User generated content examples to inspire you in 2024
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User-generated content, more commonly known as UGC can be a win when properly used in organic content strategies and Paid Social Media Advertising. Why you may ask? In this handy guide, I’ll explain all: from our favourite user-generated content examples to key UGC tips that can inspire your next content strategy. Let’s dive in…
What Is User Generated Content?
First and foremost, let’s address the elephant in the room. Unless you’re a seasoned social media pro (like myself) you may be wondering what is user-generated content and why it’s important.
To put it plainly, UGC is original, brand-specific content created by customers. The best bit… it’s completely free.
This content comes in all forms, including videos, images and even reviews. With the rise of AI and therefore the decline of trust in marketing, including some form of UGC in your content strategy is a strong choice.
A study by Hubspot has said that 92% say UGC increases brand awareness of their products, which shows that UGC could be a breath of fresh air in a sea of boring marketing campaigns.
After all, UGC is a great opportunity to share your customers’ honest and unfiltered opinions of your brand. So take this as your sign to try it in your content strategy!
Tips On How To Get The Best User-Generated Content
Now we’ve covered the invaluable nature of UGC, let’s take a look at some of the most effective strategies for inspiring your customers to actually make it. Here are my top tips on ensuring you’re getting the best UGC possible…
Create a brand experience worth sharing
Potentially one of the most important factors to consider is whether your brand is making enough of an impression to inspire people to create content for you. By going above and beyond as well as ensuring your customers feel good about purchasing from you, they’re more likely to create better UGC.
A brand I particularly love that makes its content and buying experience fun and inclusive is Perl Cosmetics. By creating a fun and aesthetically pleasing feed while targeting user pain points, this brand has been able to encourage so much great UGC. Not only that, business owner, Isobel practices what she preaches by including a lot of UGC-style posts on her own profile including plenty of videos and photos showcasing her product in action.
It clearly works too… just take a look at their tagged content!
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Reward your customers
To truly inspire and encourage your customers to actively create UGC why not consider incentivising their efforts? Try offering rewards, and exclusive discounts or giving recognition to these users by posting their images on your feed.
This approach isn’t just a helpful way to generate more content (though it does help), but the more incentive there is to create the content, the more likely users are to flood your tagged tab with UGC.
A user-generated content example I particularly liked that encouraged UGC was Starbucks’s White Cup Contest. This campaign motivated customers to decorate a standard white Starbucks cup and turn it into a work of art. The winning creations were used as templates for Starbucks cups and generated nearly 4,000 entries!
What made this campaign such a winner? I think the fact that anyone could participate was a huge reason for its success and it related directly to the customer’s favourite product.
When it comes to UGC, the key is to make it as effortless and intuitive as possible for people to share their experiences. Implement user-friendly procedures such as branded hashtags and clear instructions on how to submit UGC, then sit back and watch the content roll in.
A brand that encouraged a tonne of great user-generated content examples is Apple and their Shot On iPhone Challenge. This was launched in 2022 to redeem the trust that iPhone users had in the quality of their cameras. Apple listened to their customers and heard they were unhappy with the camera capabilities. To regain customer trust while showcasing how great the iPhone camera can really be, they launched the branded hashtag #ShotOniPhone which now has over 29 million tags!
To make the most of this campaign, Apple regularly share content that uses the branded hashtag. Just take a look at Apple’s Instagram feed and you’ll see that their content revolves completely around UGC.
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Showcase your UGC
What’s the point in generating all this UGC if you’re not actually using it? Once you’ve followed the above steps and are consistently getting great UGC, then I implore you… USE IT!
Not only are you creating an authentic and unique content feed by incorporating real people, but you’re also giving your customers a spotlight and voice on your socials. This in turn could encourage more UGC to share across your channels including, social media, email marketing and website content – UGC isn’t just confined to social media.
A brand that utilises a lot of UGC in their content strategy on both TikTok and Instagram, is GoPro. Their entire feed is full of videos of real people going on real-life adventures. It just goes to show that UGC isn’t only focused on aesthetic imagery or brands like skincare. It can be so much more!
On Instagram, #GoPro has over 50 million posts and another 1.3 million on TikTok. It turns out people like sharing their own adventures and engaging with content about what other people are getting up to.
GoPro has established itself as a bit of a favourite amongst outdoor lovers, and its durable cameras have become a must. By utilising a content strategy that completely revolves around user experience it’s a clever way to ensure their product effortlessly stays the centre of mind.
If you’re interested in taking your content strategy to the next level, then get in touch with our paid social media team who can devise a detailed and bespoke paid or organic strategy that can help you achieve your business goals.
