For the brands of today, user-generated content is becoming an increasingly important part of their marketing strategy.

But what actually is user-generated content?

User-generated content is content that has been created and shared by a brands followers or fans, primarily shared on social media or on the their website. This content can be viewed and shared by other users to increase brand awareness.

Types of user-generated content

• Written reviews – written opinions of a brand, product or service.
• Video reviews – posting a video on their thoughts of a product or service.
• Blogs – written opinions or mentions in blog posts, or comments on blog posts recommending a product or service.
• Social media tags – uploading images of a product or service on social media and tagging the brand.
• Social media mentions – posting on social media and mentioning brand names.
• Comments – commenting on blog posts, videos, social media posts and forums recommending or giving an opinion of a particular brand or product.
• Images – sharing images of a product or brand.

Why is it important?

User-generated content can offer brands a number of benefits, the below list being just a few:

• It can be extremely cost effective – it can cost next to nothing to ask customers to share an image of your product.
• It can increase engagement – engaging with your customers more online allows you to enhance your relationship with your customers.
• Helps to build a brand community
• It’s authentic – It’s genuine content created by consumers and not employees or affiliates of a particular brand.
• It increases brand awareness
• It creates trust – the majority of consumers will almost always trust fellow consumers over any chosen brand when determining the credibility of a product.
• Can help boost sales – the more noise created about your product or brand, the more awareness you create, increasing engagement and sales.

Example – Coca Cola Share a Coke

Coca-Cola managed to yield an enormous amount of user-generated content, simply by adding names on bottles of Coke followed by the phrase ‘Share a Coke’.

Finding a Coke bottle with their name on and posting a picture online proved popular with many. Reaching 998 million impressions on Twitter and selling more than 150 million personalised bottles.

Need a little help to ensure your marketing efforts capture the attention of your audience? You’re in the right place, get in touch with our team today to discuss your requirements.

Square Media is Northamptonshire’s premiere Web Design & Marketing Agency experienced in developing effective content and marketing strategies for forward-thinking companies in the local area. Our team of specialists consistently deliver outstanding results working in a variety of areas such as Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing Consultancy, Pay Per Click (PPC) and AdWords Management amongst a wide range of other services.