Every great business leader knows (or should know) that customers can’t be bought with snazzy, idealistic marketing. Nowadays, consumers care more about genuinely connecting with a brand and their products and services—they want to feel aligned.
Before ever making a purchase, consumers judge brands based on their advertising, marketing, and business practices. They care about sustainability, inclusivity for a diverse audience, and above all else, authenticity.
How transparent is your brand?
People don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to, they want to connect with brands that have relevant products or services—establishing a genuine connection with existing and potential buyers that feels natural and relatable goes much further in today’s marketplace than overtly salesy and promotional materials. According to Forrester’s The Algorithm Of Authenticity report, 71% of U.S. consumers say that they can relate to authentic brands and therefore want to back them.
A surefire way to meet the expectations of today’s consumers is for brands to put customers at the center of their advertising strategies. This doesn’t just mean considering your target personas when developing your ads. Brands that are using customer content—often called user-generated content or UGC—in their ads are gaining credibility through social proof and providing a relatability that is easy to connect with.
What is UGC, and Why Do Marketers Need It?
User-generated content refers to original, brand-specific social media posts, videos, images, and reviews created by a user, customer, brand loyalist, or content creator. COVID-19 has heavily affected consumer and social trends, deepening the impact of user-generated content. Whether most of us realize it or not, we have all consumed UGC content at some point:
- A peer’s social media post announcing their latest purchase
- How-to videos with a user demonstrating a product or service
- Your favorite influencer promoting their favorite brand
- Reviews on Amazon or another eCommerce site
- And so on
Organic content from real people leaves a lasting impression far longer than a couple of stock or branded images and cartoon graphics—no matter how well they’re pieced together. Creating customer-centric content helps move engagement and increase conversions. According to a recent Stackla data report of 2,042 consumers across the U.S., UK, and Australia, 80% of respondents agreed that UGC highly impacts purchasing decisions.
UGC is also a highly effective means of resonating with current and future customers and increasing brand awareness by allowing buyers to relate to their peers—other customers. These connections can go beyond demo-ing the products your offer or providing testimonials, valuable UGC can also be content creators talking about their values and how they tie to your brand, or providing lifestyle content where they use your product or service, but don’t overtly talk about it.
The key is to focus on authenticity. How do people authentically feel about your brand, your products or services, and your values? Presenting those perspectives strategically in your marketing and advertising can have a huge impact on public perception and the purchase decision-making process.
Bridge the Gap With UGC
UGC is being produced by people worldwide every minute, and in a highly competitive digital environment, that content is crucial to building trust—and some in the advertising industry are taking notice.
Content creator-focused Bambassadors is a company 100% focused on bringing UGC to ad campaigns and organic social media teams. They source and collaborate with content creators to build UGC-focused ad campaigns for major brands. Leveraging insight as a TikTok Creative Marketing partner and from experience working with Meta’s teams and top advertisers, Bambassadors help brands harness social media marketing potential with deep knowledge of UGC trends and best practices across platforms. Working with Underoutfit Inc., Bambassadors’ UGC advertising campaign produced 38% better ROAS, 31% lower CPA, and 47% higher CTR than the undergarment brand’s previous campaigns.
And UGC provides something else to marketers and advertisers—unfettered access to ideas, creativity, angles, and personality. Rather than collaborating with the same group of creatives time and time again to discuss brand positioning, ad strategy, and so on, UGC expands collaboration by bringing in the thoughts, opinions, personalities, and content of real people.
Shoppers will reward brands that place UGC at the heart of their online experiences, and marketing and advertising executives will reap the benefits of successful campaigns and an endless pool of ideas. If companies want to stay ahead of the competition, they need to strategically create the real experiences consumers crave—and that starts with real customers.
