Crowdsourcing is nothing new. Today, companies regularly crowdsource ideas, or names, for new products. People regularly crowdsource their vacation rentals and commutes. So it was only natural when businesses began to crowdsource content on social media.
User-generated content (UGC) is an invaluable addition to any company’s marketing plan with many benefits. Not only is it low-cost, but it can also be faster to initiate a user-generated content campaign than to plan, create, and curate your own short-form video content.
So how exactly do you go about launching a successful UGC campaign? Read on to find out.
What is a UGC campaign?
A UGC campaign is a marketing strategy that encourages customers to create and share their own content related to a brand or product. This content can include photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, blog posts, social media posts, and more. The goal of a UGC campaign is to leverage the authenticity and influence of real customers to promote the brand, build trust, and engage with the audience in a more personal and relatable way.
If you want to integrate user-generated content into your marketing strategy, consider all the different types of UGC, as well as the channels where you can use it. Just because something was shared on Instagram doesn’t mean that’s the only place you can use it. By strategically incorporating UGC in advertising initiatives and fostering brand awareness through social media channels, businesses can harness the formidable potential of authentic content. This approach enables you to not only resonate with your audience but also establish a genuine and impactful connection.
{{trend-ad="/external-components"}}
Examples of UGC campaigns
Wondering about some examples of UGC campaigns to see how they take form? Here are some to check out:
- Photo contests: Encouraging customers to share photos of themselves using the product, often with a branded hashtag.
- Video reviews: Asking customers to post video reviews or testimonials about their experiences with the product.
- Social media challenges: Creating challenges or trends that users can participate in and share on social media.
- Customer stories: Collecting and sharing personal stories from customers about how the product has impacted their lives.
- Unboxing videos: Showing what it looks like to receive and open a package.
How to create a UGC campaign strategy that works
No matter which platform you use to collect content, it’s critical to think through what you’re trying to do before you launch. Ask yourself questions such as:
- What will you promote?
- Where do you want to promote it?
- What kind of content do you need?
- What actions do you want readers/viewers/followers to take?
The people who create content for you won’t know how to proceed in a way that aligns with your campaigns if you don’t tell them, so don’t be shy. They’ll appreciate guidance, and you’ll appreciate how much more successful your campaign is if you think through these questions upfront.
1. Set some goals
Determine what you want to achieve with the UGC campaign. Common goals include increasing brand awareness, boosting engagement, collecting authentic content, and driving sales.
You’ll also want to identify your target audience at this stage. Understand who your audience is, what platforms they use, and the type of content they prefer. This helps in tailoring the campaign to appeal directly to them.
2. Lay out your style guide
Decide on the type of content you want to collect (e.g., photos, videos, reviews, testimonials). Choose a format that aligns with your goals and appeals to your audience.
Just as UGC creators can’t know what kind of content you need without you telling them, they can’t know what posts and videos should look like without a heads up.
That’s where your style guide comes in. Most companies already have one, dictating the font styles and sizes, primary and secondary colors, and image and editing styles that align with your brand. If you haven’t set it all out in a single document yet, this is a good excuse to do so.
Once you’ve created it, share it with your users. Make it as easy as possible for them by including hex codes with colors, linking to fonts if they need to download them, and providing any B-roll or imagery you find acceptable.
3. Use branded hashtags
Branded hashtags are worth their weight in gold. Develop a unique, catchy, and easy-to-remember hashtag for your campaign. This will help in tracking and aggregating all UGC related to the campaign.
Sure, it’s a little lame to see those personalized hashtags that have only a post or three under them. However, a popular branded hashtag can give your users somewhere to aggregate their content and feel like they’re part of a community, while it also makes it easier for social media managers to find the right content for a quick repost if you don’t want to pull it from your UGC platform. Enough users will also act as influencers, posting the content on their pages in hopes of a repost, to make this worthwhile.
If you’re the only social media manager, this is an even better strategy, because time is of the essence. Make sure every UGC campaign has a short, punchy tagline that includes your company name in some form as well as the point of your campaign.
4. Choose your platforms selectively
While you can certainly find users on every UGC platform who are willing to showcase your product, and that may generate some traffic, that doesn’t get you the best bang for your buck.
Remember: A user-generated content campaign is different from an influencer campaign. Your goal isn’t just to get your product out there; it’s to collect photo or video content in return.
As such, you want that content to fit with the marketing goals you’re following on your own feeds. Therefore, if you use TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, these are the best social media platforms to source your images from. If you rely heavily on X and YouTube, then find your UGC creators there.
