Marketing with User-Generated Content

Hi there!

In our last email, we looked at employer brand content 
and how to showcase that in a video.

Today, we’ll flip that around and focus on user-generated 
content.

“Great video either tells or conjures a story,” says Eric 
Fletcher of Eric Fletcher Consulting Group.

Whatever the source, your videos should tell the story of 
your business and its culture.

Your audiences don’t want a sales pitch. They want to 
be entertained and informed. They want that story.

Your job is to make sure they get what they’re wanting.

User-generated content is that created by your audience 
members and customers.

“In one of the best campaigns I’ve seen,” says Fletcher, 
“a brand asked its community to submit their own short 
video story about their personal experience with the brand.”

This is an excellent way to promote your brand without a 
sales pitch or boring lecture.

In that example, the request “emphasized creativity and 
brevity and promised recognition and reward for outstanding 
submissions.

The result: creative, authentic, relatable stories featuring 
the brand as the hero.”

Why should you care about user-generated content though?

“Consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view user-generated 
content as authentic when compared to content created by 
brands” according to Christina Newberry’s review of a 
Businesswire survey.

“That offers brands an important credibility boost,” she says, 
“since most people say less than half of brands create authentic 
content.”

It’s also about creating trust. “A full 92% of customers trust 
recommendations from people they know,” says Newberry, “and 70% 
trust online consumer opinions.”

And modern people aren’t just asking their friends and neighbors
about your company.

30% of millennials surveyed say they would not visit a restaurant 
whose Instagram presence didn’t attract them.

Newberry says this all leads up to one thing: the impact on 
purchasing decisions.

“Nearly 80% of people,” she relates, “say user-generated content 
has a high impact on their purchasing decisions.”

What does this mean for your business?

It means you need to be collecting personal stories from your 
customers and asking for their input.

User-generated content is one of the best ways to encourage 
potential customers to stop waffling and buy.

With a little creativity, you can come up with great ideas 
to get your customers sharing their stories on your video channel.

Have a contest with a free product or service as the prize, or 
reward everyone who sends in a video with a 10%-off coupon.

If you allow your customers to be creative, you’ll get some 
bang-up videos for your library.

Thanks for reading!

🐷 WUPPLES®

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