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Many brands struggle with getting enough user-generated content (UGC). The most common objections are: “We don’t have enough customers creating content,” “It’s hard to keep the flow going,” or “It’s inconsistent.”
The reality is that UGC can be systematically encouraged, collected and leveraged with the correct strategy. It’s not a matter of if, but how. Every company, regardless of size or industry, has customers ready to share their experiences. The key is creating the right environment and systems to encourage and capture this content.
Do you think your brand is too small for UGC yet? Learn How UGC Drives Growth for Small Community Brands with real examples from our customers.
A steady stream of user-generated content is essential for modern brands. Let’s explore three key benefits that make UGC an invaluable asset for your marketing strategy:
When customers see real people using and endorsing your products, it creates an authentic connection that branded content cannot match. This genuine connection builds trust and encourages others to engage with your brand on a deeper level.
Studies show that 93% of marketers who leverage UGC content in their strategy claim it performs notably better than traditional branded content. UGC helps to humanise your brand by showcasing the diverse experiences and real perspectives of your customer base.
By leveraging UGC, brands can significantly reduce their dependency on expensive professional content creation. This not only saves resources but often results in more reliable and authentic marketing content.
The return on this investment becomes much more compelling when you factor in the continuous nature of UGC. While professional content requires regular investment to stay fresh and relevant, a well-structured UGC initiative can generate a steady stream of content at a fraction of the cost.
User-generated content provides a constant stream of fresh, relevant content that search engines and social media algorithms love. This constant content creation helps to improve your website’s visibility and keeps your users engaged for more time, making your brand relevant in search results. Here’s how:
Additionally, UGC often contains natural language that can help your content rank for a broader range of search queries. This organic approach to SEO will complement your existing optimisation efforts, all while providing valuable content for your audience.
There are some key components that will help you build a sustainable system for generating UGC content. Below are proven strategies for implementing calls-to-action, developing incentives, streamlining content creation, building community engagement and leveraging technology to automate and scale your UGC efforts.
Take inspiration from these community activations currently being implemented by customers of Flowbox UGC Platform:
Prénatal’s implementation increased audience attention and engagement – when subscribers see real customer experiences, they spend more time reading emails and interacting with content.
This implementation by Misako is a great example of how to activate your community in two ways, they activate them to tag the brand, wearing their new purchase whilst also giving an incentive of a discount whenever the customer does this.
As shown by Miliboo, you can embed a button on your website that enables visitors and customers to submit their own UGC directly to the brand by implementing a Media Uploader button.
The key is to make these CTAs feel like a natural extension of the customer experience rather than forced marketing requests.
A thriving community is the backbone of sustainable UGC. By featuring user’s content and actively engaging with contributors, brands like Scorett naturally create a positive feedback loop that encourages ongoing participation.
By having a community-first approach, you turn what were originally regular customers into active brand advocates. Acknowledging and crediting content creators through proper tagging and shoutouts to build trust and encourage ongoing participation in your brand community
Take inspiration from brands like Gudrun Sjödén who run gift card contests to incentivise UGC submissions.
This is all about creating a value exchange that benefits both the brand and the customer.
Interior design brands like Andrew Martin are able to effectively activate their community through Flowbox. They merged this implementation with their ‘Interior Designer of the Year’ award.
By collaborating with interior designers, who create content around their brand when using the featured products, they get a lot of high-quality user generated content that they manage through Flowbox.
Brands like Sophie & Lucie activate their community in areas that you wouldn’t even expect. On their legal terms page they find a way to engage their community.
On this page, they tell the customer what they can expect in return for submitting UGC to their brand. This is an innovative way to activate your community that is very effective.
The versatility of user-generated content extends beyond e-commerce applications. For instance, Flowbox user Visit Blekinge, a Swedish tourism organisation without any direct eCommerce operations, has experienced significant benefits from their UGC strategy. By collecting and showcasing authentic visitor experiences and photographs, they have successfully enhanced their destination’s marketing efforts and increased tourism engagement in their region.
Other well known brands who do not use eCommerce, such as The Guggenheim Bilbao benefit from UGC strategy with Flowbox. With their implementations on the homepage and community pages on their website, The Guggenheim Bilbao collected an average of 1,235 user generated photos and videos each month.
This demonstrates how UGC can be effectively leveraged across various sectors, from travel, leisure and tourism to education and public services, creating authentic connections with audiences regardless of whether direct sales are involved.
Many brands hesitate to invest in UGC strategies because they fear they don’t have enough customers to generate sufficient content. However, success in UGC isn’t about quantity – it’s about building an engaged community that consistently produces quality content. When you nurture relationships with customers, the content naturally follows.
A dedicated UGC platform like Flowbox can significantly enhance your user-generated content management. Flowbox provides powerful tools to collect, manage and display UGC across multiple channels:
Managing content rights can be complex, but Flowbox assists you in requesting and managing rights for Instagram posts. We ensure easy management of your pending requests and help you automatically moderate posts once their rights have been granted.
This ensures that all the quality UGC that you receive is properly authorised for use in your marketing campaigns. To find out more on how we can help you simplify this process, check out this collection of articles.
With Flowbox, you can easily integrate UGC into your website and social media channels. With Flowbox’s collection tools, UGC can be automatically gathered from multiple sources and then organised in a central hub.
Thus making it easier for your brand to showcase this content on your media platforms through shoppable galleries, social media feeds and interactive displays, ensuring that your customer content reaches its maximum potential. There are many great shoppable content examples integrated through Flowbox that you can check out in this article.
Creating a sustainable UGC content flow isn’t about implementing a single strategy – it’s about building an environment that encourages, rewards and facilitates organic content creation from your customers.
By focusing on making content creation, easy, meaningful and enjoyable for your customers, you can build a self-sustaining system that constantly generates valuable content. Along with a platform like Flowbox to simplify the entire process, it’s a recipe for success. Book a demo with Flowbox today!
Successful UGC encouragement requires a multi-faceted approach combining clear incentives, easy-to-use creation tools, prominent content featuring, and engaging social media campaigns. The key is making content creation feel natural and rewarding for your customers.
Quality always trumps quantity in UGC. Focus on building strong relationships with your existing customers and making their content creation experience exceptional. Even a small group of engaged customers can generate impactful content that resonates with your target audience.
The most effective UGC campaigns combine three key elements: engaging community activities, simple participation methods, and meaningful rewards. Success comes from making content creation feel like a natural part of the customer experience rather than a marketing task.
Long-term UGC success comes from making content creation a natural part of the customer experience. This involves regular engagement with contributors, ongoing challenges and campaigns, and consistent recognition of your community’s contributions.
Small brands often have an advantage in UGC creation because they can build more personal relationships with their customers. By focusing on community building and authentic engagement, small brands can create powerful UGC campaigns that rival larger competitors.