By doing so, you won’t have to do a bunch of cropping, resizing, and reworking of your UGC. It will already exist in the formats appropriate for those platforms, so you can just grab and go.
5. Educate your UGC creators
Not all UGC creators understand what the role entails. Again, it’s easy to mistake UGC for influencer marketing, but with UGC, there is no expectation that the person will post on their own channels – though they often do, having gone to all that work.
Provide participants with clear instructions on how to create and submit their content. Include details on the type of content you're looking for, how to use the campaign hashtag, and any rules or regulations.
Let them know what the tradeoff actually is: They create content in exchange for cash, incentives, rewards, or product. They can post or not post, but the main crux of the deal is that you now own their content. Your contract can stipulate that you co-own it with them, but make sure to use language that allows you to use and edit the content you receive in perpetuity.
6. Incentivize
Encourage participation by offering incentives such as discounts, giveaways, features on your official channels, or entry into a contest. Incentives motivate customers to create and share content.
7. Launch and promote
Announce the campaign across all your marketing channels, including social media, email newsletters, and your website. Use engaging visuals and compelling copy to attract attention.
Don’t forget to engage. Like, comment, and share user-generated content to show appreciation and foster a sense of community. Engage with participants to keep the momentum going and encourage more contributions.
8. Collect your content somewhere
Track the campaign hashtag and collect the submitted content. Curate the best pieces to share on your brand’s official channels, giving credit to the creators.
It’s critical to create a functioning library for your UGC. You don’t want to be forever hunting for the right photo or video to use in a particular campaign.
The best way to manage your collateral as it flows in is to add it to a product information management system that allows you to tag, label, and organize your content. That way, you can set current versions, append text copy and headlines to certain pieces of content, and search for them in a database.
UGC campaign ideas and tips
Personalize wherever possible
In addition to personalizing a hashtag, it’s always fun to personalize products as well! This transforms your campaign from something bright, bold, and beautiful to something branded in every image. Think notebooks with names embossed on the front, monogrammed towels, candies with personalized mottos, and so forth.
For instance, we love how Coke’s “Share a Coke” campaign had users post pictures and videos of Coke bottles with their names on them. Not only is it a fun way to encourage users to create content, but such content looks adorable collected together under applicable hashtags.
Solicit reviews & contributors
letYour past influencers or even brand ambassadors are a great place to look for user-generated content. They’ve already proven enthusiastic about your products, and you can easily scroll through their posts to see who has created the nicest imagery and videos. (Psst, this is much easier if you’ve used a branded hashtag for all your campaigns!)
Other good places to look include employees and repeat customers. Both have a vested interest in seeing your product shine, both are excited about what you’ll come up with next, and there’s a lower barrier to entry in terms of convincing both to help you out.
If that’s not enough, you can consider posting an open call for user-generated content. This is just a quick message on your social media feeds along the lines of:
Hey, we’re looking for dedicated content creators to showcase our products and create authentic videos! You don’t need to have a large account or a degree in marketing, but you do need to be passionate about promoting [your product] and willing to let us use and repost your content. Benefits include [monetary incentives, free products, posting on your pages, etc.] Apply today!
Host a contest
Another way to find new people who’d like to participate is to host a contest. You offer a prize to the person who creates the best photo(s) or video(s) featuring your product. This motivates people to do something (create content) for free, with the promise that you’ll consider them for the prize.
You can choose one person to receive a truly awesome prize, like a big basket of product or a sizable gift card. Alternatively, you can choose multiple people to receive smaller prizes or reward everyone who participates with a coupon code or other smaller reward that incentivizes them to shop with you. A combination of the above options also works, and it’s a great way to get UGC without having to give out any product for free.
Pro tip: Make sure to include somewhere in your language that you have the right to use whatever content they create with your product. That way, you can harvest and use it for years to come.
As always, remember if you’re having people post on social media to use a branded hashtag that includes the word contest somewhere in it. Not only does this help you promote your contest while it’s ongoing, you can then look back through it later to choose media for use on your own platforms and pages.
Kick off your campaign with Trend by soona
Ready to create the best UGC content for your brand, but not sure how to get users to help you out? Let an expert take over.
Here at soona, we have cultivated a wide network of dedicated, capable social media users who know how to capture beautiful images and videos using products just like yours. And with our Trend.io platform, you can forego the hassle of crafting your own campaign and waiting for results!
