What is User-Generated Content?

User-Generated Content (UGC) is a crucial tool for brands and advertising in today’s marketing landscape. It involves encouraging consumers to create content about a brand, product, or service. UGC can take various forms, such as photos, reviews, stories, or social media posts.

The significance of UGC lies in its role as an independent source of information and opinions from real people who use the brand’s products or services. This builds trust among the target audience. According to Statista, 91.3% of consumers read reviews before making a purchase, and nearly a quarter look at more than 7 reviews before making a final decision. As a result, customer loyalty is more relevant now than ever.

UGC also allows brands to engage and strengthen their connection with their community, turning them into active participants in content creation. This increases audience engagement and brand loyalty. Plus, it provides an opportunity to save resources on creating and distributing content through traditional methods 😉

Popular User-Generated Content Formats

Any brand’s call for creativity can be considered UCG, but there are a few common formats that bring brands the most benefit.

1. Videos – short clips, product reviews, challenges, or giveaways on various video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram Reels.
2. Photos showing customers using the brand’s products or demonstrating them in different situations.
3. Product or service reviews and ratings on brand websites, specialized platforms, or social media.
4. Stories – short videos or photos with added effects, stickers, or text on social networks
5. Reposts on social media, where consumers create posts mentioning the brand or using special hashtags related to the product or campaign.

All of this organically boosts brand reach and has the potential to become a viral challenge with unpredictable results.

UGC vs. Influencer Marketing – what’s the difference?

UGC and influencer marketing are both approaches to brand promotion and audience engagement. The key difference is that influencers, who run their accounts for advertising and promoting brands, typically receive a fixed fee or reward for integrating a product into their content. Their goal is to create high-quality promotional material that will attract their audience’s attention. However, despite the spent budgets, there’s no guarantee that an influencer’s post will actually lead to increased sales or brand interest.

User-Generated Content is created without any guaranteed compensation. People share their experiences with a product or service on their own initiative, which adds authenticity and trust to such content.

Another advantage of UGC is its scalability. Unlike the limited circle of influencers, there are millions of ordinary social media users. Engaging hundreds or thousands of people who have never seen an advertising contract to create content about your brand can prove much more beneficial than paying for integration in posts from a small group of influencers.

Examples of UGC

As a Ukrainian company, we are proud of the innovative work of our colleagues from the Ukrainian business community. We are pleased to introduce you to some outstanding examples of our peers. These cases demonstrate that our Ukrainian brands succeed in marketing 🙂  Let’s take a look!

Posts

This post by Uklon (a Ukrainian ridesharing service) on Instagram is a great example of integrating User-Generated Content into its marketing activities. Uklon encourages its customers to submit photos of themselves wearing traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts (vyshyvanka). In this way, the company encourages customers to create UGC related to travel and Ukrainian culture.

This not only helps to strengthen the connection with the audience and increase loyalty, but also generates additional organic content that Uklon can promote on its channels. 

Overall, this campaign is a good example of using UGC to increase customer engagement, strengthen the operator’s brand as one that supports national traditions, and drive sales through attractive discounts for active participants.

Feedback and reposts

One of the leaders in the USG usage is the beauty industry. In the screenshots above, we can see a giveaway from a beauty brand, where the conditions for participation are reposting and personal feedback about the product. In this way, the brand encourages its consumers to join in spreading the word about the brand and share their own authentic experience of using the products. 

This example shows how to quickly collect positive feedback on product quality. It also shows how to potentially attract new customers after reading reviews from real consumers.

Provoke for comments

For UCG bloggers is a must-have. “Like, comment, and send this video to your friends” is a standard formula that every YouTuber says. From those who registered yesterday to millionaires with years of experience.  For example, the presenter of the Geek Journal channel encourages viewers to write what they want to see in the next videos, a classic and traditional version of an invitation to interact.

Or the 20:23 show invites viewers to donate, promising to transfer UAH 1 for every like of the video to the needs of the Azov Brigade. 

Competitions

Previously, we looked at examples in which users generated content out of sheer love for the brand, or for the sake of a brand-related reward – discounts. But some organizers incentivize UGC with more tangible prizes. For example, the Council of Europe, which is currently holding a competition for visual works on human rights. Participants have to post their works on social media with certain hashtags and, if they win, they will be invited to Strasbourg to attend thematic events.

Reposts of subscribers’ photos 

nik.sense. – a Ukrainian shopper brand, gains many benefits by involving its customers in the creation and distribution of content featuring their products. Firstly, the content looks authentic and natural, unlike studio shots, which adds authenticity. Secondly, brand interaction with users in the comments helps to strengthen ties with the community. Thirdly, when such User-Generated Content is distributed through users’ social networks, it ensures organic coverage of a new potential audience with minimal advertising costs for nik.sense.

“Accidental” UGC

Sometimes users generate content completely organically, without any special call to do so. For example, they leave negative  feedback that no brand would generate on purpose. And here the question of crisis communications arises: what to do with such public negative content. Let’s look at how Ukrainian brands respond to this UGC format.

Here’s one example of “accidental” UGC 🙂 Yes, user-generated content is not always about “wow, everything is great”. It’s life, it can be different, so businesses should respond adequately to such feedback, as our Ukrainian brands have done.

It seems that this is a negative case for Nova Poshta, but it is not. The business has taken a “step forward” to solve this problem. And now future users will keep in mind that if the parcel breaks, it can be solved.

Tips for using UGC 

Some tips for brands from newage. :

1. Motivate users to share content. Offer contests, giveaways, and other incentives for those who share their photos or feedback. For example, organize a contest for the best photo in your clothes with a chance to win a new outfit or a gift certificate. This encourages users to create and publish content, increasing your brand awareness.
2. Create unique hashtags. Using branded hashtags will make it easy to find and track content related to your brand.
3. Repost the best examples of UGC. Share the best examples of UGC on your official social media pages to encourage other users to follow suit. For example, create a regular “Best Look of the Week” section and post photos of your customers wearing your clothes. This motivates others to share their pictures in an effort to get featured on your official account.
4. Show real results. Before-and-after photos or video reviews from real users can be very convincing to potential customers.

Usage of UGC can significantly increase brand credibility and sales if done wisely and creatively.