Today, UGC campaigns are dominating the social media landscape, impacting a business’s ability to pull in customers, make them stay, target new audiences, and generate profit.
User-generated content is a type of marketing material where the brand takes a backseat and lets the consumers and audiences generate content to attract people.
Emotions drive buying decisions, and then logic justifies them. UGC campaigns appeal to both the emotional and logical sides of the audience. That is why, in recent times, numerous brands have used them successfully.
In this blog, we have gathered user-generated content examples with the potential to become your selling language.
What is User Generated Content?
Before we dive into the user-generated content examples, it is important to know the definition of it and the components it entails.
User-generated content campaigns raise brand exposure and boost conversions.
So, in the end, the purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the revenue generation goals.
As mentioned earlier, this content is produced by actual customers rather than by businesses.
90% of customers have used social media to share experiences with a business or product.
Hence, it fosters a positive brand image in front of the audience interested in knowing the brand and taking the final purchasing actions.
The UGC campaigns are not limited to reviews and testimonials. The user-generated content examples include pictures, videos, posts, articles, reels, and live broadcasts.
Brands use this shareable content for social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms to influence buyers.
UGC Campaigns Making All the Difference
According to a survey, UGC has a huge impact on the spending of people aged between 18 and 36.
Compared to conventional marketing efforts, which employ material produced by the brands, UGC campaigns are distinct, typically less edited, and more sincere and transparent.
In today’s market, where users find most marketing campaigns boring and uninteresting, gaining users’ attention is a major challenge for businesses.
As a solution, user engagement is the foundation of the user-generated content marketing campaign. In the user-generated content examples, you will understand its role in engagement more clearly.
Consumers post their own material, participate, and interact with other users’ content because it is relatable and authentic, among other reasons.
Additionally, user-generated content (UGC) offers insightful information about the preferences and behaviours of your target audience, which can help a brand tailor their offerings and marketing strategies.
Unpaid users who publish content on their websites and provide backlinks will boost your SEO.
Google views UGC backlinks that help ranking on the search engines.
In terms of budget, it may also be a relatively affordable option that increases engagement.
If your budget has put shackles on your campaign efforts, read these tips on planning a marketing budget to fly high to success.
How Any Business Can Launch Impactful UGC Campaigns?
Creating user-generated content involves more than just asking customers to upload pictures of themselves enjoying your goods on social media.
Here are some fantastic ideas for a user-generated social media marketing campaign for small and large businesses:
- Utilize Instagram hashtags.
- Make use of user-generated content when designing social media posts on marketing platforms.
- Urge clients to share unpacking videos of your products featuring the brand’s packaging.
- Throw a party or event with social media coverage for clients and influential people.
- Request clients to upload videos of themselves using your products to their YouTube channel.
- Use snippets from podcast episodes where social media mentions of your brand have occurred.
- Provide customers with brief connections to your website to boost conversion rates.
- Organize a social media competition to inspire clients to produce content.
- Assemble UGC around a noteworthy occasion or achievement.
- Request video clips featuring your brand or group of ambassadors or influencers.
As you can tell from the pointers above, UGC campaigns use influencers as a part of it.
So, if you are merging influencer marketing and UGC marketing, both have a unique identity.
From the user-generated content examples, you will get a better comprehension of UGC campaigns.
In the next section, there is a table of comparison between influencer and UGC marketing.
Quick Comparison: UGC Campaigns Vs. Influencer Marketing Campaigns
| Differentiators | UGC Campaigns | Influencer Marketing Campaigns |
| Creators | Can be anyone | Mostly, social media influencers |
| Authenticity | 60% of the audience finds it more authentic | As the brands hire the creators, the audience may have mixed feelings about the content |
| Targeted Audience | Brands use user-generated content on their social media platforms and various paid media | It targets the followers of the creator the brand chooses |
| Relatability | As the content is unbiased, more people resonate with it | Brands can leverage influencers’ credibility for promotion. It may not always exhibit the brand as relatable. |
| Interaction | The organic content creates a community around the brand | The engagement is normally limited to the influencers’s social media accounts |
| Cost | Usually, there is no cost associated with UGC campaigns | As per the following, every influencer has a different rate |
| Control | Brands can decide where, when, and how they want to use the content | The influencers make the final call when publishing the content |
| Impact | Buyers believe UCG campaigns are 10 times more impactful | Less impactful than UGC campaigns |
Learn More: Social Media Campaign Planning: How A Full Service Social Media Marketing Agency Creates Stellar Campaigns
Types of User-Generated Content
For business planning to harness the power of UGC campaigns, it is essential to know the types.