{{trend-ad="/external-components"}}
Crowdsourcing is nothing new. Today, companies regularly crowdsource ideas, or names, for new products. People regularly crowdsource their vacation rentals and commutes. So it was only natural when businesses began to crowdsource content on social media.
User-generated content (UGC) is an invaluable addition to any company’s marketing plan with many benefits. Not only is it low-cost, but it can also be faster to initiate a user-generated content campaign than to plan, create, and curate your own short-form video content.
So how exactly do you go about launching a successful UGC campaign? Read on to find out.
What is a UGC campaign?
A UGC campaign is a marketing strategy that encourages customers to create and share their own content related to a brand or product. This content can include photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, blog posts, social media posts, and more. The goal of a UGC campaign is to leverage the authenticity and influence of real customers to promote the brand, build trust, and engage with the audience in a more personal and relatable way.
If you want to integrate user-generated content into your marketing strategy, consider all the different types of UGC, as well as the channels where you can use it. Just because something was shared on Instagram doesn’t mean that’s the only place you can use it. By strategically incorporating UGC in advertising initiatives and fostering brand awareness through social media channels, businesses can harness the formidable potential of authentic content. This approach enables you to not only resonate with your audience but also establish a genuine and impactful connection.
{{trend-ad="/external-components"}}
Examples of UGC campaigns
Wondering about some examples of UGC campaigns to see how they take form? Here are some to check out:
- Photo contests: Encouraging customers to share photos of themselves using the product, often with a branded hashtag.
- Video reviews: Asking customers to post video reviews or testimonials about their experiences with the product.
- Social media challenges: Creating challenges or trends that users can participate in and share on social media.
- Customer stories: Collecting and sharing personal stories from customers about how the product has impacted their lives.
- Unboxing videos: Showing what it looks like to receive and open a package.
How to create a UGC campaign strategy that works
No matter which platform you use to collect content, it’s critical to think through what you’re trying to do before you launch. Ask yourself questions such as:
- What will you promote?
- Where do you want to promote it?
- What kind of content do you need?
- What actions do you want readers/viewers/followers to take?
The people who create content for you won’t know how to proceed in a way that aligns with your campaigns if you don’t tell them, so don’t be shy. They’ll appreciate guidance, and you’ll appreciate how much more successful your campaign is if you think through these questions upfront.
1. Set some goals
Determine what you want to achieve with the UGC campaign. Common goals include increasing brand awareness, boosting engagement, collecting authentic content, and driving sales.
You’ll also want to identify your target audience at this stage. Understand who your audience is, what platforms they use, and the type of content they prefer. This helps in tailoring the campaign to appeal directly to them.
2. Lay out your style guide
Decide on the type of content you want to collect (e.g., photos, videos, reviews, testimonials). Choose a format that aligns with your goals and appeals to your audience.
Just as UGC creators can’t know what kind of content you need without you telling them, they can’t know what posts and videos should look like without a heads up.
That’s where your style guide comes in. Most companies already have one, dictating the font styles and sizes, primary and secondary colors, and image and editing styles that align with your brand. If you haven’t set it all out in a single document yet, this is a good excuse to do so.
Once you’ve created it, share it with your users. Make it as easy as possible for them by including hex codes with colors, linking to fonts if they need to download them, and providing any B-roll or imagery you find acceptable.
3. Use branded hashtags
Branded hashtags are worth their weight in gold. Develop a unique, catchy, and easy-to-remember hashtag for your campaign. This will help in tracking and aggregating all UGC related to the campaign.
Sure, it’s a little lame to see those personalized hashtags that have only a post or three under them. However, a popular branded hashtag can give your users somewhere to aggregate their content and feel like they’re part of a community, while it also makes it easier for social media managers to find the right content for a quick repost if you don’t want to pull it from your UGC platform. Enough users will also act as influencers, posting the content on their pages in hopes of a repost, to make this worthwhile.
If you’re the only social media manager, this is an even better strategy, because time is of the essence. Make sure every UGC campaign has a short, punchy tagline that includes your company name in some form as well as the point of your campaign.
4. Choose your platforms selectively
While you can certainly find users on every UGC platform who are willing to showcase your product, and that may generate some traffic, that doesn’t get you the best bang for your buck.
Remember: A user-generated content campaign is different from an influencer campaign. Your goal isn’t just to get your product out there; it’s to collect photo or video content in return.
As such, you want that content to fit with the marketing goals you’re following on your own feeds. Therefore, if you use TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, these are the best social media platforms to source your images from. If you rely heavily on X and YouTube, then find your UGC creators there.
