5 Effective Ideas To Create User-Generated Content For Business

What images come to mind when you hear the term “user-generated content” (UGC) to describe works that have been produced and made available online by “real-life” contributors?

You could be recalling the Starbucks Cup Art Challenges that gained the company tens of thousands of new followers on social media. The #BeautyStory social campaign, launched by Dove, attracted 1.5 million people to the brand’s website. Or maybe the GoPro contest on YouTube, where thousands of people uploaded their own videos of extreme sports.

Good, we finally understand. The media coverage of these examples of B2C marketing by major brands is enough to make any marketer swoon.

But what if you run a small business selling a very… unsexy product or service? Or perhaps your target demographic isn’t comprised of tech-savvy Millennials. Do we still need user-generated content? In a word, yes. You don’t have to be a social media superstar or a well-known retailer to reap the benefits of user-generated content (UGC).

What Makes UGC So Powerful?

Just one word: trust. Customers are more likely to trust recommendations from people they know and trust than they are to trust even the most persuasive forms of traditional advertising. Here are some impressive numbers from Nielsen:

Overwhelmingly (92%) customers place more faith in personal recommendations than they do in advertisements.
User-generated content (UGC) is more remembered (35%) and more persuasive (20%) than other forms of media.
A 15% increase in the efficacy of paid media can be achieved through word-of-mouth promotion.
What does this signify for medium-sized businesses engaging in B2B sales online? In this article, we’ll discuss various strategies for incorporating low-effort, high-reward user-generated content into your own website.

Rely On Your Staff Site visitors are not yet familiar with your company.

When they are looking for a new job, your company’s culture might set you apart from the competition. Then you should trust your staff to produce genuine material. It’s a fantastic alternative to the boring stock photographs that everyone else uses, and will make your site stand out from the crowd.

A pet photo contest or Employee New Year’s Resolutions are just two examples of tiny, imaginative prompts that can have people in the office taking more “real” photos. Those experiences can be the foundation on which your brand is built. Let’s take a look at what transpired when we invited the Precision Marketing Group staff to describe “a day in the life” in the context of a distributed agency.

Users make their own frequently asked questions

According to research conducted by Forrester, as much as 72% of customers would rather use self-help tools than contact a company directly. Keep in mind that the majority of your B2B clients are likely to do their own research before making a purchase. They will probably spend some time on your website trying to find the information they need before signing up for your mailing list. Now is the time to boost confidence using user-generated content.

One approach is to implement a FAQ page similar to the one below, used by Google G Suite, but populated with answers provided by actual users.

Promote your business with customer testimonial videos

Have a satisfied clientele? That’s a given. And they can have a significant effect on potential customers who share your values and are actively searching for what you provide.

One of the most effective forms of UGC that businesses can use is video testimonials. Find buyers in the “Delight” stage of the funnel, and have them pull out their iPhones to give you a video testimonial about their experience with your company. There will be many who are uncomfortable with the spotlight, but most will embrace it.

You can assist them by coming up with discussion points ahead of time and providing fast recording advice (such as filming horizontally, selecting excellent lighting, using a microphone, etc.) if they are doing their own filming.

Emphasise Independent Critiques

Do you have positive ratings on sites like Yelp, Capterra, Angie’s List, Fit Small Business, and Glassdoor from your customers? Discover by creating a Google Alert to track mentions of your name online. Then, collect the positive comments and advertise them again on your site. Almost two-thirds of business-to-business organisations (B2Bs) agree that independent review platforms like GetApp are a good method to locate new customers.

To take things even further, as in the Instagram example below, you can promote reviews from independent sources across all of your social media accounts. If you’re re-posting anything from a third-party review site, be sure to follow that site’s guidelines for using its trademarks, logo, and other copyrighted materials.