In the internet age, attention spans are short and new content is a constant, meaning that it’s easier than ever to get lost in the mix. Fortunately, we can use this to our advantage, harnessing authentic user-generated visuals to increase brand engagement. Hone in on this by using Scopio’s visual marketing platform to publish UGC galleries and portals. You might just do the seemingly impossible: Create a better brand image and keep all eyes on you.
Thinking about a visual marketing upgrade? You’re definitely in the right mindset. Even for “stuffier” sectors — think real estate, investing or many B2B companies — stock photography is losing its luster. But if companies aren’t using stock photography from a website or in-house visuals, what could they possibly use? The answer is simple: They’re capitalizing on UGC.
To say that today’s visual landscape is changing is an understatement. It’s transforming. Recent research from Mavrck shows that ads stocked with UGC are 6.9 times more engagicong than those featuring brand-produced content. If you don’t believe your eyes, just give the research a read.
This engagement doesn’t stop at online ads. By featuring UGC in your visual marketing strategy, you can “transform your social media marketing efforts into a revenue-generating machine,” they add. And it’s all because fans are central to the conversation.
For guidance, let’s take a look at everyone’s favorite Vermonters: Ben & Jerry’s. These ice-cream moguls aren’t newbies when it comes to resharing earned content. If someone posts a photo or video about your brand, they figure, why end the conversation there? To expand on this opportunity, Ben & Jerry’s shares customer photos with their social media following, which is 712,000 strong on Instagram alone.
It’s a brilliant way to spark conversations, increase brand loyalty and show customers that they matter.
However, reposting photos or videos on your own social media feeds isn’t the only way to reap the advantages of UGC. Scopio’s image search engine and visual marketing platform takes it further, offering two more dynamic ways to publish better photos and videos. Your fans will thank you.
1. Give ‘Em Something Scrollable
What’s one of the most primitive reasons for Pinterest’s rapid rise to fame?
If you said scrolling, you’re right — and very intuitive. People love to see endless feeds of relatable content, whether that’s a brownie recipe from a local food blogger, travel tips for a faraway destination or silver-tongued ads tailored to a user’s unique interests. Infinite scrolling satisfies our need for instant gratification and limits the frustrating problem of endless loading.
According to Psychology Today’s Nir Eyal, our brains can’t get enough of these inexhaustible feeds, even calling infinite scrolling the “web’s slot machine.”
“Our brains move known causal patterns to long-term storage so that our attention can be devoted to learning new things,” Nir writes. “And nothing holds our attention better than the unknown. The things that captivate, engross, and entertain us, all have an element of surprise.”
Here’s a layperson’s explanation: Since we receive dopamine from this suspenseful scrolling, we’ll never get tired of predicting what’s next. You don’t need to have a Master’s degree in psychology, though, to implement this idea into your website’s design. Just embed a simple UGC gallery like the one below to see visitors spend up to 90% more time on your site.
As the internet’s best place for user-generated content, Scopio’s visual marketing platform sifts out junk from Twitter and Instagram to bring you a relevant feed of content. Just create a gallery on the topic of your choosing, hand-select some great posts, choose your favorite layout and get a custom HTML code to embed on your site. The entire process will take you less than 10 minutes, but you’ll get hours of user engagement.
The best part? No permissions are required from photographers, as the gallery posts link back to them. A visual marketing platform that lets you curate galleries is definitely the way to go.
2. Be an Organizational Pro with Custom Portals
Another brilliant way to leverage the power of UGC is as simple as an embedded portal. With a portal, you can embolden customers, target audiences and even well-known influencers to share photos and videos with you directly. No endless social searching, no negotiating, no hassle.
Whether it’s for a contest or to find great posts for a weekly feature, Scopio makes it easy for you to scope out great images and videos posted on social media. Each portal comes equipped with Scopio’s custom licensing agreement, but you can tack on your own exclusive licensing agreement as well. And just like a Scopio gallery, the submission portal is embedded as an HTML code. All influencers have to do is upload their work on your portal, and it’s in your content library immediately.
If you’re feeling fancy, ask us for a custom portal design as well. Because why shouldn’t it fit your vision and goals to a T?
Every photo that comes through your submission portal will show up in a custom Scopio campaign where you can approve or deny entries. And if you’ve found an incredible photo or video, just download and use it for your marketing efforts. Don’t be afraid to add a quote, filter or alter the photo as well. Scopio’s licensing agreement allows for creative repurposing to your heart’s content, so get wild — or minimalistic. It’s all up to you.
Scopio — or the internet’s best place for UGC — is the industry’s premier visual marketing platform. We help brands, nonprofits, companies and media outlets find and use the photos and videos that boost their visual marketing, from capturing content to evaluating the analytics on campaigns. Wondering how you can leverage UGC to increase engagement? Request a free demo with the button below or email [email protected]. Featured photo by Daimara Mantulenko.
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