Did you know that user generated content (UGC) influences 79 percent of web users’ purchasing decisions?
That’s because social proof is incredibly persuasive – we trust our friends, family, and peers more than traditional media and advertising.
Social proof helps consumers feel more confident making decisions – particularly purchasing decisions. For example, some of the most influential methods of social proof are customer reviews and testimonials. Today, in the age of influencer marketing, consumers value consuming content featuring products and services they’re interested in coming from other users. This could be in the form of YouTube videos, social media content, or blog posts, just to name a few.
There are many ways brands leverage UGC as part of their influencer marketing campaigns to successfully generate social proof for their products and services. A particularly impactful type of media is short, eye-catching and relatable videos shared by influencers to their communities.
Ecommerce brands have a strong opportunity to leverage user generated content as social proof, given the ease of shopping online and the virality of UGC.
Strategies to Leverage User Generated Content In Your Influencer Marketing
1. Encourage authentic, original content.
You may still have the idea that content has to be perfect in order for it to be repurposed, but recent trends suggest quite the contrary.
Tired and distrustful of perfectly-polished videos and photos, the modern social media consumer responds well to “real” quality – which often translates to grainy footage, less than perfect sound quality, and varying camera angles. This style of production comes across as authentic because the UGC creator is “just like me,” in the eyes of a would-be consumer.
To leverage UGC effectively as a brand, instead of letting picky brand standards get in the way, allow influencers and casual social media users alike to put their own twist on promoting your products to their followers.
Give creative license to your creators to generate relatable, authentic content that suits their brand and appeals to their consumers… even if your brand marketing team is apprehensive. You may be surprised to find that this style of content production outperforms your glossy, high-caliber assets.
2. Recruit niched and relatable creators.
More isn’t always better when it comes to follower count.
Many brands see incredible ROI by partnering with micro- and nano influencers who are niched and relatable. And often this level of creators are thrilled to work with brands, particularly if that brand is open to user generated content.
The result is a highly motivated group of influencers who create relatable content for their audience – and their passion and enthusiasm are evident and believable to their followers.
Because social proof is so impactful to media-savvy viewers, this style of content from this level of influencer may mean access to a highly loyal and engaged group of consumers you may not reach otherwise – and a strong response that benefits your bottom line.
3. Focus on scalable brand tools.
Not all creators have the resources or vision of a professional artist or creative director. To encourage your ambassadors to promote your products, you can make it easy on them by providing scalable brand tools.
Developing influencer resources like templates, stickers, swipeable copy, and graphics goes a long way to help UGC content have some translatable brand element… but still allow for creativity and authenticity.
4. Streamline operations.
One of the most impactful aspects of UGC marketing is timeliness. In the era where content goes live within seconds of it happening, it pays to streamline your operations.
This means fast turnarounds on reviewing, approving, and publishing content. Most UGC creators aren’t savvy to the chain of command many brands have… and may find the lack of turnkey broadcast to be frustrating.
Creatable not only brings together the best tools to manage your influencer marketing on one easy-to-use platform, it also offers a highly-efficient interface to moderate content and feedback. Creators can upload directly to the Creatable platform and have their content reviewed and published to various channels within seconds. This allows their UGC to remain hyper-relevant in our fast-paced, content-hungry culture.
Furthermore, Creatable pairs with today’s most popular e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and SAP Commerce Cloud, which allows for direct, first party data to be collected – as well as owned content and a full funnel approach to your marketing.
To find out more about how Creatable can take the guesswork out of your influencer marketing operations so you can leverage the results of user generated content, schedule a demo at creatable.com/demo.
