In today’s day and age, getting your customers to preach about your brand is more important than ever. For that reason, user-generated content (UGC) is becoming a valuable marketing tool for many B2B and B2C companies alike. But what makes this form of content so useful? To start, it’s a form of free advertising, and who doesn’t like to save a buck or two? But, more importantly, user-generated content promotes engagement and trust among your consumers.
Need more proof that it works? According to research, customers see user-generated content as 35% more memorable than other forms of content, and they are 50% more likely to trust content created by their peers than other marketing tactics. User-generated content is also becoming a convenient resource for customers at the bottom of the funnel, with 93% of customers referring to this type of content when making their decision to buy.
User-generated content can have a larger impact and inspire more engagement than other traditional forms of content and advertising. And with consumers being twice as likely to share this type of content with their peers, it also has the potential to have a widespread impact.
Of course, as with any other content, it is only effective if it gets seen and shared. That’s where you as a marketer come in. Here are a four useful tips on how B2B players can leverage user-generated content to attract more leads.
1. Feature your best brand ambassadors
When it comes to gathering and promoting user-generated content, it’s always a good idea to seek out the best of the best. A good way to go about this is to identify customers who you’ve seen have significant success with your service or product. Invite them to sit down for an interview, submit a review or record a video discussing what they love about your company. After you’ve collected this user-generated content, take bits and pieces from these to use in graphics, webinars, podcasts or videos.
To make sure your prospects see this content, consider having a dedicated page on your website where people can easily find it. You can also collect and showcase some of this content on social media. For example, you can make a playlist featuring customer video reviews on YouTube. This will not only help you attract more leads, it can also serve as a useful resource when it comes down to them making a decision to purchase or convert.
2. Promote engagement with a dedicated hashtag
Your customers are probably already talking about your products or services, but chances are their content and opinions are scattered all over the internet. In this case, a dedicated hashtag might be just what you need to consolidate their content all in one place and get them to speak your language.
Promote this hashtag on your website and use it on your own social media so your customers learn to recognize and adopt it. Create a contest to encourage your customers to share the hashtag and give them an incentive to create new content, whether it’s a review, image, etc., discussing what they love about your company. All this motivates consumers to purchase, share your brand with their friends and peers, and give the company content which it can leverage to attract new leads and start the purchasing/sharing cycle all over again.
Before you share, make sure you have your customer’s permission. Also think about creating terms of use guidelines so your customers know from the getgo that using the hashtag gives you permission to reuse and promote their content.
3. Run automated campaigns promoting UGC
Now that you have all this extra content you can use, why not run a social media campaign featuring your customers using your products, giving rave reviews and/or simply showing your brand support? To make this process easy, you can collect assets that have already received a positive response and feature them in an automated social media campaign to get even more engagement.
But there’s no reason why user-generated content only has to live in the realm of social media. You can compile a few photos, reviews, etc. and repurpose them in an automated email nurture campaign. User-generated content can be useful at every stage of the buyer’s journey, so think about what kind of graphics or videos can help your prospects in their decision-making process.
If you need assistance determining what type of content will be the most appealing, refer to your customer personas. This will enable you to gain a better idea of your customer’s pain points and the type of information they will need as they move through the sales funnel.
4. Place content throughout your site
Speaking of the buyer journey, one of the main places that prospective customers will look for information on your product is your website. That makes it the perfect place for you to share some of the user-generated content that you’ve gathered. You can feature customer examples and quotes in your product or service pages to show the value of your products and features. That way, your prospects will have access to the trusted opinions of their peers as they’re navigating their way through the purchase decision-making process.
There’s no denying your customers are sometimes your best brand ambassadors. That is why user-generated content can help you attract and convert more leads into customers.
We’d love to hear how you’re brand is gathering and taking advantage of user-generated content to get results. Feel free to share some examples in the comments down below.