TikTok’s rise to the top of the world’s most successful social media platforms has been monumental, with its user-generated content at the heart of its success.
The platform encourages users to create and share their videos, creating an engaging and interactive community. Brands, influencers, and regular people are leveraging the benefits of user-generated content to increase brand awareness, build trust, and foster connections with their audiences. This article explores 17 key benefits of UGC and why it has become a powerful marketing tool for businesses and individuals alike.
Table of Contents
What is UGC?
User-generated content (UGC) is any content; like photos, videos, reviews, comments, or anything else created by users, rather than by a company or brand itself. Typically it’s voluntarily shared on social media platforms like Facebook & TikTok.
Examples of user content can include customer reviews of products, social media posts featuring a brand’s products or services, or user-created videos showcasing a brand or its offerings. This type of content is often seen as a valuable marketing tool because it is perceived as more authentic and trustworthy than content created by the brand itself. It also allows brands to engage with their audience in a more personal and interactive way and can help create a sense of community around the brand.
What are the key differences between UGC creators and influencers?
Influencers (vs UGC creators)
Influencers in marketing campaigns have become increasingly popular in recent years as businesses realise the potential to reach and engage with their target audience. However, while traditional influencers are still popular, a growing trend is the use of User Generated Content (UGC).
Traditional influencers are typically professional content creators with a large following of loyal fans. As they are established content creators, they can produce high-quality content that is specifically tailored to their target audience. They also have an in-depth understanding of their audience and can utilise their knowledge to create content that resonates with their followers. Influencers have an authoritative presence in the industry, which can give them an edge in terms of credibility and trustworthiness.
UGC creators (vs influencers)
On the other hand, UGC involves amateur content creators who are not as well-known as traditional influencers. However, they can still be highly effective in marketing campaigns due to their authentic and organic approach as they often have a strong connection with their followers, which can be beneficial in building trust and loyalty. UGC creators produce high-quality content but don’t have the following influencers.
UGC campaigns tend to have a more viral reach and can reach a wider audience, while influencer campaigns are typically more focused and have a more limited reach. Another key difference is the cost: UGC is generally more cost-effective, as influencers charge for their services.
What are the benefits of user-created content?
1. Engages the Audience: Apart from being highly engaging, as it encourages users to create and share their content, it also creates a sense of community and encourages interaction between users.
2. Cost-Effective Marketing: User content can serve as an effective marketing tool, as it allows brands to create engaging content without investing heavily in production costs.
3. Wider Reach: UGC has a strong potential of going viral because of the sense of community and user high engagement, which means sharing the post with their friends and followers, talking about it and recommending it.
4. Brand Awareness: Apart from being high quality, TikTok promotes fun and engaging content, and UGC does exactly that: users promote and talk about products and services in a creative way which ultimately leads to increased brand awareness.
5. Builds Trust: User-generated content can help build trust between brands and consumers, as it allows for authentic interactions and feedback. As already mentioned, it’s seen as more authentic, as it is created by real people with real experiences and opinions- around 84% of users trust this content more than regular advertising.
6. Viral Potential: TikTok’s user-generated content has the potential to go viral, as it can be shared across the platform and even beyond and this viral potential is due to several factors:
7. Authenticity: UGC is often perceived as more authentic and genuine than content created by brands, which can make it more relatable and shareable.
8. Personal connections: It is created by individuals who have personal connections to their followers, making them more likely to be shared within their networks.
9. Emotional resonance: It evokes strong emotions, such as joy, humour, or empathy, and is more likely to be shared widely as people want to spread those emotions to their friends and followers.
10. Social proof: UGC that shows other people using and enjoying a product or service can act as social proof, making it more likely that others will want to try it out for themselves.
11. Algorithmic promotion: On social media platforms like TikTok, UGC that receives high levels of engagement (likes, comments, shares) is often promoted by the platform’s algorithm, which can help it reach a wider audience and increase its viral potential.
12. Diverse Content: People and their social media accounts are different and unique, which gives the possibility to have a wide range of topics and interests covered. Diversity is fun, engaging and never boring, and this is a recipe to get Gen Z hooked on.
13. Reaches Younger Audience:
TikTok’s user-generated content is especially popular among younger audiences, making it an effective way to reach this demographic.
User-generated content is a highly effective way to reach Gen Z on TikTok. Gen Z is the largest demographic on the platform, and they are highly engaged with content that they can easily relate to. What are the most effective ways to reach the younger audience on the most popular platform? As long as it is creative, engaging, and resonates with the values and interests of this demographic, you are on the right path:
-Through challenges and trends: Gen Z loves to participate in challenges and trends on TikTok, and brands can leverage this by creating their challenges and encouraging users to create UGC that is related to their products or services.
-By partnering with TikTok influencers: Many Gen Z users follow popular TikTok influencers, who can create and share UGC that promotes a brand’s products or services.
-By featuring UGC on brand accounts: Brands can showcase users mentioning their products or services on their TikTok accounts, which can help build a sense of community and engagement among their followers.
-By creating authentic, relatable content: Gen Z values authenticity and relatability, so brands that feel genuine and relevant to their audience are more likely to be successful in reaching and engaging with them.