Here are some user-generated content examples according to their types.
1. Getting Honest Reviews
Product reviews are the most prevalent kind of user-generated content for brands.
With 86% of the audience turning to reviews before buying anything, using them is a powerful strategy.
Customers post reviews of the goods they have bought on the product page or on the platforms where the brands are advertised.
Similarly, they assign a scale to products so others can view the total rating. Others can learn more about the product’s features, quality, and value by reading reviews and ratings left by customers.
Shoppers can also be encouraged to take pictures of themselves wearing or using the merchandise, letting other prospective shoppers see how the item appears in person.
You can look at the website of Lenovo as one of the user-generated content examples for reviews.
The brand allows customers to share product images along with their reviews.
2. Participation in Community Forums or Q&As
Community forums are the greatest places for your customers to discuss your items and receive solutions to their questions.
Typically, a customer will submit opinions and reviews of your products on community forums, and other users may join in by adding questions, comments, or doubts.
Prospective customers benefit from these exchanges by making future decisions.
You can use online communities where your target audience and customers are present to implement it and spread awareness.
Quora alone has 400,000 topics for users to find anything that they have an interest in.
Quora and Reddit are two best-respected platforms for finding user-generated content examples.
3. Share Mentions From Various Platforms
Posting and showcasing their lifestyle through the products and services they use has become popular among the young and the general public.
Now, this aids those brands in indirectly reaching a larger portion of their intended market.
For this reason, among consumers’ most favoured UGC, social media postings and brand mentions have secured a good rank.
User-generated content significantly influences how your target audience perceives your brand.
This is one of the prime user-generated content examples of this type.
4. Customer Testimonials
More than product reviews, customer testimonials are all you need to promote your brand if you are selling a single product or providing services.
Since they establish your brand’s authenticity, they are vital for turning every small business into a household name.
To put these into practice, you can request video testimonials from your clients regarding their experiences with your goods, shipping, and general level of happiness.
To motivate other clients, you might post a testimonial from a previous customer on your website.
Don’t forget to include client names and images with testimonials to preserve authenticity.
We have picked one of the best user-generated content examples for testimonials.
Pip Decks offers toolkits for people to develop key skills to become a leader in their respective industries, as you can see from the image above.
5. Post How-To Videos Consistently
How-to YouTube shorts, tutorials, or DIY videos can help the company dispel any uncertainties in the minds of potential customers.
They can get answers to frequently asked questions about where and how to use the product from the video.
Customers decide to buy with confidence when they have this certainty.
By cultivating a strong brand personality with such content, a brand can increase conversion by influencing 85% of the prospects.
However, customers who follow your brand might not be inquiring about your goods or services. Using social media to proactively provide them with a how-to article or video to encourage them to buy is a great idea.
One of the most often used platforms for customer tutorial sharing is YouTube.
However, there is no hard and fast rule that you can only share video content on YouTube.
To learn from user-generated content examples, you can check out Onyx Coffee, a brand that sells a variety of tea and coffee. On their Instagram account, they share videos containing recipes.
5 User-Generated Content Examples That Are Worth Stealing
Now that you know the importance, use, and types of UGC campaigns, we will finally move to the user-generated content examples.
1. Get Organic Reach with a Unique Hashtag
TikTok statistics show that since 2021, hashtag usage and classification have increased by more than 150%. Makeup, fashion, fitness, and gaming are examples of TikTok communities. Each has its audience and set of particular issues.
Spending time interacting with your target audience and consumers is often necessary to uncover trending community concerns.
Even while community challenges are natural, a lot of them do include product usage or company shout-outs.
Guess invited users to showcase their denim fashion sense on TikTok by launching the #InMyDenim Hashtag-led campaign.
To raise awareness of the TikTok campaign, Guess initiated the challenge by using a sponsored image. Guess simultaneously published four influencer-performed videos to showcase the concept.
The spectacular yet simple-to-replicate video narrative quickly attracted a lot of attention and sparked 1,629 user-generated videos, freeing up content providers to perform their best work.
Millions of films were viewed, encouraging remarks were left, and user videos exhibiting their best denim looks were posted as the campaign went global.
Throughout the course of the six-day campaign, Guess’s Business Account on TikTok garnered over 5,550 user-generated videos, 10.5 million video views, a 14.3% interaction rate, and over 12,000 new followers using #InMyDenim.
