What is user-generated content?
User-generated content is content created about your brand by others, typically your customers, sharing their authentic experience with your brand. UGC can be images, videos, text reviews, and can vary in style and aesthetic.
Some UGC content examples you might come across:
Product Reviews: Reviews come straight from customers and are shared on social media or in review platforms. They describe their experience with the brand and often include what they liked or disliked about it.
Photos: Captured by users, these photos show your product in their everyday lives.
Videos: Created by customers, these videos can include more context and depth about their experience with your brand.
Blogs: Longer-form content format that goes into detail about a brand.
Podcasts: Audio reviews (sometimes with video) that offer in-depth insights about a brand and a user’s experience.
Tutorials: How-to guides and instructional content that naturally incorporate a brand into a larger post.
High-quality UGC is created with intention and authenticity, focusing on experiences. Consumers prefer to see products or brands in action through "get ready with me" videos or grocery hauls, rather than perfectly curated shots.
Pros & cons of UGC
Pros:
Authenticity: Sharing your genuine experiences with a brand creates more authentic content than following a scripted message.
True Influence: Brand affinity grows when consumers see your brand seamlessly integrated into the lives of friends or creators they trust.
Cost-Effective: Genuine UGC is free. Many brands also partner with UGC creators or engage in influencer marketing to produce content.
Audience Engagement: UGC allows your brand to be discovered by individuals who don't follow your account.
Cons:
Potential for Misrepresentation: When users create their own content about your brand, they might get key details wrong or share something negative.
Content Monitoring: It's crucial to keep track of how your brand is being mentioned, whether positively or negatively.
Lack of Brand Control: If your brand adheres to strict aesthetic guidelines, UGC might not fit well with your content.
3 Examples of compelling UGC campaigns
MingsBings
MingsBings transforms classic comfort food with a delicious variety of flavors encased in a brown rice wrapper that's free from gluten, nuts, sesame, and shellfish. To attract new customers, MingsBings collaborated with influencers and content creators to generate genuine, authentic content that seamlessly integrates their product into everyday life.
Mix Creative Community
Mix Creative Community is a welcoming and collaborative environment where creatives, entrepreneurs, and makers can thrive. They launched an engaging UGC campaign by inviting Hummingbirds to explore the space and share their experiences with their entire network. By giving a choice of experiences, Mix successfully appealed to a diverse group of people and demonstrated a wide range of use cases for their space.
Thelma’s Treats
Thelma’s Treats is a national brand selling handmade ice cream sandwiches inspired by Grandma Thelma’s recipes. Originally founded in Des Moines, Iowa, Thelma’s incorporated working with Hummingbirds to create UGC into her expansion strategy for each new retailer they entered. Launching a surge of UGC in a new city allowed Thelma’s to rapidly saturate the market and build brand awareness.
What is brand generated content?
Brand-generated content is content created directly by your brand and team. This content is intended to provide value to your audience, whether by sharing more about your offers or providing educational information.
Examples of brand-generated content include:
Product content: Photos and videos that directly depict, explain, or showcase your product or service.
Testimonials and reviews: Compiling use cases and success stories directly from customers.
Educational pieces: Content that teaches your audience something related to your product or industry.
Entertainment: Photos, videos, and graphics that incorporate your brand into a larger cultural moment or trend.
Tutorials: Content that offers step-by-step guidance on how to use your product or service.
Pros & cons of branded content
Pros:
Retain Control: When you create your own content, you control the message and ensure it aligns with your target audience.
Strategic Alignment: You can ensure that your content matches your overall strategy and campaign goals.
Unlimited Content: The only limit is your team’s capacity and resources.
Cons:
Lack of Trust: Consumers tend to trust recommendations from people they personally know over a brand.
Limited Reach: Branded content is restricted to your own audience and followers.
Costs: Producing branded content can be expensive.
Lower Engagement: Branded content often has lower “thumb-stop” ratios indicating content was less engaging.
3 Examples of brands creating their own great content
Duolingo
Duolingo is ubiquitous on social media for jumping on trends, prioritizing entertainment over pitches or product placements, and incorporating their lovable mascot, Duo, whenever possible.
Red Bull
Red Bull is renowned for its holistic approach to brand building. Instead of merely promoting their energy drinks, they engage in sponsorships, events, collaborations, and conversations that promote an adventurous lifestyle where their product naturally fits in.
OLIPOP
OLIPOP is a healthier soda alternative on a meteoric rise. Their content strategy isn’t one note. While UGC is a significant part of their marketing, their branded content is equally robust with innovative collaborations and trend-jumping.
User-Generated Vs. Brand Generated: When to use each content type
Incorporating UGC into your content strategy
Brands that benefit most from UGC are those with products or services that can be effectively showcased through photos or videos. Attractions, local restaurants and retail shops, beauty services, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands are particularly well-suited for UGC content.
Incorporating UGC into your marketing strategy can be as simple as asking your current customers to create content about their experiences with your brand. This is where partnering with a platform like Hummingbirds can be beneficial, as it sources hyperlocal creators and influencers who are already interested in collaborating with you.
Creating your own branded content
It’s crucial to share your brand's story, vision, and products to help consumers get to know you better. Brands with a clear mission or value proposition that can be effectively communicated through content and storytelling are ideal for brand-generated content.
Why the best content strategies use both types of content
The best chances of winning over your brand’s audience rely on using both brand-generated content and UGC because both are necessary for building brand trust and affinity. UGC is key to bringing in new audiences and building trust, while branded content ensures they stay and continue to move through the purchasing funnel.
Find a partner that supports your content strategy
Hummingbirds is a platform with expertise in UGC. We’ve created thousands of pieces of content from real people for brands such as OLIPOP, Goodles, Vacation Inc., and Destination Madison.
If you’re ready to explore offloading UGC to a trusted partner, book a call with us today.