What is UGC?

You probably remember Trinidad Sandoval’s TikTok video, showcasing the results of an eye cream from the skincare line ‘Peter Thomas Roth’ that went viral on TikTok and Twitter in 2021. The product sold out, all because of the reach of a simple morning routine video. This is by far one of the best examples of the potential and prospects of user-generated content. 

⬆️ This quote cannot be truer in today’s creator economy.

User-generated content is original, brand-specific content created in the form of images, videos, reviews and testimonials, by customers. People will always be talking about some or the other product they like but the art lies in how you leverage this to advertise your brand or product. 

What makes UGC so important?

1. Exudes authenticity and increases conversion

With fierce competition for audience attention, buyers and users are more selective about the brands they purchase from and interact with, especially Gen-Z.

UGC works as modern-day word of mouth. People would rather buy tried and tested products that come from relatable sources than from heavily produced ads. It’s also social proof that your product is worthy of buying when they see people just like them enjoying the products.

So where does the most effective UGC come from?

Customers and brand loyalists

When it comes to execution, this can range from unboxing videos to application videos, organic content put out by brand loyalists to fully scripted paid content. Reviews are no doubt more authentic when it’s organic content but when run as an ad, may not hold on to a viewers attention span and may not perform as well as a scripted UGC ad. Check out these videos below for some inspiration

Unboxing video by ‘Magic Spoon’ | Loyalist of ‘Skims’ trying them out

Employees

Behind-the-scenes videos of employees making or packing the products, or a founder talking about how he build the company and what it stands for helps establish brand identity, exhibit the value and story behind your brand. This is another cool angle of UGC that could be tried out.

Employee at ‘Life Cycle’ talking about how they came up with the product

2. Cost-effective

To create UGC ads, you do not need to shell out millions of dollars hiring influencers and flashy agencies. Instead, simply connecting with the most important element of your business - the audience, pays back even more through content success and growth. UGC is also cheaper and easier to manage for smaller brands, or those just starting out.

3. Helps grow a loyal community

We all love being a part of something bigger than ourselves. By creating UGC, people become a part of the brand’s identity and help develop an engaged community with deepened relationships, driving more brand loyalty.

What are some interesting ways you can source UGC?

1. Make use of the # on IG to get a lot of organic content.

Internationally there are many successful ‘Hashtag’ campaigns run by big brands including #shotoniphone by Apple and #ILoveIPLBecause by Pepsi but a few interesting ways Indian brands are trying the same includes Bummer running their #loveisabummer contest by sponsoring lucky couples trips to #pararep where a community of student ambassadors are being built by Paradyes. 

Another way to get some UGC content out there is by filtering possible customers by running a powerful tool such as PhantomBustor to scrape for followers or people that may have overlapping interests for your products. Then reach out to them on IG for a possible barter collaboration with some guidelines. (This part could be automated too)

2. Get your brand’s super users as beta testers

An amazing brand that’s doing this is ‘MyMuse’ getting beta testers to try out their latest products to receive testimonials even before your product is on the market. Doing this can furnish you with a solid testimonial section for any new product launch too.

3. Send out a mailer to your repeat customers

Asking them to share some kind words about their favourite products or how the brand has impacted their life for a small incentive. They could record and send it over a drive link or you can make this process much easier for them by using tools such as ‘Hoist’. A/B test this with both monetary compensation and free gifts. In the past I’ve seen around 10% conversion when sent to group of repeat users. The turnout and quality of content will again depend on the compensation and of course how good your product is.

4. Make your customers your influencers

One of the best ways to source consistent UGC is by asking your loyal users to share a reels according to a brief that you share with them for either a barter of a fixed compensation. As a brand loyalist I would love to get my hands on some of my favourite products for free for an honest review. You can even make a landing page to make this open to everyone such as ‘Plum’ does by building out there #plumsquad

An even better way of doing this, keeping in mind that you will be using this footage for performance marketing would be to ask these customers to send you certain types of footage every month instead of editing a reel and putting it out. Ask for high quality unboxing videos, application videos, demos of it being used, pictures of before and afters etc. This way you can later patch up multiple videos together on top of a scripted voice over according to the concepts you want to try out.

5. Get on a call with your repeat users

Through semi-structured interviews capture the journey of your repeat users through an E-meet. Ask them to share how they have been positively impacted and use this this content on multiple channels.

‘Traya’ has been building this out both as a landing page with a wall with their ‘Hero’s of the month. This not only acts as social proof to their brand but is also another funnel in acquiring new customers.

Here are few ways they are able to take the same content and create PM creatives out of them.

narration + testimonial | testimonial + before and after

6. Run a ‘Brand Ambassador Program’

Get a controlled group of repeat users who have been promptly undergoing their treatment over the past month or two, are ready to consent to having their journey shared on different channels and are ready to give frequent updates about their journey with your brands products.

Then provide them free products over the course of their treatment and record their journey with your brand. This required some planning and is a time staking process but will reap its benefits over time. It will not just be an indicator of the efficacy of your products internally but is also perfect for creating content for all marketing purposes.

We saw some really cool outcomes when running such a programme with Man Matters. From creating reels for organic socials, making landing pages to running ads in different visual formats from statics to reels for paid socials.

The most important part of collecting these testimonials is being able to superpower them into converting ads. 

Testimonials in their raw form are not always perfect. Some tend to have unnecessary pauses, unimportant fluff and may also seem boring. Two ways you can achieve this is by;

• Make a montage by taking the best features that customers mentioned and stitching it up - one that summarises the best that your product or service has to offer. If you’ve taken an interview then go through it, organise the USPs pointed out by the interviewee and create super create crisp ads.
  

• Before and after pictures from the program speak for themselves. These are one of the most powerful statements which you can introduce in the beginning of your ad. Then go on to explain how they were able to achieve this.

Two tools that I use with all our clients and recommend 100% are;

Foreplay - to save your favourite ads from ad libraries forever and to take inspiration to create better ads - get a free trial here

Motion - the perfect tool that helps you analyse your tools. Reach out to me personally and I can get you a 10% discount on their subscriptions - check them out here.