14. Promotes Creativity: TikTok’s user-generated content promotes creativity and originality, as users are encouraged to create their unique content.
There are many ways to get creative on this platform, but here are some of the most successful ones:
-Through challenges and trends: TikTok challenges and trends are often started by users and are open to interpretation, allowing users to put their spin on them and showcase their creativity.
-By providing a platform for diverse voices: TikTok’s algorithm prioritises a variety of content, so users from all backgrounds and with different perspectives have the opportunity to be seen and appreciated.
-By breaking down barriers to entry: TikTok’s simple video editing tools make it easy for anyone to create and share content, regardless of their level of experience or access to expensive equipment.
-By inspiring collaboration: Collaboration between users, who create duets or react to each other’s videos, builds a sense of community and sparks new ideas.
-By rewarding creativity: TikTok’s algorithm rewards creativity and engagement, so users who create unique and engaging UGC are more likely to be featured on the “For You” page, where they can gain greater visibility and reach a wider audience.
15. Fosters Community: UGC fosters a sense of community and belonging, as users can connect with others who share similar interests.
16. SEO Benefits
Incorporating UGC into your overall content strategy can have a positive impact on your website’s visibility in search engine results pages.
Key benefits? Here are some of the few:
-Increases Website Traffic: When you encourage content like this, you are likely to receive more content from users, which can lead to an increase in the number of pages on your website. As a result, your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) may increase, leading to more organic traffic.
-Improves Social Signals: It can increase the engagement and social signals of your website, which can help improve its SEO. Social signals, such as likes, shares, and comments indicate to search engines that your content is valuable and engaging, resulting in improved search rankings.
-Provides Fresh and Relevant Content: Search engines prioritise websites that offer up-to-date and valuable information. When users contribute to your website, it provides a fresh perspective on your content, making it more valuable to search engines and users.
-Builds Backlinks: If other websites link to your UGC, it can lead to an increase in backlinks to your website, which can improve its authority and search rankings.
-Enhances User Engagement: When users engage with your content, such as by commenting or sharing, it signals to search engines that your website is valuable and relevant to users, which can improve your search rankings.
17. Gain Audience Insights and analyse engagement
User-generated content is a gold mine of data. Analysing the data from customer opinions, and feedback can give you valuable insights into what to improve or drop in your products and service.
Look at the engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares) of the content to see which types of content resonate with your audience. This can help you identify the topics, formats, and styles of content that are most likely to generate engagement from your audience.
-Use sentiment analysis: Analyse the sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) of UGC to gauge how your audience feels about your brand, products, or services. This can help you identify areas of improvement, as well as the things that your audience loves about your brand.
-Look for trends and patterns: For example, you may notice that your audience is more likely to engage with UGC that features real people or that uses a certain type of music or editing style.
-Use UGC to inform buyer personas: Gain insights into your audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviours. This can help you create more accurate and detailed buyer personas, which can inform your marketing and content strategies.
-Monitor UGC across platforms: Monitor the content across multiple social media platforms to get a more comprehensive view of your audience. By doing this, you can identify audience insights that may not be apparent from a single platform.
The benefits for brands, influencers, and individuals alike are numerous: by encouraging creativity, building trust, and fostering community, user-generated content on TikTok has become a powerful marketing tool and a source of entertainment and engagement for millions of users.
Examples of TikTok UGC
Duets
Duets are one of the most popular types of content on TikTok and other social media platforms, where users can duet any video by creating their version of the original. This can ultimately lead to viral trends and engage a large number of users.
Tutorials
Everyone has watched a how-to video at least once. They are catchy, interesting, and educational and provide you with a lot of information in a short amount of time. This type of format is especially used by beauty brands like ELF cosmetics, and L’Oreal but also food companies who provide recipes. This is the best way to show the product in use and convince users that it’s worth a try.
#danceAwesome challenge by Samsung Galaxy
The #danceAwesome campaign was launched by Samsung Galaxy to invite their followers to create dancing and singing videos to help promote the Samsung Galaxy A series. The track was made by the South Korean band, Blackpink and it engaged more than 5 million users in the campaign.
#MonclerBubbleUp by Moncler
This Italian high-end luxury fashion house collaborated with celebrity influencers like Bella Poarch, Charli D’Amelio and Abby Roberts to promote the brand. They recently challenged their younger audience on TikTok to wrap themselves in something puffy and bubbly and then transition into their similar winter coat. The #MonclerBubbleUp was very successful, with 7.7B views on TikTok.
The takeaway
As seen above, the benefits of TikTok’s user-generated content are numerous and have transformed the way brands, influencers, and individuals engage with their audiences. From building trust and authenticity to promoting creativity and community, user-generated content on TikTok has become a powerful marketing tool and a source of entertainment and engagement for millions of users. As the platform continues to grow and evolve, the role of this type of content will only become more important, providing valuable data and insights into what users are interested in and engaging with. This is not just a passing trend, but a valuable instrument for businesses of all sizes to engage with their audiences in a meaningful and authentic way.
