5 Types Of UGC To Use In Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
The global UGC market was valued at 4.4 billion USD in 2022 and is expected to compound by 30% annually until 2030. Needless to say, it’s an industry that is clearly providing value for businesses. We previously discussed the five signs that your business should be using influencer and UGC marketing in this article, but this blog post will dive more in depth into exactly how you can implement this strategy in social media marketing.
First off, what is UGC?
UGC, or User-Generated Content, is original, brand-specific content created by customers or “users” and shared across social media channels. Think everyday people like you and me simply sharing their thoughts on the products and services that they use on a daily basis.
While the industry started out with organic posts from actual customers, brands found that rather than spending hours and hours sifting through inconsistent posts by normal users, it was more cost effective to pay professionals to create content that looked genuine and authentic. And that’s how UGC creators came to be.
So, is UGC actually a viable marketing strategy?
As a business owner, you’re probably thinking…is UGC actually worth paying for? Well, the answer is yes. 79% of people say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions and consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content when making purchasing decisions. So whether you’re looking through organic posts that customers have created or are contracting out to specific UGC creators, it’s definitely a strategy worth investing in.
Ready to get started? Here are 5 types of UGC to include in your social media marketing strategy:
1. Testimonials
People love to hear from their peers. Video testimonials are the most straightforward type of UGC. They provide insight directly from users of your products or services and are able to also provide a unique perspective on the experience. When you ask other people to speak for your brand, you leverage social proof and are better able to build trust and credibility.
2. How-To/Tutorial
Using UGC to educate your audience on how best to use your products inspires them to try things out for themselves. It also helps with troubleshooting any technical difficulty and improves customer experience all around.
3. Vlog
A vlog-style piece of UGC content enables the audience to envision themselves in the creator’s shoes. It’s part aspirational and part relatable and motivates users to join in on the movement.
4. Problem/Solution
People are always looking for effective and accessible solutions to their problems. That’s why creating a piece of UGC content that speaks directly to that is such an effective sales driver. When you share content like this, it speaks directly to your ICA (and the issues that they might be experiencing) and forms an automatic association with your product/service as the solution.
5. Aesthetic/Unboxing/ASMR/Product Showcase
These categories work best with a physical product, but they can definitely be used for digital products and services as well. Aesthetic, unboxing, ASMR, or product showcase-style UGC content leans heavily into the visual and tactile elements and engages the senses in a different way which in turn captures audience attention for longer.
If you’re just starting out with UGC, we recommend testing each of these strategies to see what resonates best with your audience and as always, if you need support on a strategic consultation, feel free to reach out!
