User-generated content: A marketer’s key to unlocking brand loyalty

User-generated content is the new era’s digital word-of-mouth that helps a brand create extended exposure and Engagement from the audience.

A combination of User-generated content and firm-generated content aids in growing brand engagement. This is vital for any company, no matter how big or small it is — the more engaged customers are, the more loyal they will become.

User-generated content and Social media

With social media evolution, People are consuming extreme amounts of rich, personalized, and quality content every day. These media platforms are an excellent vehicle for enabling two-way communication between the consumer to consumer (C2C) and also Business to consumers (B2C).

User-generated content and social media are a terrific combination. As these platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube make a significant difference in a brand’s awareness, identity, and Engagement with the people.

Social media also enables the unique user-to-user ecosystem, which is used for conversations, relationship building, entertainment & data sharing among the users. It is not influenced by corporate ideology.

Social media generally helps in providing a direction to the consumer towards the best possible alternatives. Consumers are 3 times more likely to view UGC over the Brand’s content over such platforms.

User-generated content and Engagement

It is a tried and tested method where enhanced engagement levels from customers with a brand always reap benefits for the company.

Researchers have identified that UGC has advanced authenticity, trustworthiness, credibility, and significance for consumers than brand-generated information over Social media. This is due to the fact that it is User-generated content – “User” is the keyword here.

Consumers are skeptical about investing their hard-earned money into a product/brand if that Brand does not endorse or have negative user-generated content about them on the digital mediums.

User-generated content such as reviews, opinions, and feedback is essential to consumers to make a buying decision. As consumers are more aware and critical than ever before, and they like to make informed decisions.

An example of Brand using UGC for their marketing campaign

Netflix has been known to create a buzz to introduce their new releases. Netflix posts fan posts and mentions about their streaming premieres.

Stranger Things season 2 was a much-awaited release for Netflix, and users shared over 1 million posts with the hashtag #strangerthings2. Netflix was able to successfully promote, engage, and build community with the users over social media.

The mantra of growing Brand loyalty among the consumers

We all have a product/service that we have been using from a particular brand for as long as we can remember. As consumers, we develop preferences for certain products from specific brands. We do this as we have developed a long-term relationship with the Brand over the years, based on trust, credibility, authenticity, and communication.

This consistent pattern to buy products from a particular brand perpetually is acknowledged as Brand loyalty.

For Brands, Brand loyalty is about fostering an everlasting relationship with the consumer that outcomes in multiple transactions over time.

Community creation

Brands are creating online communities for the users to share their ideas, experiences, and opinions of their product. Building a community allows the consumers to connect with Brand, also feel like a privileged stakeholder to the Brand.

These communities trigger discussions, which further creates user-generated content. Sharing UGC helps in building Brand’s story and – eventually, a loyal community.

Recognition

People who create and share user-generated content are likely to be among a brand’s biggest fans. Brands sharing UGC gives these people a sense of acknowledgment, trust, recognition, and value.

UGC allows you to harness that brand excitement and foster a sense of ongoing loyalty in these people through relationship building and value creation.

Marketing masterstroke

With millions of people accessing content over social media platforms every day, it is a hunting ground for marketers to promote their brands, also allowing them to generate higher ROI and cost-effective promotions.

UGC is a real, authentic, and trustworthy source of the content as compared to FGC. Therefore, this content-sharing by the users will attract and generate more trust and loyalty among the people.

Conclusion

In this vastly competitive marketplace, building trust and brand loyalty among consumers is an impenetrable task. Having discussed the benefits of User-generated content, Brands are focusing on leveraging it to their profit. Be it engaging with the users, reviews, discussion boards, tweets, or even audio-visual content; Brands are right up there harnessing it all in.