How to Create a User Generated Content Strategy for Ecommerce
In today’s ever-changing, innovative digital world there is a variety of user generated content strategy plans businesses can use to their advantage. User generated content (UGC) is original, created by customers, and shared across digital channels. This content can take the form of any media such as images, video, reviews, audio recordings, books, podcasts, and more. UGC is the digital word-of-mouth.
But first, who creates UGC for businesses?
“Influencer” marketing has become one of the top ways to increase brand awareness. However, this type of marketing is typically paid, meaning there is a transaction for the content.
UGC is a type of content that is unbiased and created out of loyalty for the brand. Customers and employees can both create UGC as a customer-centric approach to digital marketing. This content does not need to explicitly point out the brand or product. A subtle product placement can catch other user’s attention and initiates their curiosity into the brand.
The authenticity of UGC is what gives this content a high quality score and is considered extremely valuable. As more customers start recognizing the value of UGC, it is an important strategy to consider for your marketing plan. Peer reviews and ratings are one of the highest factors in a customer’s decision to purchase.
Despite being organic, the reach of sharing and re-sharing UGC can go quite far for brands and consumers.
Let’s explore some of the types of user generated content that can be used across a variety of platforms.
Reviews
This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to start collecting authentic content from your customers. Here are a couple ways to gather reviews:
- Create the ability for customers to leave reviews directly on product pages
- Send a post-purchase email asking for a review. Be sure the review is linked directly to the exact product they purchased – a little personalization goes a long way!
- Share gathered reviews as content on social media. Other followers will value authentic content more than a carefully crafted caption.
Encourage Creation of UGC on Social Media
UGC can be used in almost any multi-channel marketing campaign. Be sure to use content that has already been generated for your business!
- Offer a coupon for users who share about their product purchase and brand experience with you on their personal social media channels.
- Tell users what type of content you are looking for with hashtags, photo contests, caption contests, etc. This will create a lot of natural chatter!
- Use photos and content generated by users on your social media pages. Featuring customers using your products “in the wild” brings more credibility to your products and their purpose.
Let’s break down how to create a user generated content strategy for a couple platforms.
- Facebook: Consider your audience on this platform – do they like to only see pictures of “shoppable” products? Do they prefer to see “lifestlye” photos that show the brand’s essence?
- Instagram: Arguably the most important platform for UGC. Instagram users can search for your hashtags or find what posts your brand was tagged in. This is the wildfire-like spread of UGC that can quickly cause your orders to skyrocket.
- TikTok: The rapidly rising platform is known for generating “viral” content. One (good or bad) post about your brand by someone on their personal page can drive a lot of buzz within hours.
- Twitter: Posts on this platform are known for their quick-witted nature and remarks. Don’t post a long testimonial from a customer here – no one will read it. Keep it short and sweet.
FAQs
Create an FAQs page generated from questions from real customers to help potential customers understand your products without needing to fill out a form or pick up the phone.
Now, follow the metrics! Keep track of your reporting dashboards to follow the impact UCG is having on your website traffic, conversion rates, average cart total, and more. As you review the data, gather correlations, both positive and negative, to make data-driven decisions to further increase your revenue.
Looking for guidance on creating a user generated content strategy? That’s what we are here for. Contact us to chat more about your business goals!
project manager
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Faith Hagen
Faith graduated from the University of Sioux Falls in 2018 with a Business Administration and Marketing degree. Her passion for creativity has driven her to explore interior design and teaching before finding her niche in digital marketing. She is passionate about meshing creativity and technology to develop campaign strategies and building websites. Faith has experience delivering WordPress and Magento website projects and is considered the expert on the team in content creation/writing. In her free time, Faith enjoys watching sports, spending time outdoors, and playing with her dog, Thor.