User Generated Content (UGC) is all the rage these days.
If you are not using it as part of your marketing strategy… you are missing out on some fantastic benefits. When I talk with brand owners that are interested in growing their sales, one of the things I keep repeating to these people is the following –
“Nothing sells your product better than social proof”
It’s true!
When you have customers, celebrities and people of influence showcasing your products and raving about the outcome and feelings they receive, this in turn helps to influence and persuade people to purchase your product line.
It’s very psychological. When we see people who are from the same tribe as us (those in the same community and/or with similar interests), who are enjoying the feelings they are receiving from a solution that we are seeking, we become influenced by these same people.
This is the beauty when you incorporate UGC into your marketing and content creation. The more your prospects and customers see people in their tribe getting the outcomes they desire, the more social proof this creates and sales of your product line increases.
Let’s Breakdown Some of The Benefits of UGC
Once you implement UGC consistently into your marketing, what you should be expecting?
Here are the benefits –
- Higher conversion rates
- Better SEO, lower bounce rate, more traffic
- Build trust, build loyalty
- Collect user feedback
- More UGC
Higher Conversion Rates
UGC is a fantastic way to improve conversion rates all through your sales funnel. From brand awareness, to posts and ads getting clicked on more, to product & check out pages… UGC really helps to improve all these elements.
According to a Gartner L2 report, UGC produces an astonishing 9.6% better conversion rates than regular brand photos. If you were to add a simple piece of code that sync’s with Instagram hashtag photos on your product pages, that can have a positive impact to increasing your sales.
However, only 9 percent of the brands embed UGC on product pages, despite the fact that this can further improve conversion rates by up to 6.4 percent in categories such as apparel.
Better SEO = More Organic Traffic
Want more targeted free traffic?
You can expect more free traffic as more followers come on board and follow your bio link to your website as a result of your UGC efforts. When you add UGC on your websites such as customer testimonials that already include keywords and phrases relevant to your brand, you are actually improving the SEO of your website.
Reviews that are posted on your website with a schema code can help you get reviews in Google search results. That will definitely increase click-through rates and bring more traffic to your website.
The UGC that’s created from your customers also helps to reduce bounce rates on your site. Your website visitors get to see other like minded people enjoy your products, which keeps them engaged as they spend more time on your site.
Build Trust, Build Loyalty
As I mentioned before, when you post UGC on your social profiles, emails, website etc, you’ll see the impact it has and how cold and warm traffic converts because of how UGC builds that trust and loyalty towards your brand.
Collect User Feedback
UGC gives feedback on your products. When you have customers and influencers experience your product, they explain “Why” they like/don’t like dealing with you as a brand.
They’ll talk about things like –
- Where they wear your clothing and fashion ideas – eg. social events, special occasions etc
- What they like about your product line
- Their own experience with your post purchase (delivery times, packing etc)
- Why they would recommend your brand to friends and family
- What they would like to see your brand create in terms of product development.
More UGC
I’m sure at this point, you understand and appreciate how UGC can benefit your brand. When you post UGC and your customers notice all your social proof, it builds a community of like minded people and motivates customers who have not created UGC for your brand to go and do so.
And who doesn’t want more social proof, feedback, lower bounce rates and better SEO?
Wrapping Up
This is the power of UGC and how it can escalate into more brand authority. If you’re looking for a starting point to implement UGC, email your existing customers and ask them to email you back UGC content. Incentivise them and you should get a good return.
