connecting like-minded people.

By creating a strong community around your brand, customers become loyal brand advocates - sharing their thoughts and experiences, exposing even more people to the brand and fuelling further community involvement.

Buzzspark is a UGC Marketing platform that helps brands to market using their authentic customer stories. Our platform empowers businesses of all sizes to engage with their audiences and build powerful communities that raise awareness, build brand trust and loyalty.