Here’s the truth: consumers trust other consumers more than the brands they buy from and definitely more than they trust influencers.
This is where user-generated content comes into play. It’s a way of harnessing the voice of your 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 refers to any kind of content produced and shared by real people – like customers and employees – rather than by a brand itself.
What Are The Different Types of UGC?
User-generated content can be anything! Here are just a few examples:
- “Unboxing” videos
- Try-on hauls
- Social media posts
- Product review videos
- Customer testimonials
- Blogs
- Images
- & more
Of all the types of UGC, video content is king in terms of user engagement and SEO. Stats show that 72% of e-commerce customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video.
Why Does Your Brand Need UGC?
Consumers trust reviews from real people. In fact, 90% of people are much more likely to trust a recommended brand (even from strangers). It goes without saying that it’s much easier to trust someone who isn’t trying to sell you something. That means brands have a tremendous amount to be gained by enabling their own customers to promote their products and services.
Authentic UGC not only captures consumers’ attention—it also triggers an emotional response. When targeted to the right audiences, authentic video leads to higher engagement, which in turn can drive higher conversions. For example, 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions.
What do we mean by authentic? In comparison to high-production videos with models and props, authentic videos feature real people in their real spaces. They’re created on mobile devices or laptops, without the perfection of most branded videos—intentionally.
Many companies try to fake authenticity with “pretend-you’re-real” actors in high-production videos, but consumers are onto them… and can spot a fake in a half-second scroll.
Companies are re-shifting their focus to produce relatable, user-generated video content to compete for share of voice. Studies in video advertising show that consumers are most interested in messages rich in positivity—which ultimately produces higher engagement with brands. When user-generated videos include genuine messages of positivity, the likelihood of being shared with friends or family doubles.
On the other hand, since UGC isn’t made in a studio, it can be iffy (at best) in terms of quality. That’s where branded user-generated content fits in. More on that below.
The Problem With Traditional UGC
Traditional UGC is often collected via branded hashtags, which provides a “gathering place” where brands can search for what’s worth re-sharing. Newsletters are sometimes used to let customers know how to share their content with the brand, generally with an incentive. It’s notoriously hit or miss in terms of quality, and a company has zero control over the message.
Influencer-generated content, on the other hand, gives a brand some control and is generally visually appealing—but consumers often associate influencers with paid partnerships, giving pricey campaigns very little believability. This route also requires reaching out to influencers or their agents, negotiating rates, contracts, etc.
A brand could gather real customers for a video or photo shoot, but this quickly becomes time-consuming and expensive to create. Also, high-production brand videos, even featuring real people, come off as inauthentic (consumers can tell the difference, trust us).
Imperfect, real-life video may not be what you want, but it’s what your brand needs and what your customers demand. This high level of engagement is incredibly valuable in today’s increasingly competitive consumer marketplace.
What if there were an easier way to produce genuine, impactful video content?
There is! It’s StoryTap’s patented video platform.
Collect UGC With StoryTap’s Video Platform
Our video technology enables brands to create hundreds or even thousands of brand-led videos from real customers and employees – from anywhere and anyone. The end result is authentic video content like video reviews, customer testimonials and FAQ videos for self-service portals.
Our video platform is automated and equipped with brand compliance, so you get user-generated videos that are usable and brand-aligned. With embedded videos on your site, you’ll unlock advanced video data and gain insights into your performance. You can also distribute your videos to platforms that matter with our social media integrations to YouTube and TikTok.
Find out how brand-led user-generated content can be a game-changer for your brand. Chat with us today and we’ll show you how StoryTap can help you produce, curate and distribute UGC.