Harnessing the Power of User-Generated Content

Jim Fredericks, Executive Director, PPMA

In today’s digital landscape, social media and user-​generated content, or UGC, play a pivotal role in helping businesses strengthen their reputations by introducing new opportunities to engage with their audience. According to ComScore, brand engagements rise by 28% when consumers are exposed to a mixture of marketing and UGC.

UGC refers to any content—such as reviews, social media posts, videos, or photos—created by your customers about their experience with your business. Before diving into UGC, it’s vital to understand why you should use it, follow steps to maximize the content’s benefits to suit your business needs, and respect any legal barriers associated with sharing it.

Why Use User-Generated Content?

According to TurnTo, an estimated 90% of consumers find UGC more influential than branded content when making purchasing decisions. Not only does UGC save time and money, but it also helps build authentic and trusting relationships with customers and helps create engagement and a sense of community between you and your customers.

Best Practices to Boost the Benefits of UGC

UGC can be a very helpful tool to lean on to support your marketing tactics, and there are different ways you can take advantage of the content to best fit your business needs. Effective practices include:

Try different content types: You don’t have to stick to one format type when it comes to UGC—try using a mix of photos, videos, and positive quotes or reviews from customers to create content for your business.

Be a storyteller: Instead of just reposting a customer’s photo or review, use the content to tell a story. You can do this by adding a caption that details the customer’s problem and explains how your business solved it.

Create UGC-related series: Build series around your customers’ content to increase excitement and encourage more customers to share their experiences so they can be featured. For example, PPMA recently shared the “Buggin’ Out” series across our social media platforms, where our pest experts reacted to America’s wackiest pest videos.

Boost engagement with a call to action: End your caption with a call to action that encourages your audience to share their own experiences, thus increasing audience engagement.

Curate a UGC highlight reel: Several social media platforms allow you to create “highlights” or albums to easily showcase past content. Create a highlight specifically for UGC so visitors to your page can quickly see testimonials from your customers.

What to Know Before Sharing UGC

Before integrating UGC into your social media plan and resharing customer content, you should be aware of these important considerations:

Respect copyright laws: Content creators have the rights to their work through copyright laws. This includes social media posts, photos, and videos, even if they feature your business or services.

Request permission: It’s important to always seek explicit permission from a customer before reposting their photo, video, or review. One way to do this is by commenting on a post or sending a direct message asking for permission to share.

Give credit where it’s due: Once you’ve been given permission, it’s a good practice to credit the original creator by tagging or mentioning their name in the post. This ensures that you acknowledge their contribution and helps maintain trust and goodwill with your audience.

Respect privacy: Never share content that includes private or sensitive information about a customer without their explicit consent.

Be transparent about incentives, if applicable: If you decide to offer something in exchange for a customer’s content, make sure to disclose the relationship clearly. The Federal Trade Commission requires incentivized content to be labeled using hashtags like #Ad or #Sponsored.

Even if you don’t plan on resharing UGC, it’s important to still engage with the content by liking and commenting on posts when someone shares a positive experience about your business.

Through the continued application of UGC, you will find out what tactics suit your business and help you engage with your audience. Once you become comfortable using UGC, you can integrate additional resources to streamline your processes for sharing the content. Some helpful resources include creating UGC policies or permission templates that are easy to reference across different use cases.

Understanding how to effectively gather and share UGC, while respecting legal boundaries, can enhance your brand’s marketing strategy. By embracing UGC as part of your social media content, you can better connect with your audience, foster relationships, and grow your brand in a meaningful way.