User-Generated Content (UGC)— The Most Powerful Marketing For Free
UGC (content generated by users of a product or service) is the most powerful marketing tool that companies and brands have. And it’s practically free.
Jonathan Javier from Wonsulting leverages UGC extremely well here on LinkedIn. Jonathan is tagged on so many posts of all of the 80,000+ people who follow him. And every tag just increases his reach and grows his following.
This works because UGC is seen as more trustworthy than company/brand generated content to outsiders since it’s inherently peer-reviewed. People trust recommendations and brands that others endorse. In fact, 63% of consumers trust influencers’ opinions of products “much more” than what brands say about themselves (EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER 2019). Even better, it allows you to target the 30% of users who use an adblocker (since UGC isn’t blocked).
How can you encourage UGC?
👉 Create a hashtag that users can use in their posts AND ask them to use it
👉 Encourage your employees to also use it
👉 Allow guest posts
👉 Ask for advice from your users and crowdsource answers to projected problems with your service/product
👉 Reward followers on their content (respond, reshare, etc)
👉 Create a challenge