Collecting and showing user-generated content (UGC) with a UGC platform is a perfect way to help your brand reach new heights. That is because, today, customers are wary of traditional advertising methods and trust opinions from people more.
Did you know 95% of consumers only buy products after reading online reviews?
Reviews on social media are no longer just a few stale paragraphs of text, though. People make and share millions of images, videos, reels, and stories daily. The growth of influencer marketing has further boosted the popularity of user-generated content.
However, many businesses still struggle to obtain user-generated content and lack a way to show the content they have gathered.
That’s where this blog comes in handy. We offer tips on how to add user-generated content to your marketing.
But first, let’s break down how a UGC platform works and how you can show your treasure trove of UGC.
Why user-generated content (UGC) platforms matter
What is user-generated content?
UGC, or user-generated content, is authentic brand-specific content created by customers and posted on their social media platforms (or other channels). It can be images, long-form videos, short video reels, stories, testimonials, or reviews.
For instance, Etsy shared an Instagram Carousel with some of its customer testimonials. These testimonials come from customers and highlight their experience with Etsy. Sharing them on the company’s page will help them build customer trust.
What is a UGC platform?
A UGC platform does just that: it enables you to collect user-generated content from anywhere on social media, on the web, or even from events with custom forms and display it. So you can do what Etsy does, but do it better, just like Hapaq-Lloyd Cruises:
Why use a UGC platform?
Why should you use a UGC platform? Because it is a no-brainer. 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions, and 48% of marketing professionals believe customer-generated content can support and improve their brand.
How user-generated content works
UGC can take many forms, but below are some common types you can use with your user-generated content platform.
Examples of UGC methods
- Images
- Videos
- Reviews and testimonials
- Podcasts
- Blog posts and articles
- Contests and giveaways
- Case studies and B2B content
1. Images
Images are the most common type of UGC, primarily used to showcase products and highlight key features of a product or service to create visual content.
LaCroix loves to use UGC images to add a human touch to their Instagram page.
How to add images with a UGC platform
Why stop there? Another US-based beverage brand from a different background, Origami Sake, takes similar user-generated content to the next level by using Flockler to add UGC to their website:
2. Videos
UGC videos are even more engaging than images. "Show, don't tell" is an eternal principle of good storytelling and marketing. That is why videos from everyday people you relate to instantly can demonstrate product benefits, tell stories, and create emotion in ways nothing else can.
Glossier uses this strategy to show off its hundreds of different makeup products.
How to add videos with a UGC platform
UNDRDOG ATHLETIX wields Flockler to show videos from its brand and user-generated reels that match its message. You can follow our guide to add Instagram reels to your website just like they did in a few easy steps.
3. Reviews and testimonials
A review is a classic form of UGC that provides valuable insights and customer feedback. Reviews and testimonials are also the cornerstone of trillion-dollar businesses. Platforms like Google Reviews, Amazon, and Yelp commonly use them, as they heavily rely on customer reviews.
That is why showing testimonials from social media should be next on your to-do list.
An example is Form Health, a telehealth nutrition program that offers prescriptions for Wegovy, Mounjaro, or Zepbound to patients with diabetes, obesity, or weight loss difficulties.
They know how to use their social networks effectively and publish their patients’ stories and experiences as positive reviews on their pages. Here’s Megan sharing her experience with Form Health. She says she likes the program because she doesn’t feel judged and receives all the support she needs.
How to add reviews and testimonials with a UGC platform
With Flockler, it only takes minutes to turn these testimonials into a stunning social wall on your website or online shop, just like OpusClip did. You can mix and match reviews from Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or even other websites (via RSS) just like they did by using a feature called Sections inside Flockler:
4. Podcasts
This type of UGC has recently grown in popularity, with over 100 million listeners in the US alone. Podcast guests and speakers talk about their experience with the brand, product, or service, generating brand awareness and building trust among listeners.
A good podcast knows its niche, respects it, and delivers conversations and dialogue that speak to the pain points that people in that niche have. For marketers, Amy Poterfield's podcast is a good example of a podcast that focuses on a single subject:
How to add podcasts with a UGC platform
Like Lamborghini below, many brands have started to offer their podcasts on YouTube. You can use Flockler to embed YouTube podcast playlists, bringing your content to an exponentially larger audience than the YouTube algorithm can deliver it to.
5. Blog posts and articles
Users and employees write articles or blog posts to share their reviews about a brand or related topics. Some share it across their blogs, while others post it on community forums and journals like Quora, Medium, or YouTube.
However, do you know that the average engagement time on a blog or news article is only 48 seconds? That is why adding social media to your blog posts and articles has become a powerful way to increase awareness and desire.
How to add product and company news with a UGC platform
Sports and entertainment brands can teach us a lot about getting the ever-shortening attention span of consumers as they compete in the most competitive media landscape in the world. Many of them employ user-generated content to break through the haze of media noise and reach both their most loyal fans and new audiences the way they want to.
But you can take one more step. You can turn the user-generated content in your articles into interactive galleries that connect your article with authentic social content and your online shop in a single effortless experience for the user.
For example, with Flockler, you can tag your products from your online shop in the images and videos you show on your site. Thus incorporating social proof into your marketing seamlessly.
6. Contests and giveaways
Encouraging users to submit their content through contests and giveaways can be a great way to generate excitement and engagement. People love them because research shows that adding a contest to any campaign can increase the number of acquired new campaigns by an average of 34%.
How to use contests with a UGC platform
You can use hashtags to run your contest in just a few simple steps. Then, employ Flockler to add a social wall of the content participants post based on that hashtag on your website, shop, or app so you get the benefits of the contest on social media platforms like Instagram and your platform. It only takes seconds to filter the right content, add your brand and color scheme to the social wall, and copy the embed code. See how GoPro does it with their Awards:
7. Case studies and B2B content
Case studies offer a more detailed overview of a product or service's pros and cons from the customer's perspective. However, these success stories often overpromise in corporate language, which is difficult to relate to. That is why intelligent modern marketers usually add a subtle dose of user-generated content to case studies to make them more trustworthy and genuine and to influence potential customers.
You can get started by adding a single realistic image. See how Shopify added an authentic portrait of the founder of their customer, 4ocean, in their case study of how 4ocean switched back to Shopify Plus.
How to add B2B content with a UGC platform
Case studies are primarily associated with B2B content. In that spirit, more and more B2B marketers are adding LinkedIn company feeds to their websites so that potential customers and employees can see their brand and user-generated content while viewing case studies or afterward during their journey on the website.
For example, the IT consulting firm Flylance, which grew 3000% in a year, so they may know a thing or do about B2B sales and marketing, uses Flockler on a brilliantly designed Broadcast page:
Boost your brand to infinity and beyond with Flockler
By now, you should know what a UGC platform is. Based on examples of other brands using it, you may have a few ideas yourself. Regardless, the following steps are simple:
Try Flockler for free, and see how to keep people on your site longer and increase their likelihood of buying or taking your desired action. You can add user-generated content to any website or online shop. Keep your site fresh with Flockler!
Make things easier for yourself by adding a social media feed on your website that gives visitors engaging content automatically. So you and your team work less on updating your website and building integrations that break often.
