How to Boost Engagements on Your Website with User-Generated Content?

User-generated content is emerging as the new cool over traditional advertising and marketing. In today's digital landscape, individuals are more inclined to bank on the reviews of consumers than any brand.

Your brand can thrive and get more business from user-generated content on your website and social media, such as videos, photographs, and product reviews from real people/consumers, than from glossy, well-produced images from your team.

User-generated content marketing receives more customer engagement and has the maximum potential for la ead generation thanks to its originality and reliability. 93% of consumers say that user-generated content effectively influences their purchasing decisions.

So, read further to find out more about user-generated content and the benefits of incorporating it into your digital content strategy.

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What is User-Generated Content (UGC)?

User-generated content (UGC) refers to all sorts of content published by independent contributors and leveraged to advertise your brand organically. It includes any written testimonials, images, videos, etc., that your customers and followers post on social media and other online channels.

If UGC is implemented and garnered smartly, it can generate high-quality images, captivating videos, persuasive product recommendations, and more, all while providing a substantial return on investment.

UGC is much more effective than conventional brand promotion, just as a friend's product referral has more weight than an advertisement. One can argue that user-generated content is practically the new incarnation of a product recommendation.

Statistics, too, depict the same story: visitors to webpages with UGC had a conversion rate of over 50%.

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Where Can You Use User-Generated Content?

User-generated content is an ever-evolving technique, mainly because it provides you with more resources to create and share content that the audience wants.

Let's look at how you may use UGC now to market your brand:

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1. Social Media Platforms

Social media is an excellent medium for implementing content strategies. It's where you can broaden your outreach, interact with your community, and track your performance.

However, content marketing professionals must consider these platforms as an opportunity to acquire organic advocates of your products and services in the form of satisfied customers and fanatics who can promote the brand explicitly or implicitly through the content they generate.

For instance, you can promote the creation of user-generated content on Instagram by conducting contests, asking people to tag you using a hashtag, giving rewards based on engagement level, etc. ****

The choice of social media platform to engage with the audience depends on the brand and customer persona and also on the product/service to be promoted.

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For example, GoPro, an action camera manufacturer, leverages branded Instagram hashtags to encourage followers to post their videos and images with the hashtags, thus building an enormous community and boosting brand visibility on the platform.

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2. Customer Reviews andTestimonials

Your customers can be your biggest UGC content creators by leaving product or service reviews and feedback on your website. Such content is valuable since it expresses a definitive opinion about a service or product. As a result, it is perceived as more truthful and transparent content regarding your offer.

In this case, you must drive harder on two facets:

• automated and persuasive strategies to encourage customers to review the product, and
• collaborate with those who will provide quality content that you can post to your website and social media.

Keep in mind that it's always best to stick to what the reviewer has to communicate. Generally, how something is conveyed to the customers is more important than what has been stated.

In addition, there is a way to deal with negative reviews and make them your strength. The solution is to pair them with insightful and unbiased facts.

You can talk about how the business is constantly evolving, why the experience wasn't positive, and what you are doing to serve the customers better next time.

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3. Special Occasions

You can promote UGCacross all social media platforms and marketing avenues for significant occasions, such as a prominent day or week, the company's anniversary, or the festive season.

A well-planned user-generated content marketing campaign for these types of events makes your audience feel they are missing out on something if they're not partaking in it.

To participate in the experience, they would be more than willing to join the campaign by posting their images, videos, and comments.

Such online engagement will attract more participants and can even bring in a new set of individuals into your consumer journey. Additionally, you can repurpose the content produced and use it again and again throughout the year.

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Among the best user-generated content examples of this kind come from Coca-Cola. For instance, the long-running "Share a Coke" campaign led to millions of videos and selfies uploaded across popular social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #ShareaCoke.

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4. Video Content

One of the best ways to advertise UGC is through video, which is becoming more widely accessible to a broader audience.

The latest trend that is picking up in the video segment is short-format content, which can be a prompt, effective way of promoting your products with the face and voice of genuine customers.

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Top 5 Benefits of Including User-Generated Content for Boosting Website Engagement

User-generated content is not only valuable, but it is also an inexpensive creative that can complement the marketing efforts on your website to accelerate the growth and profitability of your business.

Talking about leveraging user-generated content as a website conversion strategy, reports reveal that web conversions increased by 29% when websites displayed user-generated content.

Now, let's explore the advantages of this content strategy for enhancing website engagement:

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1. Instant Connection with consumers

Engaging with customers, fostering community, and establishing a relationship between consumers and a brand are the main goals of user-generated content. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that user-generated content attracts more engagement than standard brand-related content.

For instance, Parachute, a D2C bath and bedding essentials business, saw a 35% increase in click-through rate and a 60% decrease in CPC after including user-generated content in their retargeting advertising.

The real reason behind these engagement levels is the desire of consumers to interact with their preferred brands across all touchpoints. This makes it crucial for brands to emphasize customer journey mapping and figure out a way to incorporate UGC into the strategy.

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2. UGC Serves as Reliable Social Proof

Positioninguser-generated content as your brand's voice is the ultimate solution for creating social proof.

Consumers' online buying decisions are greatly influenced by social proof. According to the most recent data on internet reviews, nearly 4 out of 5 customers reported they consider online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Due to their worries about risk and malicious practices, customers prioritize looking for integrity, credibility, and trustworthiness online.

Using a dynamic hashtag feed to display user-generated content (UGC) creates social proof, which promotes user engagement and sales for your brand. Additionally, it stands for authenticity, a stronger brand identity, and effective organic promotion.

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3. Brand Promotion for Greater Engagement

High-quality user-generated content about your business demonstrates consumer loyalty. Utilizing UGC to boost brand advocacy can start a domino effect for prolonged customer engagement on your website.

You need to ensure that your customers are aware of the principles your brand upholds and what it strives for. This enables you to connect with an audience that shares your beliefs.

You could incorporate a community platform for this function on your website, which may show user-generated content about your company and products from various social media networks. You can post pictures of consumers using your product to illustrate the ideals your business represents.

Then, you can even add CTA buttons to key touchpoints and witness a boost in your website conversion rates.

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4. Access to Valuable Customer Data

Consumers also provide valuable information as they create content, including details about their experiences and journeys. Past that point, they are more responsive and likely to respond to future inquiries.

Hence, utilize UGC to learn more about your audience's demands and expectations from the brand by getting to understand them better.

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5. Free Access to Unique Branded Content

The unpredictable and vibrant preferences, interests, and tastes of digital audiences make it difficult for marketers and businesses to produce distinctive content that is consistently captivating and fascinating. Access to worthwhile UGC assures an endless supply of such content.

Among the most notable benefits of user-generated content is that it is easily accessible and takes little to no effort or financial investment to curate. The time saved in creating content allows for maximum ROI.

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Conclusion

User-generated content is an effective content marketing strategy that has repeatedly shown its ability to increase user engagement and drive sales conversion.

Utilizing UGC, you can get quick access to a variety of authentic, fresh, and distinctive content hubs, plan affordable marketing campaigns, and reap several other benefits.

So, start incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your marketing technique to boost website engagement and conversions and build brand loyalty and popularity.

Looking for a solution to generate UGC for boosting website engagement? Look no further than Glood.AI!