UGC Marketing Will Boost Your Brand, No Matter Who You Are

Picture This

You’re a large, multinational company that has already “made it.” You’re an industry name — maybe even a household name — and don’t necessarily need to get the word out there. You sell your product to stores and carriers across the globe and have a legion of dedicated customers. As of right now, your visual marketing strategy is pretty rigid, but sales are plateauing or continuously going down. You’re not doing anything out of the ordinary, so how could that be?

Or That

You’re a smaller company or brand, maybe even a startup, and business has been solid — enough to stay afloat. You’ve almost made it.

You’re getting to the place where you can create a solid visual marketing strategy to get your name out there and grab more customers. But there’s a huge problem: over time, dedicated photographers and graphic designers cost a pretty penny. And as a small company, you need to figure out how can you fit visual marketing into your budget without starving your wallet and cutting workers. Undermining your progress is not an option.

Whether you’re in the first or the second scenario, UGC marketing with photos and videos changes the way people think about and interact with your brand. It’s a foolproof way to see success across the board.

UGC Marketing Increases Trust

And there are plenty of stats proving this.

According to a survey by Crowdtap and Ipsos, UGC is effective simply because it’s trusted. 50% more trusted, in fact.

The reasons why are clear. If you were checking out reviews of a product, which would you trust more: one from the brand itself or one from an everyday consumer?

It seems that the latter is more effective. According to a Forrester study, 70% of US consumers trust brand and product recommendations from their friends and family, and 49% consider reviews from other consumers to be trustworthy. A mere 10% of respondents trust ads on websites, and only 9% trust “text messages from companies or brands.”

These results should definitely change the way we approach content marketing. By adopting UGC marketing in place of traditional stock photos or visuals, you’ll show customers that people just like them use, recognize and trust your brand. That’s essential.

UGC Marketing Aids Sales

For a fraction of what they’d pay for stock photos, companies such as Polaroid and Chobani get UGC that works. User-generated content, that is.

Instead of hiring professional photographers, both companies turned to your average person to find brand-specific UGC. They then enjoyed 180% sales increase and 225.9% revenue increase, respectively. That’s not something to brush off.

As the wise marketers at Polaroid and Chobani show us, adding UGC marketing to your content strategy changes the way people view your brand — as one that values the wellbeing of customers and honesty at its core. You’ll increase engagement and sales because people know you’re listening intently.

Every engagement solidifies a customer’s relationship with your brand or company.

It’s now easier than ever to follow their lead with Scopio’s image-licensing platform. Tell us the hashtags and keywords that matter to you and your audience. We’ll dive into Twitter and Instagram, filter out the spam and junk, and gather the best of the best content for you. There’s absolutely no endless searching involved, and you can filter results based on date, location, type of media and source.

License any of these authentic photos and videos with just a few clicks, directly from your dashboard.

UGC Marketing is Something Memorable

As it turns out, UGC isn’t just trustworthy — it’s also 35% more memorable than traditional media.

It’s the age-old concept of the ad jingle. There’s a reason why so many of us can recite the Meow Mix song or Folgers’ “The Best Part of Waking Up” by heart, even if we don’t buy those specific brands when we hit the grocery store.

To really stick in people’s minds, all you need to do is create something unique that an audience latches on to. All of that is possible with UGC marketing in the form of photos and videos.

Ordinary people are more memorable than paid models — they’re enjoying themselves and showing true emotion wherever they are. Scopio has a wealth of these photos and videos ready for you to license or use.

UGC Marketing Helps You Give Back

With the exception of UGC content used by nonprofits, Scopio treats ordinary social media users like freelancers and pay them each use of their photo or video. We also close the loop and let them know where their creation ended up, whether it be on your company’s blog or one of your social media feeds. They’ll use their social influence to inspire friends, family and followers to do the same, so you’ll get even more people creating content.

Scopio helps you do more than take advantage of branded content or relevant UGC. You also ensure that dedicated content creators are paid fairly and competitively for their work.

You’re not just selling a product this time, but an experience where customers can be involved.

Scopio is the industry’s premier search and licensing platform for images and videos on social media. We help companies find and use the photos and videos that matter to their audience, from capturing content to evaluating the analytics on campaigns. Wondering how you can leverage UGC to help you tout your brand? Request a demo with the button below or email [email protected]. Featured image by capturlife_artist/Instagram.

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