By doing so, you won’t have to do a bunch of cropping, resizing, and reworking of your UGC. It will already exist in the formats appropriate for those platforms, so you can just grab and go.
5. Educate your UGC creators
Not all UGC creators understand what the role entails. Again, it’s easy to mistake UGC for influencer marketing, but with UGC, there is no expectation that the person will post on their own channels – though they often do, having gone to all that work.
Provide participants with clear instructions on how to create and submit their content. Include details on the type of content you're looking for, how to use the campaign hashtag, and any rules or regulations.
Let them know what the tradeoff actually is: They create content in exchange for cash, incentives, rewards, or product. They can post or not post, but the main crux of the deal is that you now own their content. Your contract can stipulate that you co-own it with them, but make sure to use language that allows you to use and edit the content you receive in perpetuity.
6. Incentivize
Encourage participation by offering incentives such as discounts, giveaways, features on your official channels, or entry into a contest. Incentives motivate customers to create and share content.
7. Launch and promote
Announce the campaign across all your marketing channels, including social media, email newsletters, and your website. Use engaging visuals and compelling copy to attract attention.
Don’t forget to engage. Like, comment, and share user-generated content to show appreciation and foster a sense of community. Engage with participants to keep the momentum going and encourage more contributions.
8. Collect your content somewhere
Track the campaign hashtag and collect the submitted content. Curate the best pieces to share on your brand’s official channels, giving credit to the creators.
It’s critical to create a functioning library for your UGC. You don’t want to be forever hunting for the right photo or video to use in a particular campaign.
The best way to manage your collateral as it flows in is to add it to a product information management system that allows you to tag, label, and organize your content. That way, you can set current versions, append text copy and headlines to certain pieces of content, and search for them in a database.
UGC campaign ideas and tips
Personalize wherever possible
In addition to personalizing a hashtag, it’s always fun to personalize products as well! This transforms your campaign from something bright, bold, and beautiful to something branded in every image. Think notebooks with names embossed on the front, monogrammed towels, candies with personalized mottos, and so forth.
For instance, we love how Coke’s “Share a Coke” campaign had users post pictures and videos of Coke bottles with their names on them. Not only is it a fun way to encourage users to create content, but such content looks adorable collected together under applicable hashtags.
Solicit reviews & contributors
letYour past influencers or even brand ambassadors are a great place to look for user-generated content. They’ve already proven enthusiastic about your products, and you can easily scroll through their posts to see who has created the nicest imagery and videos. (Psst, this is much easier if you’ve used a branded hashtag for all your campaigns!)
Other good places to look include employees and repeat customers. Both have a vested interest in seeing your product shine, both are excited about what you’ll come up with next, and there’s a lower barrier to entry in terms of convincing both to help you out.
If that’s not enough, you can consider posting an open call for user-generated content. This is just a quick message on your social media feeds along the lines of:
Hey, we’re looking for dedicated content creators to showcase our products and create authentic videos! You don’t need to have a large account or a degree in marketing, but you do need to be passionate about promoting [your product] and willing to let us use and repost your content. Benefits include [monetary incentives, free products, posting on your pages, etc.] Apply today!
Host a contest
Another way to find new people who’d like to participate is to host a contest. You offer a prize to the person who creates the best photo(s) or video(s) featuring your product. This motivates people to do something (create content) for free, with the promise that you’ll consider them for the prize.
You can choose one person to receive a truly awesome prize, like a big basket of product or a sizable gift card. Alternatively, you can choose multiple people to receive smaller prizes or reward everyone who participates with a coupon code or other smaller reward that incentivizes them to shop with you. A combination of the above options also works, and it’s a great way to get UGC without having to give out any product for free.
Pro tip: Make sure to include somewhere in your language that you have the right to use whatever content they create with your product. That way, you can harvest and use it for years to come.
As always, remember if you’re having people post on social media to use a branded hashtag that includes the word contest somewhere in it. Not only does this help you promote your contest while it’s ongoing, you can then look back through it later to choose media for use on your own platforms and pages.
Kick off your campaign with Trend by soona
Ready to create the best UGC content for your brand, but not sure how to get users to help you out? Let an expert take over.
Here at soona, we have cultivated a wide network of dedicated, capable social media users who know how to capture beautiful images and videos using products just like yours. And with our Trend.io platform, you can forego the hassle of crafting your own campaign and waiting for results!
{{trend-ad="/external-components"}}
