The Marketer’s Guide To UGC Campaigns
User-generated content (UGC) is a marketing tactic that helps tell your brand’s story in an authentic way — by the people who use it!
Rather than a marketing team carefully crafting your content, real customers share their unfiltered user experiences with followers on their social networks.
UGC is powerful, but tricky: Social media platforms routinely update their rules in an effort to scale back on identical content. If you’re embarking on a UGC campaign, here’s a look at how they work, why they connect so well with audiences, and which UGC trends can help you form a solid strategy for this type of content.
Understanding UGC campaigns
A UGC campaign is a form of content marketing that unites various user-posted content with a common hashtag. For example, a brand might publicly post the promotion, ask all followers to tag content, and then repost the content on their official social media profiles.
Or a brand might reach out to individual influencers with relevant audiences in an effort to expand their reach. UGC can also be organic, meaning customers willingly share their thoughts because they genuinely connect with the brand.
Whichever approach you use, the key to making a campaign successful is authenticity and honesty.
UGC is often more effective than brand-generated content because customers perceive it as more honest. UGC creators find unique, personable ways to highlight products or services, which typically leads to more creative and memorable brand statements.
Content may include product reviews, photos, videos, blog content, podcasts, or testimonials. UGC’s flexibility can help you branch out and create synergy across mediums for a stronger digital marketing strategy.
UGC campaigns can also be paid, meaning you’ll compensate users for their time and efforts to post. But keep in mind that even with paid UGC, the content should be just as authentic as organic UGC for best results.
Paid UGC campaigns can help both new and established brands grow their customer bases or prioritize targeted content. For example, if you only wanted to promote your retail store to people within a 10-mile radius, you might partner with a local influencer who has an audience in that neighborhood.
With a well-executed UGC campaign, you can expect:
Better brand loyalty: UGC can be funny, sentimental, or practical. But no matter what kind of content it is, it can build stronger relationships with the brand, which ultimately results in increased loyalty.
Authenticity: UGC campaigns feature real posts from real people, and a single recommendation from an unbiased party may yield better conversion rates than a dozen more conventional digital marketing campaigns.
Social proof: Social media users consider customers the best judges of products or services. If potential customers are curious about your brand, social proof is a powerful way to answer their questions and inspire them to take a chance on your offerings.
2024 UGC trends to know
As customer preferences change and social media platforms adapt, so do UGC trends. One of the most notable is Instagram’s latest decree on reposted content.
Under the platform’s new algorithm, only the original creator receives a recommendation if Instagram identifies two or more identical pieces of content. Also, accounts that repeatedly repost other users’ content, defined as 10+ times over 30 days, will not be recommended via Explore or Reels tabs.
Navigating these changes may mean altering UGC or repurposing it with the creator’s permission. Or you might forgo recommendations and instead share posts to stories or save them to highlights, thus ensuring UGC lives on your page and not in the grid.
Small businesses looking to grow on Instagram will likely have more success with local influencers, as opposed to mid-tier or macro-influencers. These partnerships allow for better communication and stronger relationships, so you can generate meaningful user content and get it out to your target audience.
Other 2024 trends include the rise of visual content (e.g., fun videos, enticing photos) and the blurring of lines between influencers and users. New AI tools also provide creative prompts for users, filter out inauthentic content, identify and tag the most engaging posts, and personalize UGC based on the user’s interests and preferences.
These shifts spell new opportunities for brands that want to form lasting bonds with their communities.
5 inspiring UGC campaigns
At Hummingbirds, we’re experts at connecting local influencers with local brands, so we know all the ins and outs of high-quality, meaningful UGC. Here’s a look at our most inspiring examples of user-generated content and why each campaign made a splash with its target demographics.
1. Earth + Home Decor
Earth + Home Decor, a retail store in Lincoln, Nebraska, sells fine home decor and live plants. To build brand awareness, the company offered local influencers a small gift card, candle, and mini-magnets as incentives for UGC.
These influencers had already built followings based on their tasteful interior designs, and their modest shopping sprees were an immediate hit with their audiences.
The campaign led to positive remarks on the selection and setup of the store. As one social media follower put it, “Looks like the perfect place to get all of your holiday shopping done.”
2. Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce
Lola’s Fine Hot Sauce started off selling at farmer’s markets in Des Moines and quickly expanded all over the world. They launched their UGC campaign by offering foodies in midwestern markets a gift card for bloody mary mix and hot sauce.
The midwesterners genuinely fell in love with the products and found creative ways to showcase the brand. One poster highlighted her birthday party, where she posed with the hot sauce bottle prominently positioned in her hands, and a follower commented, “You’ve got all the components: chips, salsa, +the 🌶️!!”
Lola’s reported that their Hummingbirds collaboration tripled average weekly sales in their target markets. In some locations, they saw up to 16x growth! This short-term boost sustained itself by nearly 80% for three months after the campaign ended. In other words, Lola’s saw a significant return on investment, both in terms of brand loyalty and sales.
3. State Line Distillery
State Line Distillery sources local ingredients for its cocktails and spirits, and they invited local influencers to enjoy a free cocktail from their extensive list.
Not only were the influencers impressed by the variety of drinks and the distillery’s atmosphere, but they loved the connection to their roots. The grains and botanicals from nearby fields and gardens made for some delicious, high-quality cocktails.
In one artful post of a Rob Roy, the influencer reminisced about her grandfather’s favorite drink, paying a small but touching tribute to her family’s lineage.
This campaign worked because it spotlighted local talent and gave local audiences a new destination for craft cocktails.
4. MidAmerican Energy
MidAmerican Energy provides affordable renewable energy across four states. To spread energy-conservation awareness, the company gave local influencers a thermostat system, energy-efficient products, an energy-savings toolkit, and a small energy rebate.
