Generated Content Marketing: The New Trend that all Brands Need
A business & brand alignment specialist, Deeptanshu has over 13 years of experience in brand management, marketing analytics business consulting, and investment banking.Today in the world of internet, brands can create massive disruption and make its impression in the minds of the audience in no time through videos, posts, stories, articles and many other ways, but on the other hand, brands are posed with the challenge of producing content that lives up to the expectation of the consumers, owing to their lack of understanding of User Generated Content(UGC). The trouble of not being able to understand the expectations of the consumers is the biggest growing challenge in today’s time and marketers have still not been able to identify the answer to it.
Well if you want to understand what these tech-loving customers prefer then you must know about the content that they go through and that is the key solution. User generated content is what brands need to put in their strategy to match the consumers’ expectations. For the ones still clueless about what this UGC is, here is the answer. UGC - To put it in simple terms I can say that you make your customers the advocates of your product, it is that simple!
User-generated content marketing is defined as any type of content that has been created and put-out there by unpaid contributors or, using a better term, fans. It can refer to pictures, videos, testimonials, tweets, blog posts, and everything in between and is the act of users promoting a brand rather than the brand promoting itself.
Well if you see the trend right from 2008 onwards, many brands adopted the idea, i.e., word-of-mouth, of their fans or customers promoting their business because word-of-mouth referrals are the best kind of referrals, especially in the digital age. Stories are made around contests and surveys where the customers are asked to state the reasons why they like the products. You see, social media users aged between 18 and 24 years with highly impressionable minds base their purchasing decision on the visually engaging social media content. It is apparent why user generated content marketing is so powerful.
"The beauty of UGC marketing is that the users run the show, while marketers don’t have to empty their pockets on campaigns that may or may not perform well"
Why UGC marketing is so successful? Why it is the new trend that brand needs?
•UGC Marketing Puts Customers Right at the Front & Centre: Customer-orientated businesses are on the rise, as companies constantly have to keep-up with the fast changing trends of their audiences. In this fast-paced, digitally run world, attention deficiency is not a disorder, but an outcome of content overwhelm. If brands aren’t catering solely to their customers, their customers will simply find another brand that is ready to serve their needs. Online users have become increasingly aware about which brands are using marketing gimmicks, and which ones are being authentic in their dialogues.
•People Don’t Trust Marketers:The youth today is no longer impressed with hard-pushed marketing techniques, instead, they crave stories, connection, and interaction with other humans (a by product, perhaps, of the increasing amount of time we spend in front of a computer screen). In reality, we have beenbuying into UGC marketing content for centuries, but there are now media platforms to make it more accessible across the globe. Recently, I read that more than 90 percent of people trust a recommended product from other person over branded content. It is clear to see how far the trust between people and marketers has stretched.
•It’s Authentic:Customers are no longer the passive consumers led by TV commercials and billboards. Instead, they are active choosers of their own fate and want a say in where they do or don’t buy from. But how do they choose who to buy from? They opt for brands that have the same values as them, brands that they can connect with on a human level, and brands that ‘get them’.
•It is Cost Effective: UGC is all about the users creating content. They are unpaid and do it for a number of reasons, whether it is to share their experience, build a connection with like-minded people, or to be in with a chance of winning something. This, obviously, is considerably cheaper than forking-out thousands – or even millions – for prime-time TV commercials and Times Square billboards. The beauty of UGC marketing is that the users run the show, while marketers don’t have to empty their pockets on campaigns that may or may not perform well.
UGC Marketing vs.Traditional Marketing
Consumers are considerably less docile than they used to be when it comes to advertising. They are now more active in the decisions they make, who they listen to, and who they choose to buy from and engage with. These days, buying traditional ads both on external media and online is a competitive game (and, even if you pull out the big bucks, you still might not catch the attention of your customers).
In such a fast-paced, constantly-changing online landscape, content marketing needs to be quick and on-trend. Instead of spending months and millions coming-up with an advertising campaign that might be out-of-date by the time it finally airs,UGCmarketing allows brands to control the game and stay current with their customers. Brands can constantly be in touch with their audience, which means they stay at the forefront of minds. The power of UGC is easy to see, and there is no doubt that we’ll be seeing much, much more of it in the coming years, as brands tap into the power of their audiences and take a step back from the traditional not-so-effective mediums.
Why UGC marketing is so successful? Why it is the new trend that brand needs?
•UGC Marketing Puts Customers Right at the Front & Centre: Customer-orientated businesses are on the rise, as companies constantly have to keep-up with the fast changing trends of their audiences. In this fast-paced, digitally run world, attention deficiency is not a disorder, but an outcome of content overwhelm. If brands aren’t catering solely to their customers, their customers will simply find another brand that is ready to serve their needs. Online users have become increasingly aware about which brands are using marketing gimmicks, and which ones are being authentic in their dialogues.
•People Don’t Trust Marketers:The youth today is no longer impressed with hard-pushed marketing techniques, instead, they crave stories, connection, and interaction with other humans (a by product, perhaps, of the increasing amount of time we spend in front of a computer screen). In reality, we have beenbuying into UGC marketing content for centuries, but there are now media platforms to make it more accessible across the globe. Recently, I read that more than 90 percent of people trust a recommended product from other person over branded content. It is clear to see how far the trust between people and marketers has stretched.
•It’s Authentic:Customers are no longer the passive consumers led by TV commercials and billboards. Instead, they are active choosers of their own fate and want a say in where they do or don’t buy from. But how do they choose who to buy from? They opt for brands that have the same values as them, brands that they can connect with on a human level, and brands that ‘get them’.
•It is Cost Effective: UGC is all about the users creating content. They are unpaid and do it for a number of reasons, whether it is to share their experience, build a connection with like-minded people, or to be in with a chance of winning something. This, obviously, is considerably cheaper than forking-out thousands – or even millions – for prime-time TV commercials and Times Square billboards. The beauty of UGC marketing is that the users run the show, while marketers don’t have to empty their pockets on campaigns that may or may not perform well.
UGC Marketing vs.Traditional Marketing
Consumers are considerably less docile than they used to be when it comes to advertising. They are now more active in the decisions they make, who they listen to, and who they choose to buy from and engage with. These days, buying traditional ads both on external media and online is a competitive game (and, even if you pull out the big bucks, you still might not catch the attention of your customers).
In such a fast-paced, constantly-changing online landscape, content marketing needs to be quick and on-trend. Instead of spending months and millions coming-up with an advertising campaign that might be out-of-date by the time it finally airs,UGCmarketing allows brands to control the game and stay current with their customers. Brands can constantly be in touch with their audience, which means they stay at the forefront of minds. The power of UGC is easy to see, and there is no doubt that we’ll be seeing much, much more of it in the coming years, as brands tap into the power of their audiences and take a step back from the traditional not-so-effective mediums.
