Why do brands rely on user-generated content?

The answer is simple. User-generated content serves their needs for a few major reasons. For one thing, the main consumer side of social media consists of Instagram followers, Snapchat followers, Facebook likes, and Twitter retweets. There are tons of people sharing their personal experiences with a brand on social media with or without incentive to do so. Creators producing natural and authentic content about products fill our feeds. This achieves the goal of brands wanting UGC for their channels, as they repost, reshare or pay to run it as an ad. 

On top of that, its cheap and easy to produce UGC for brands compared to print, radio or TV ads. Creators still need to charge for it – the point is it costs brands less than traditional content. It has become a norm in the digital age to rely on someone else’s creation rather than spending thousands of dollars on creating the same quality via an agency. Finally, user-generated content stands out. When brands attempt to make their content with professional videography teams, or stock images and their own “salesy” copy, it usually falls flat. UGC is relatable and eye-catching and doesn’t feel like an “ad” meaning it is likely to hit with today’s typical ad-blind social media scroller.

Social Posts:

A Social Post is a post that is meant to be shared on social media. This is in the form of a photo, a meme, text or even a video. The goal of a social post is to share content with an audience of the poster. Of course, brands who pay for social posts ideally want it to go viral so their product gets as many likes, comments, and shares as possible. The end result they want is conversions whether it be awareness, sales or signups. Many content creators work with brands for awareness campaigns, where they aren’t directly selling anything. Others offer brands the promise of likely sales as they often entice their audience to purchase. The reason why user-generated content works so well is because people are more willing to share content that is authentic and that they are interested in.

User-generated Content/UGC:

User-generated content (UGC) describes content users create and distribute via social media. In all reality, user-generated content is just content platform users post. Every post on Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, or Instagram (by any non-owner user) is UGC. User-generated content is a person posting a picture, video, or piece of text on their own social media page, which is owned by the platform. Brands use UGC to get content for their channels that is relatable and natural. It works so well because it is authentic and feels less curated. This is undeniably the preference of many social media users. People like to see content that they can relate to, and most don’t like ads or content that feels like an ad. For brands, being able to post “real life” content that people are interested in will guarantee a successful post.

Long-term Campaigns:

Long-term campaigns are long and drawn out. They take weeks or months to create and execute. These are meant to generate buzz for the launch of a product or just to raise awareness in an ongoing way. However, with the rise of social media, many brands now skip traditional marketing methods and rely on UGC or social posts for these instead. Long-term campaigns that utilize user-generated content work! This is because people want to see authentic things from real people on social media – NOT ads.

Make it work for you!

As you can see, being a creator, there are endless ways to make all three of these work for your business. From a focus on working with brands as a UGC creator like @itsjackiaranae to offering more niche tool & product photography/videography like @juanguzmanphotography. You can also combine your offerings to offer UGC, social posts and more to brands! 

It goes beyond the services listed above as well! You can offer niche services that help brands and creators while maintaining your own content creation, like @pickingdaisiesblog. Speaking of Mariah, if you want one-on-one coaching, brand marketing, or “done for you” social media services, reach out to her! Mariah & the team at @pickingdaisiesmedia are amazing, we know from experience! Make sure to use our referral code “Jennifer” to save on your monthly services.

You can do it!

The point is, you don’t have to be limited to how you work with brands. There are many ways to make money with your creative talent! If you’re a seasoned creator and feel you can add value to others, there are even more ways! For example, bundle your knowledge into a digital product with courses, training packages, or ebooks and sell them. There are plenty of creators looking for this! If that’s not exactly what you’re into, but you like making bite-sized content, you’re in luck too.

You can write blog posts (like this one), social media posts, Youtube videos or Pinterest pins. Within those, you can link to products or services that pay you a commission. These are unique as they share a portion of the profit with you, without charging the end user more. It’s a win-win to create content and help others all around. The trick is to find the way to do it that works best for you!