How can you sustainably improve your brand image? Many companies ask themselves this question, and rightfully so. In 2024, the answer is clear: by focusing on authentic marketing through the use and promotion of content produced by consumers, known as “User Generated Content” or UGC. Let’s take a look at how and why UGC has...
How can you sustainably improve your brand image? Many companies ask themselves this question, and rightfully so. In 2024, the answer is clear: by focusing on authentic marketing through the use and promotion of content produced by consumers, known as “User Generated Content” or UGC.
Let’s take a look at how and why UGC has become so popular in recent years, and how you can harness authentic consumer content to drive brand transparency and improve your image with your target audience.
User-generated content (UGC) at the heart of brands’ strategies
User-generated content, or UGC, has become essential to many brands’ strategies. This content, created and shared by users, comes in a wide range of formats, from customer reviews on product pages to photos and videos posted on social media, such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
Unlike traditional content produced by brands, UGC stems from consumers’ experiences and perceptions. It enables consumers to speak about your brand, products, and services. Therein lies the strength of UGC!
The main types of UGC
UGC comes in various forms. The main ones include:
- Written customer reviews and comments posted on e-commerce sites or review platforms (such as Verified Reviews, as shown in the example above).
- Visual content (photos or videos) in which customers share their experience and use of a product in an everyday setting.
- Social media publications, in the form of posts or stories, showcasing products in various situations.
Written customer reviews are the oldest form of UGC and can be found on many e-commerce sites. The current trend is to create various forms of UGC on social media: photos, videos, posts, challenges, competitions, etc.
A few key figures about UGC
Many figures prove the importance and impact of UGC on consumers, their brand perception and their purchasing decisions.
Here are just a few:
- 88% of consumers check online customer reviews before making a purchase (Source: IFOP).
- 61% of consumers base their purchasing decisions on a combination of promotional content and customer reviews (Source: SmartFocus).
- 88% of consumers trust customer reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family (Source: Bright Local).
- Social media campaigns featuring UGC have a 50% higher engagement rate (Source: Meltwater).
- Email campaigns featuring UGC have a 73% higher click-through rate (Source: HubSpot).
The main strength of UGC: authenticity
The strong impact of UGC on consumers is largely down to its authenticity. The voice of the consumer is far more trustworthy and credible than the voice of brands. After all, consumers have nothing to sell so they can’t be accused of bias.
In a world where traditional advertising is met with scepticism and indifference, UGC is becoming the key to building a strong, trustworthy brand image. UGC reassures consumers.
It is authentic because it includes:
- Genuine opinions: reviews and comments reflect customers’ personal experience and have no ulterior business motive.
- Diverse experiences: UGC captures a wide range of experiences, providing other consumers with a preview of what to expect.
- Impartial reviews: most UGC is produced with no financial incentive, which makes it more reliable for other users.
The authenticity of UGC about a brand, products, or services, largely contributes to the brand’s image and credibility. It helps to build the image of a brand that is itself authentic.
Brands can also be more transparent by interacting with UGC. Responding to both positive and negative customer reviews shows that the brand is committed to its customers, which in turn builds trust.
2 examples of how to use UGC to boost customer trust
Let’s take a look at two examples of brands that leverage User-Generated Content to strengthen their brand image. These examples are not random. They illustrate two different (but complementary) ways of using UGC.
Vélobécane, boosting reassurance and conversion with UGC
Vélobécane is a Digital Native Vertical Brand (DNVB), i.e. an exclusively online business. Vélobécane specialises in the sale of electric bikes and uses the Verified Reviews platform to manage customer reviews, from collection to marketing.
What is Vélobécane’s UGC strategy? Collecting post-purchase customer reviews and sharing them on its website to:
- Boost conversion rates on its product pages,
- Reassure potential buyers visiting its website.
The result: Vélobécane recorded a 20% increase in its site conversion rate. This shows the power of UGC, in particular customer reviews which reassure and encourage consumers to make a purchase. Vélobécane also takes the time to respond to each customer review posted on Verified Reviews, further building consumer trust in the brand.
Bioderma, or the art of combining influencer marketing with UGC
Bioderma, a cosmetics company, wanted to improve its brand awareness and image. How? By leveraging User-Generated content, of course. But not just any UGC… UGC produced by nano-influencers who love the brand, its products and their respective communities.
Nano-influencers are content creators on social media with a small but particularly engaged audience. This sets them apart from “mega-influencers”, who benefit from partnerships that resemble more traditional advertising.
Bioderma used Skeepers’ Influencer Marketing solution to:
- Find suitable content creators – Bioderma has collaborated with 138 nano-creators.
- Professionally activate and manage creator partners on a large scale. Bioderma already used influencer marketing but was looking to step up its approach.
Manage TikTok and Instagram campaigns, from defining objectives and measuring performance.
Bioderma sent products to creator partners in exchange for written reviews and ratings. In other words, combining influencer marketing with UGC production… The brand used Influencer Marketing by Skeepers.
Bioderma’s Instagram influencer campaigns delivered the following results:
- 813k subscribers reached;
- 5.13% engagement rate on creator partners’ posts;
- 1,792 comments by various audiences;
- 139 stories published by creator partners;
- 39k likes.
This client case study shows how you can use influencer marketing to generate hundreds, or even thousands, of quality UGCs. This includes content produced by creator partners, of course, but also that generated by their followers.
Influencer marketing, centred on small-scale creators, helps maintain authenticity which is the holy grail of marketing today.
A few tips to encourage authentic UGC creation
Here are a few simple and practical tips to encourage the creation of authentic UGC:
- Create an engaging environment by making it easy for consumers to share their reviews and feedback. Posting a review should be simple. And, of course, feel free to ask them for more. We recommend reaching out to customers for post-purchase reviews, for example by email. You can also organise fun campaigns on social media (challenges, competitions, etc.) to encourage consumers to post content about your brand.
- Showcase your consumers’ contributions by sharing UGC on your brand’s various channels: social media, newsletters, website, etc. It’s all very well to generate UGC, but leveraging and highlighting it through your communication channels is even better!
- React to content produced by consumers: thank you messages, comments, re-shares, discussions… Responding is the best way to build an active and involved community.
- Guarantee reliable and trustworthy customer feedback using Verified Reviews, a must to tackle fake reviews.
Conclusion
Whether (classic but tried and tested) customer reviews on your website or social media publications, UGC has a major impact on brand perception. 2024 is the year to invest in this kind of content. Authentic UGC fosters brand transparency.
Today, more than ever, the businesses that stand out have built a strong and reassuring image. Traditional advertising has become less impactful in recent years, whereas UGC resonates with current trends: a search for authenticity, the prevalence of social media, etc.
If you’d like to find out more about the solutions we offer, feel free to reach out. We’ll show you how to leverage UGC to reach your objectives.
