Social media is a critical platform for marketers to interact with their audience, and often, these interactions wind up increasing sales numbers if you’re lucky. One way marketers have taken to increasing their involvement in social media marketing is through the use of user generated content.

User generated content ultimately leverages content that your audience produces so that you can post more frequently and engage more frequently, without having to increase the amount of content that your team is producing. A whopping 90 percent of marketers have attributed their increase in exposure and traffic from user-generated content via social media in 2017 alone. However, user generated content (here-on “UGC”) is not always clear-cut and can be tricky when you’re first getting started. Consider the following lessons with examples to back them up:

User Generated Content “No’s” with Examples

  1. McDonalds: Don’t forget relational proximity

McDonalds failed terribly during their #McDStories UGC campaign minutes after its launch. They had to retract the hashtag because they opened a “filter-less floodgate” on Twitter.

Just a few of the tweets from McDonalds #McDStories campaign. Source

 

The moral of the story is that the most important factor for a successful UGC campaign is understanding this one tip: UGC thrives on relational proximity with customers.

  1. Buzzfeed: Never publish without consent

How would you feel if you scrolled on Facebook to find a pseudo account that has all your photos? Obviously this would be a very uncomfortable feeling and you would want the content removed from the unauthorized profile immediately. This is really no different to what customers feel when they see their photos taken from their social media platforms, and used by companies they consider to be loyal without their consent.

Of course, UGC images provide some of the most engaging and profitable content; thus requiring companies to seek out for permission or rights from owners. But, in some scenarios companies retrieve images without consent.

For example, in 2013, BuzzFeed and Agence France-Presse (AFP) learned this the hard way. Both companies ran UGC campaigns using images retrieved from Flickr without getting consent or rights from the owners. BuzzFeed and AFP were both sued for $3.6 million and $1.2 million respectively.

So how can you use UGC the ethical way? (1) ALWAYS ask permission before posting and (2) cite the photographer/author! Users are going to be much more enthusiastic about you sharing their content if you give credit where credit is due.

  1. UK Environment Research Council: Consider HOW you want your audience to be engaged and involved

It is really easy to not know the “limits/boundaries” when it comes to UGC. In fact, companies can end up compromising too much for the sake of “winning” the hearts of their customers. But, is it worth it? In their bid to retain and get new customers through UGC, companies should learn to “play it safe,” by only asking relevant questions that allow customers to feel part of the company’s family, yet not give them too much power (think of the McDonald’s example here—while well-intentioned, the open-ended nature of the campaign backfired).

For example, do not allow customers to be involved in critical issues such as changing the public name of a company. The UK National Environment Research Council faced a terrible “name-calling-campaign” after they called on the public to name the new research vessel.

One way this could have worked more effectively would have been give the customers an opportunity to “guess the name” while the company took stats. Then when the company’s name transition occurred, they could have announced the “most guessed name” – ultimately, they’d end up with public participation but not have to surrender full control of naming the council to their audience.

User Generated Content “Yes’s” with Examples

  1. Share a Coke by Coca Cola: Add Personalization When Possible

Remember the Coca-Cola campaign “Share a Coke?” The campaign aimed to produce Coke bottles with customer names on labels to increase its exposure online.

Better yet, the campaign involved customers as they were asked to submit personalized coke bottle on Twitter – like all UGC campaigns. However, in this case in point, Coca-Cola banked on the idea that personalization is irresistible.

In fact, Coke spent a significant amount of time interacting with customers on Twitter trying to figure out the names they’d love written on their personalized bottle. Of course, it was quite impossible to list all names. So Coca-Cola decided to decentralize this by setting up several local centers where you’d order your personalized name. The key learning here is to add personalization to your UGC campaigns whenever possible.

  1. Acceptance by Target: Be relatable

Have you seen the philanthropic campaign by Target? The ad will leave you very emotional—trust me. It is a combination of several clips of college applicants’ reactions to their acceptance news. Unlike most UGCs, this ad sought to warm hearts of many across the nation. It committed to doubling its $500 million in donations to the K-12 education program.

However, the ad left many talking about it as it used some basic relatable video footage and photos that addressed an occurring issue. The UGC campaign worked well and got many people talking. In fact, it created a viral conversation around the topic. The key learning here is to be relatable, resonate with your audience’s emotions, and do good when you can.

The Takeaway

UGC campaign has changed the landscape of digital marketing. However, it is important to know your way around it—or you may end up ruining a company’s image. Companies that spend a considerable amount of time planning out their UGC campaign get 10 times the results than those that don’t. Successful UGC campaigns take the time and energy to plan out what they want to accomplish wind up being much more successful, getting more attention and traffic, and ultimately have the potential to lead to better connections with your audience.

Remember, copying the exact successful UGC campaign from a different company will not always work in your favor. Take best examples as learning’s and tailor to your brand’s audience.

Have you used UGC campaign for your company/website? How was your experience? What are you going to do better from now henceforth? Let us know in the comments section below.

Photo Credit: blog.artifacia.com