What Is User-Generated Content? How to Get and Use It

What Is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content (UGC) is non-sponsored content related to a brand that's created by users like customers or employees rather than the brand itself.

Here's an example of UGC: Saeed Jones's Bluesky post praising the TV show "Severance."

How Can UGC Help Your Brand?

Some ways UGC marketing can help your brand are:

• Increasing your revenue: Getting positive coverage about your brand improves user sentiment and may lead to more purchases
• Scaling your content marketing efforts: Encouraging users to create UGC helps you accumulate marketing content about your brand without extra production costs
• Learning new ways of marketing to users: As users talk about your products or services, you'll discover their preferences and pain points-and get ideas for tailoring your marketing to match
• Growing brand awareness: UGC helps get the word out on your brand. For example, the below image shows that 5,400 mentions have led to an estimated reach of 9.55M.

Types of User-Generated Content

Types of user-generated content include:

• Unboxing videos that show the user opening a product's packaging to reveal its contents
• Product demonstration videos featuring a product in use
• Written reviews that list pros and cons of a product or service
• Testimonials that describe how a user benefited from a product or service
• Contest entries where users try to win a prize by submitting UGC that contain certain hashtags or tag the brand running the contest
• Articles written by a brand's employees sharing their work experiences

Real-Life UGC Campaign Examples + Their Results

Check out these three real-life UGC campaign examples to get inspiration for your own campaign:

1. Video Testimonial on Mentoring Experience

Peter Lewis, Founder and CEO of Strategic Pete and a Business Mentor on the GrowthMentor platform, encourages his mentees to leave feedback on his services.

One of them created this video testimonial in response:

Within days, this testimonial led to Lewis entertaining new client conversations and mentorship requests. Without any effort on his part.

"When you genuinely help people, UGC creates itself," Lewis says. And the results can be impressive. "A single authentic video drove more engagement than any polished ad ever could," he adds.

2. Trustpilot Product Reviews

RushOrderTees set up automated emails requesting customers to review the brand on Trustpilot after receiving their custom apparel.

The brand focuses on gathering Trustpilot reviews due to the platform's widespread recognition. And its reputation for being unbiased.

Within six months of launching its UGC campaign, RushOrderTees saw a 35% increase in Trustpilot reviews. Its average rating also improved from 4.3 to 4.8 stars.

"If we see a pattern in comments, like customers wanting better order tracking, we can act on it," says Michael Nemeroff, Co-Founder and CEO of RushOrderTees. "That makes reviews valuable for attracting new customers and making existing ones happier."

3. Video Testimonials on Service Experiences

Stairhopper Movers asks customers to film video testimonials of their experiences using its moving and storage services in person once the work is complete. The brand then posts these testimonials on its YouTube channel.

Like this video testimonial :

Stairhopper Movers's goal for its UGC campaign?

To promote word of mouth about its services in a trustworthy and engaging manner. And the campaign has succeeded.

"We've seen increased trust from potential customers, as they can see real people talking about their moving experiences in an unscripted, natural way," says Adrian Iorga, Founder and President of Stairhopper Movers.

How to Get UGC

Here's how to actively get UGC for your brand instead of passively waiting for users to create it:

Ask Customers at the Right Time

Ask customers to share their experiences with your brand right after a transaction because they're more likely to mention good things and important details while their memories are fresh.

If you want more reviews, you could word your request like this:

"Thank you for shopping with us. If we've done well, we'd love it if you shared your experience on [name of review platform]."

And make it easy for customers to fulfill the request.

For example, The Kahala Hotel & Resort's site provides convenient links to various review platforms:

Offer Incentives for UGC

Encourage users to create UGC by offering incentives like discounts, freebies, or contest prizes in return.

Here's an example:

Madelle Paltu-ob's dance-focused UGC campaign invites users to post relevant social media content tagging two accounts and including certain hashtags to have a shot at winning event tickets and a personalized experience.

Before incentivizing UGC creation, check that the UGC platform permits this.

For example, providing incentives in exchange for Google reviews goes against Google's policies. Google may remove these offending reviews. Or even terminate your brand's Google account.

Turn Employees Into Brand Ambassadors

Provide employees with an excellent working environment, and they'll be more likely to post UGC commending it-signaling you're an attractive brand.

Here's an example:

Wise employee Flora Shi posted on LinkedIn about presenting the Wise platform's growth to hundreds of colleagues.

Shi even invited others to consider a career at Wise-which speaks volumes about the company.

How to Use UGC

Once you start getting UGC, try these techniques to make the most of them.

And consider crediting users when sharing their UGC-they'll appreciate the recognition, which improves the consumer-brand relationship.

Post UGC on Social Media

Posting UGC about your brand on social media helps you fill out your posting calendar with content that builds trust with followers.

Lox + Schmear has put this technique to good use by sharing this glowing Google review on its Instagram account:

Feature UGC on Your Site

Collect UGC from various sources and share the content on your site, where site visitors can view everything in one place.

Just like how Festoon House's site displays customer reviews from Google and social media:

The brand's homepage also links to this review page, helping potential customers discover it.

"There are customers who use our services and products just because they saw a review their friends made on the website," says Matt Little, Founder and Managing Director at Festoon House.

That trust drives real results.

"I gained a steady number of repeat, referred, and new customers," Little adds.

Use UGC in Ads

Use UGC in ads to potentially improve the return on investment on your ad spend, as users may find the organic nature of your ads' content more authentic and trustworthy.

SportingSmiles launched a Facebook ad campaign featuring customers using-and enjoying-its dental products. And its UGC ads received 20% more clicks than other ad types.

There were also more conversions. The brand attributes this to people being more likely to buy a product after seeing others like them use it.

"Seeing these results, I've made UGC a key part of my marketing strategy, encouraging satisfied customers to share their experiences," says Evan McCarthy, President and CEO of SportingSmiles.

Track your brand's UGC to learn what users think about your brand, discover opportunities to amplify positive sentiment toward it, and take prompt action if users raise concerns.

One way of tracking UGC is to Google "[your brand name] site:[domain of platform you want to track UGC for]." Like "[your brand name] site:reddit.com" to learn what users are saying about your brand on Reddit.

For a more sophisticated approach, use Brand Monitoring.

This social listening tool automatically scans the web for new mentions of your brand and alerts you of these via email.

As you create a new brand query in Brand Monitoring, select the sources you want to monitor. And choose other settings, like tracking UGC in only certain languages or from certain countries.

Click "Create query" when you're done.

The tool will display the latest UGC about your brand from your selected sources. For you to view and act on.

Next, click the "Email notifications" tab to set up regular email notifications for new UGC. So you don't have to keep checking the tool manually.

Try Brand Monitoring at no cost for seven days.