In exchange, users demonstrated how they made changes to reduce their energy use. By posting how they set up their smart thermostats and where they cut energy without sacrificing comfort and convenience, they inspired followers to change their own setups.
This campaign worked because it focused on cost-cutting measures for everyday residents. As one commenter said, it was the “perfect update for the hot summer months.”
5. Ted Lare Designs
Ted Lare Designs is a landscaping company that hosts seasonal events to showcase its products. Over the holidays, they invited local influencers to participate in one of six workshops, including a winter-themed wonderland where they created colorful display wreaths.
This campaign worked because Ted Lare Designs was already deeply entrenched in the community. The partnership was an organic addition that simply highlighted and reinforced its event marketing. The posts inspired comments like, “This makes me wish I was there too!”
How to start and run a UGC campaign
Running a UGC campaign takes more than a clever hashtag and a fun giveaway. Here’s how to get one up and running the right way, so you don’t waste time, money, or energy.
Assess your resources and set SMART goals
UGC campaigns are cost-effective marketing strategies, but they take some effort to set up. You’ll need to either cultivate relationships with users, which you may not have time to do, or find an affordable shortcut.
As you map out your strategy, ensure your goals are SMART:
Specific: Clearly state what you hope to accomplish and the steps you’ll take to get there.
Measurable: Identify benchmarks and milestones you can use to track your progress.
Achievable: Create realistic goals based on your current user base and market position.
Relevant: Identify a long-term reason (e.g., brand awareness, conversions) for implementing a short-term UGC.
Time-bound: Set up clear end dates so your users can plan ahead.
You can adapt SMART goals to fit the needs of the campaign. For example, you might measure campaign results for six months after its end date to see the long-term results. But you can also measure early results to help you adjust campaigns in real time.
Determine which platform will reach your audience
Instagram and TikTok are the best social media channels for UGC campaigns because they focus so heavily on visual content. Users can add trendy effects, personalize their posts, and get creative with their approach — much more so than with text-focused platforms like X and Facebook.
Both TikTok and Instagram’s core demographic skew young (18 to 24 years old), but Instagram generally appeals to a wider audience than TikTok. In addition, Instagram offers diverse content options, while TikTok is limited to just short videos. Instagram also focuses on visual storytelling, whereas TikTok prioritizes viral content and trendsetting.
Plan your UGC campaign
Once you’ve set your goals, consider what kind of content works best for your brand and how creative local influencers might promote different facets of your products or services.
For example, will potential customers need a video of your product in use, or will a photo and caption suffice? Should UGC creators share your brand story or just use the campaign hashtag?
Answering questions like these will help you curate a solid approach, find the right local influencers, and keep your campaign cohesive.
Find partners
You can locate partners by organically researching and building relationships or by using specialized software to automate and accelerate your UGC efforts. You can also work with a dedicated UGC platform like Hummingbirds that connects you with the best local influencers for your brand.
There are all different types of influencers you can choose from, so you’ll need to determine which one best fits your brand size and campaign goals.
However, you should be aware that UGC from mega- and macro-influencers is quite different from UGC created by smaller or niche influencers. It’s generally less authentic — and also much, much more expensive! Here are the tiers most commonly seen on Instagram:
Mega (1,000,000+): Usually reserved for the biggest brands in the world, mega-influencers are excellent for companies with huge global followings.
Macro (500,000 to 1,000,000): Macro-influencers usually have a country-specific concentration (e.g., 90% of their followers are in the U.S.). They’re a good match for well-known brands fleshing out their social media marketing strategies.
Mid-tier (50,000 to 500,000): Mid-tier influencers usually specialize in a single subject, such as how to infuse productivity into your day. Whether through Tweets or Facebook posts, they build trust with audiences on a daily basis. They’re typically most effective for national brands that perfectly align with the influencer’s specialty.
Micro (10,000 to 50,000): Micro-influencers often yield some of the most stunning campaign returns. Their branded content is relatively affordable and their audiences put a lot of stock in the influencer’s opinions and social media posts. Micro-influencers pair well with smaller brands that want to appeal to multiple cities or regions.
Nano (1,000 to 10,000): Nano-influencers create content because they want to, not because it’s their job. They usually focus on one (often niche) subject and build trusted relationships based on real customer reviews.
Local influencers (500 to 5,000): Local influencers have small but mighty followers in their area, drawing on the quirks, talents, and destinations found in their audience’s backyards. They typically post about local events and locations, and they may or may not be compensated for their posts. They’re versatile enough to partner with small businesses and larger corporations alike.
Follow best practices
No matter who you partner with, it’s important to establish good relationships with your content creators. If you want authentic content, you can’t micromanage what they say or how they feature your product.
It’s also important to take your content creator’s suggestions seriously. Local influencers, in particular, have ample knowledge of what community members want, so their feedback can really help a brand thrive in turbulent markets.
Finally, take a minute and appreciate what content creators do. Instead of hiring professional photographers, videographers, or writers, influencers leverage their equipment, creativity, and voice to capture your brand at its best.
Find local content creators and launch your UGC campaign
User-generated content campaigns hinge on quality and authenticity, so you need to find influencers who align with your brand and won’t cut corners. If you’re targeting a specific geographic area, you should look for local and regional influencers with strong followings — 500 devoted followers can turn more profits than 10,000 ambivalent followers.
If you could use a little help connecting with the right people or getting your campaigns up and running, give Hummingbirds a try. We’ll match your brand with local content creators in your niche, so you can make the most of your UGC campaign.
Ready to see how UGC can spark interest and trust in your brand? Book a call with us today.