7 best UGC examples in 2022 – a complete study.
UGC or user-generated content isn’t a buzzword anymore. Since 1990, with the advent of interactive social media platforms, UGC came into the picture for the first time.
People went to the social media platform. They connected with each other. They talked about their lives. And, they created social content that wheeled around their lifestyles. In this process, they created the most important things for you.
They stormed social trends. They talked about your products. They clicked pictures with your products. They shoot And, they made your brand.
How?
UGC or user-generated content.
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The best UGC example is its statistics.
Today, more than 90% of the USA population trusts UGC. It greatly influences their purchasing decisions. What’s the global picture?
Word of mouth marketing, the most primitive form of it, has driven in $6 trillion annually. It occupies 13% of consumer sales, globally. And, how did it happen?
The centerpiece of this gigantic marketing segment is UGC.
Here are some stunning facts about UGC:
- UGC drives 5 times more sales than paid media marketing
- over 76% of online shoppers purchase things when their family and friends recommended those.
- UGC integration enhances branded email click-through-rate increases by 72%
- 97% of the online shoppers aged below 30 years said that their shopping experience is extremely UGC-centric.
There are tons of other intriguing stats when it comes to user engagement and UGC.
So, what is the best form of UGC that is redefining the global shopping trends?
Let’s get into that.
Video as UGC
It’s the best form of UGC without a question. It’s expected that within 2022 more than 70% of commercial content is going to be non-branded content. That means UGC is going to experience its peak form. Further, according to CISCO 80% of the global web traffic will be greatly influenced by user-generated videos.
Right now, user-generated videos earn 10 times more user engagement than brand-generated videos. And, YouTube is a burning instance as, right now, it’s the second largest search engine on this planet.
Now, when it comes to influencing users through user-generated videos, GoPro is a benchmark.
GoPro sells a range of cameras that capture adventure videos in the form of sports. Their YouTube channel already houses more than 10 million users. They do adventure. They shoot videos. They upload them to GoPro’s YouTube channel to get featured.
The moral of the story is?
GoPro already has earned a huge social following and engagement and they are using this UGC to turn more heads. Admittedly, oftentimes users forget that they are simply watching a sports video, not an ad.
That’s the magic of UGC. Right?
Images as UGC
Take Instagram as an example. Statistically, most of the brands that are related to fashion and apparel are on Instagram. This photo-sharing social platform acts as a gold mine of UGC for many companies.
All of it started with a mistake.
Over the last 10 years, branded content grew about ten folds on different social media platforms. But user engagement never saw a ten-fold growth with it.
But, one extraordinary trend began to take shape.
All of a sudden most of the brands started to experience that users are engaging more with content created by other users. Brand-created content is nowhere near the UGC if user engagement is concerned.
Then, a single truth came forward.
Users trust users.
And, different brands started employing UGC across their marketing channels to ride this user trend. Admittedly, they are driving in more user engagement and they are closing in more sales.
Here’s an awesome story of a fashion retailer who employed UGC in an innovative way to establish their brand.
Monsoon, a fashion retailer based in London found a way to use their user-generated images in shoppable UGC.
They simply told their users to wear their apparel and shoot photos. And, upload those images both on their social media profiles and their brand’s website with the hashtag ‘#MyMonsoon’.
They curated images from those user uploads. They attached those images along with their respective wearables and turn them into shoppable e-commerce items.
Result?
They have witnessed a 15% increase in their email campaigns when they integrated UGC into it and the revenue was increased by 5%.
Why did it happen?
The new shoppers were seeing these images of other users wearing the same clothing that they were interested in. Real people. Real image. 100% trust. And, they end up purchasing those items.
We bet, tons of similar examples do exist today.
User-reviews
Tv ads, printed ads, and other channels of traditional marketing are losing their trust. Less than 50% of global consumers trust them now. But, more than 76% of the same trusts user reviews.
That makes user reviews a strong UGC element.
User reviews as UGC have two cardinal sources. Firstly, most of the new consumers get user reviews, on anything that can be sold, from their friends and family members. Now, people trust their near and dear ones and they also trust their words regarding purchasing decision-making.
This is called word-of-mouth marketing.
Secondly, consumers read user reviews posted by previous users that are unknown to them. Typically, any online or offline shopping experience starts with UGC, known as user reviews.
The best examples are the popular e-commerce platforms that boosted their revenue by 18% by displaying user reviews along with their products. Websites like Amazon, Alibaba, and Walmart know the value of user reviews and how this UGC can propel their sales volumes.
In this consumer world driven by UGC, hashtags are probably the most primitive part of it. If you want to aggregate your brand’s social voice, the first thing that comes to your mind is to run a hashtag campaign. Right?
Now, any hashtag campaign has multiple application areas.
Create a hashtag-centric social media feed for your website. Build a social wall for your events and seminars. Deliver a better customer experience by displaying your user engagement on your restaurant’s digital signage boards.
You can also motivate users to take part in a social hashtag campaign maintained by your brand. Create social trends. Build fan clubs, and whatnot.
Statistically, there exists no popular brand that hasn’t created hashtag campaigns on its journey to becoming a socially popular business.
Also, check our brand new tool – Wedding Hashtag Generator. Simply generate over 200 unique hashtags and make a wedding more special. It’s free. It’s fun.
Think outside digital
The application of UGC has already walked out from the digital platforms. Many brands are coming up with innovative marketing strategies to employ UGC outside digital platforms.
This is a story that portrays a unique way to implement UGC.
Parachute, a D2C brand working in the bedding and the bath segment has employed UGC for marketing outside known digital platforms.
They motivated their users to shoot pictures of their actual product usage and upload those to social media profiles using the brand’s hashtag ‘#MyParachuteHome’. And, the brand used those user images within their promotional content, ad retargeting, and other marketing channels.
Added to this, they did a unique thing.
They printed those images on a beautifully designed insert card. And, they started enclosing them within their order boxes.
They inspired new buyers by showcasing to them how the other users are employing their products within their daily lives. Parachute also told the new users to shoot their stories as those stories can find their places on their future insert cards.
And, new users did that.
So, there are endless ways to get creative with the usage of UGC, and only your imagination can shape them.
But, before you get started with your UGC campaign, you need to find the smartest way to aggregate them in the first place.
And, what’s that?
Hi! We are Kooyal Aggregator.
We are the most versatile social media aggregator for your brand that offers the power of artificial intelligence (AI). We help you grow your brand by leveraging UGC.
Aggregate, curate, and display the best social media feed on any digital platform including your website. Create your social media wall. Curate social content from hashtag campaigns.
Are you a restaurant? Ecommerce store? Apparel brand? Event management organization? Else?
You need your users. You need UGC. And, with us, you are covered. Always feel free to bug us with your queries regarding UGC or social media aggregation. We will be happy to help you.
