10 Ideas For Encouraging More User-Generated Content
Good content for social media is hard to come by. It can be time-consuming and quite honestly, it can be frustratingly ineffective. Did you know the best performing content for businesses on social media is user-generated content? And best of all, there are some things you can do to help guide your customers toward creating that content for you. Here are ten tips we suggest.
1. Have A Contest
This is a great way to encourage your customers to create content for you. Make sure the prize is something that will appeal to your target audience and make the rules easy to follow. Be sure to promote the contest heavily on your social media channels and in any other ways you can think of.
One of the best contests we have seen encouraged people to share photos of their dogs wearing the collar from a pet shop. The best photo won. Best of all, after the users created the content, the owners could use those photos multiple times and the dog owners were thrilled to have their pooch featured!
2. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to help customers find relevant content easily. They also make it easier for you to track and collect user-generated content. Encourage your customers to use specific hashtags when posting about your brand or product.
At our Burgers and Bands for Suicide Prevention, we remind people to use #BurgersandBands as well as tag our accounts @BurgersandBands in all of their posts.
3. Create Dedicated Pages Or Groups
If you want to really encourage users to generate content, create specific pages or groups on social media just for that purpose. This makes it clear that you are looking for content and also makes it easier for customers to find and share what they create.
One of the best examples of this is in the weight loss industry. Companies will have groups for their product and people who are using the product share their before-and-after photos.
4. Share User-Generated Content
Show your appreciation for the content your customers create by sharing it on your own channels. This helps promote their content and also encourages others to create similar content.
5. Offer Incentives
In addition to contests, offer other incentives such as discounts or coupons to customers who generate content for you. This helps show them that their efforts are appreciated and can also encourage more people to participate.
We just saw a local coffee shop do this. They offered 10% off your order if you would post a photo and tag the shop in the photo.
6. Use User-Generated Content In Your Marketing
User-generated content is a great way to add fresh, relevant, and engaging content to your marketing campaigns. Utilize customer photos and videos in your ads, website, or other marketing materials. This helps you but it also encourages others to create and share their own content for your page.
Consider hairstylists. If they feature a specific person in their posts, other people will be more inclined to share their newest hairdo on their social media.
7. Give Customers A Voice
Customers love feeling like they are being heard. Use user-generated content as a way to give them a voice and show that you are listening to what they have to say. This can be done by sharing positive reviews and testimonials, featuring customers in blog posts or articles, or even just responding to comments and questions.
So many people skip this one. At ASMM Digital, it is one of the first things we do for new clients. People don't always remember where they saw the review, but they remember that they have seen positive things said about this company.
8. Get Involved In Conversations
Social media is all about the conversation. Get involved in the conversations happening around your brand or product and use user-generated content to help add to the discussion.
9. Make It Easy To Submit Content
The easier you make it for customers to submit content, the more likely they are to do it. Have a simple process in place for them to follow and make sure you let them know how and where to submit their content.
10. Be Creative
User-generated content can be used in all sorts of ways, so get creative with how you use it. Think outside the box and come up with unique ways to showcase the content your customers create. These are just a few ideas to get you started.
One thing we do with Burgers and Bands for Suicide Prevention is to get people to tag photos with our #YouAreNotAlone cutout. They love doing it and it gives us content to use throughout the year.
User-generated content is a great way to add fresh, relevant, and engaging content to your social media channels. Follow these tips to encourage your customers to create content for you and make the most out of user-generated content.