User-generated content (UGC) is everywhere on social media today. As you scroll through Instagram or TikTok, you’re bound to see a friend post about a new experience or a product they’ve bought with genuine excitement.
These posts are the essence of user-generated content and what all brands should look for in 2025. Why? Here’s the truth: consumers trust other consumers more than the brands they buy from.
That’s why user-generated content is essential. It’s a way of harnessing the voice of real customers as a marketing tactic to encourage brand love.
It’s real, it’s relatable, and it’s relevant.
What is User-Generated Content?
User-generated content is any content produced and shared by real people – like customers and employees – rather than by a brand itself.
What Are The Different Types of UGC?
UGC can be just about anything. Here are just a few examples:
Of all the different types of UGC, authentic user-generated video has soared in popularity and engagement among consumers, which is true of video in general.
Why Your Brand Needs UGC in 2025
1. Consumers Trust Authenticity
Consumers trust authentic reviews and recommendations from real people rather than brands. It goes without saying that it’s easier to trust someone who isn’t trying to sell you something.
UGC delivers organic, authentic and unfiltered insights into a brand and its products that traditional curated marketing ads struggle to match. When consumers can see and hear reviews from other real people, they’re more likely to trust the product and the brand. As a result, consumers are more likely to trust UGC because it is authentic.
2. Promotes Social Proof & Conversions
There are thousands of choices to sort through before deciding what to buy. User-generated content helps create social proof from real people that online shoppers can rely on to feel confident in their buying decisions.
UGC not only builds shopper confidence—it also drives action. When targeted to the right audiences, user-generated content leads to higher engagement, which can drive higher conversions. For example, 75% of people say they’d buy more from a website with video reviews on their product pages.
3. Encourages Brand Loyalty
UGC helps create community and loyalty around your brand. When you feature or celebrate your customers, it helps them feel valued and connected to you. After all, your biggest advocates are your most loyal consumers. So, encouraging them to create UGC and acknowledging their content is a great way to build trust and foster brand loyalty.
Benefits of Creating UGC for Your Brand
Now, let’s explore the advantages of encouraging, creating and collecting UGC:
1. Increases Brand Awareness
User-generated content enhances your brand’s visibility. When customers share their experiences on their platforms, your brand gets in front of people you may have yet to reach. So, not only does UGC help build trust with your existing audience, but it also helps to build awareness with a new one.
2. It’s Cost-Effective & Low Effort
Unlike traditional marketing content, user-generated content doesn’t require expensive production equipment. Instead, all it takes is a real person snapping a photo, recording a video or leaving a comment from the comfort of their home. The excess costs and time needed to create content disappear when your customers become content creators. So, you get the content you need without an elaborate marketing budget.
3. Relevant and Easily Repurposed
User-generated content is incredibly relevant today and is predicted to continue as a leading content strategy into 2025. The best part is its easily repurposed as evergreen content across as many channels as you’d like. For example, you can use UGC on your social media platforms and reuse it on your website, email campaigns, and more.
Examples of UGC
Now, let’s look at brands using UGC on their platforms.
Video
Prestigious University UCLA Anderson School of Management uses authentic videos to showcase real student stories on their Fully Employed MBA (FEMBA) website. Here’s an example of a video you’ll see when you browse the site:
Images
Lifestyle and apparel brand Aerie frequently re share posts from its real customers on Instagram and Twitter. In the Instagram example below, the brand tags the customer wearing an Aerie set.
Social Media Comments
Cosmetics brand Kylie Cosmetics does a fantastic job highlighting real customer comments about its products. Here’s a recent example posted to the Kylie Cosmetics Twitter account.
Produce UGC With StoryTap’s Video Platform
User-generated content continues to be an essential part of a marketing strategy, especially as we enter the start of 2025. However, producing UGC can be daunting for many teams.
StoryTap’s video platform gives brands the tools to produce hundreds or even thousands of UGC videos from real people – anywhere and anytime.
The StoryTap platform is easy, automated and equipped with brand compliance, so you’ll produce quality and brand-safe user-generated videos that you can share on your website and social media.
The result is authentic and binge-worthy videos like UGC video reviews, video FAQs, video stories and more.
Chat with us today and learn how to harness the power of user-generated content on your website.