2. Provide Value to the Visitors
Airbnb approaches housing in a different way. It works on a model of sharing finances that lets you stay in someone’s house rather than a hotel.
You can discover accommodations on Airbnb for your month-long internship in Mississauga or your backpacking trip as a place to crash.
If you’re only visiting for the weekend, it’s a terrific way to see a town you’re considering moving to or locate a cheaper alternative to conventional hotel options.
You can host on Airbnb and earn money for letting a visitor spend the night if you want to rent an additional room in your own house.
The community section on the website of the company is one of the user-generated content examples.
People can share whatever question they have in mind and have other people from the community interact with them.
3. Elicit People’s Interest through Content
The Social Times claims that user-generated campaigns represent a hidden treasure for travel-related companies. Online photographs are used by 52% of travellers to plan and research places.
Most travellers carry a camera in their pocket thanks to smartphones, and they take pictures and videos to post on social media, share with friends, or use in future travelogues.
Tens of thousands of photographs now include the hashtag #Wanderlust, and the platform’s general popularity serves as user-generated content examples.
National Geographic has demonstrated the immense value of user-generated travel material.
National Geographic, well-known for its breathtaking photos, used Instagram to launch its “Wanderlust” competition.
Fans were encouraged to take photos of people, places, and experiences from their trips and post them on Instagram with the hashtag wanderlust contest to enter the contest.
Participants could win a National Geographic Photo Expedition to Yosemite National Park by uploading their photographs online.
4. Sway Customers Into Sending Pictures
The third one on our list of user-generated content examples is an intelligent idea from IKEA.
The massive furniture retailer IKEA used internet visual merchandising to its advantage by compiling a collection of client images.
The business urged customers to take pictures of pages from their print catalogue and share them on Facebook or Instagram.
These types of UGC campaigns generate a lot of buzz on social media. Brands can show the user how much they care about the consumers.
The brand’s catalogues are the go-to for their audience because they allow new audiences to get ideas for decorating their living spaces.
IKEA offered a weekly prize for the content they listed, which served as an incentive for participation.
After the full catalogue was shared on social media after roughly four weeks, IKEA saw a significant surge in its fan base.
These videos assist the brand in connecting with its target audience’s shared interest in home décor.
Don’t limit your search to UGC content that mentions your product in an obvious and unsubtle way.
For instance, you can look for opportunities to reshare useful material with your audience, such as guides, inspiration, tips, and tricks.
Suppose you own a skincare brand; you can repost video content discussing common skincare regimens. You can then link your products with the ones used in the video to market your products.
5. Sell an Experience to Improve the Quality of Living
If you don’t use any of these user-generated content examples on your website, you won’t get a purchase from 40% of shoppers.
As this is the last one from the user-generated content examples, we will introduce a brand that excels in UGC campaigns.
Vinterior is an online marketplace that aims to promote sustainable buying and an appreciation for distinctive furniture by enabling anybody to sell and buy unusual vintage items.
With numerous sellers worldwide, the brand is leading the UK market for pre-owned and vintage furniture.
These days, people want to buy things that offer sustainability, increasing the demand for preloved and old furniture.
Since every item on the website is contrasting, the brand cannot advertise certain products.
So, Vinterior decided to hit the sweet spot of its audience by writing about the journey involved in accumulating exquisite furniture.
The brand reposts videos showing how consumers recycled furniture or placed vintage pieces in their living rooms to enliven the space.
On their social media, you can find many user-generated content examples like styling videos, reviews, behind-the-scenes, sellers’ showroom tours, giveaways, expert ideas, and more.
FAQs
How can I explain UGC in marketing?
Social media platforms for brands allow for the sharing of content created by consumers, brand ambassadors, and staff.
What is included in the examples of user-generated content?
User-generated material includes social media posts, podcasts, videos, images, testimonials, tutorials, and online reviews.
What does e-Commerce UGC mean?
E-commerce companies can employ user-generated content (UGC) as a marketing strategy to increase traffic and interest in their online businesses.
E-commerce brands can increase online conversions and sales by using content for social media.
Afterword
With these user-generated content examples, you can tap into any market. You have to use your creativity and research to encourage people to share content that expresses their true feelings.
If you are serious about marketing your brand, there is no better place than The Dreams Agency.
Our team can craft compelling UGC campaigns with relevant content and market insights to help you pursue the path toward success.