Turning User-Generated Content into Your Brand's Strength
If you haven’t been thinking about user-generated content and how your brand can leverage it lately, well, you’re late to the party. UGC has become one of those three-letter abbreviations that everyone instantly understands. At least in the marketing world. Why is that? Well, content from users … the normal, regular social media user who posts content about a product or service is, by definition, more authentic. We’re talking about your normal fans and followers here, not necessarily influencers or professional creators, though they cross over into the same space sometimes, too. That authenticity is present because the content is coming from people just like the audience … people who are thumb-scrolling on a social network hoping to see something interesting. If I see a professionally produced photo or video from a brand, it has to be super compelling right away to stop and look or watch. If I see content about a brand from a friend or person who seems more real to me, I’ll give it more of a chance to sink in because they’re using or showing me a product the way I might see it or use it. Some of these users … consumers … whatever you wish to call them … actually produce some pretty good content. Brands can then seek permission to repost or even license that content for everything from their own social media content to paid advertising creative and everything in between. Influencers and creators can also be tapped for their content without any requirement they post it on their own channels. Many brands are tapping into this influencer-as-freelancer approach because in many cases, online content creators are better at speciality content like Instagram Reels, TikToks and the like, than, say, classically trained advertising creatives at agencies. Using a professional influencer as your creative production outlet can save costs from professional photographers or videographers, but it can also come with the other part of influencers … exposure to their audience as well. But therein lies a bit of a conundrum for marketing professionals. If you start sourcing creative from the crowd, what happens to our production houses, professional photographers and other creatives that are an important part of our ecosystem? I wanted to dive into UGC a bit more so I called upon Adam Dornbusch. He is the CEO and Founder of EnTribe. It is a software company that helps brands cultivate, license and organize UGC. So if anyone knows about this stuff, it’s him. Adam got his start in the entertainment industry and at one point wound up at GoPro where content acquisition was one of his duties. Remember that GoPro campaign that awarded up to $5 million for the best photos and videos submitted from GoPro users? Adam had something to do with that. You could say he’s spent the better part of the last 10 years helping brands figure out how to get authentic content from the crowd. And often at a much better cost than the alternatives. So today, I’m going to ask him to fill us in on all things UGC, then arm wrestle a bit and ask how much is too much? I think you’ll be interested in what he has to say. Winfluence is made possible by Cipio.ai – The Community Commerce Marketing platform. What does that mean? It’s an influencer marketing software solution, but it has additional apps that function to tap into your brand community to drive commerce. Community Commerce Marketing moves beyond influencers to fans and followers, customers, employees and more. Try its generative AI application, Vibe Check, with a two-week free trial at cipio.ai/vibecheck, and generate a library of social captions in minutes you can use right away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices