What are the advantages and disadvantages of user-generated content?
What is user generated content?
The concept of User Generated Content is simple, it includes all content such as photos, videos, blog posts that the user posts on the website or on social media. 93% of marketers are seeing results in improving brand exposure through influencer engagement. UGC is one of the best content marketing techniques as it not only influences user engagement but also reduces the cost per click of websites by 50%. It’s the automated way to see higher brand engagement, decrease the cost of creating content, and increase marketing performance.
What are the advantages of user generated content?
1. Increase lead engagement, CTR, and conversions
The best part of UGC is the authenticity of the content. All the content that is generated is authentic and fresh, thus multiplying the marketing efforts of marketers. UGC has increased the reach of social media campaigns by 50% and found that 68% of people say that user-generated content is generally a good indicator of the quality of a brand or service.
2. Increase Dwell Time and Reduce Bounce Rate:
Bounce rate is one of the main aspects when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). It is the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. By displaying UGC on the website, the user’s time spent on the website increases as the content displayed on the website such as product image, user generated videos attract the visitor and compel the user to stay on the page for a long time.
3. Save time and money
Marketing is all about promoting your business/brand at minimum cost with maximum benefits. The entire campaign on social networks requires a large investment of time and money, and although success is not guaranteed. UGC saves you time and money by leveraging the voice of your customer. In addition, the content reaches the target audience, which means that half of the work is done. The best way to make your social media campaign successful is to display UGC on a big digital screen. This will create user engagement and build brand trust among users. All the big brands like Apple, KFC, Disney use User Generated Content as one of their social media marketing strategy.
But when you find too many positive aspects of a thing, there are also some negative aspects in hindsight.
Disadvantages:
4. Negative Content Marketing
It’s very easy to feel the burn of UGC as all the content is user generated. By allowing them to be published on the website, you allow them to present a negative perception or opinion of your brand, which is natural since the audience is not predictable and not everyone will like what you sell on your website, so one should be prepared for this.
5. You always need follow-up
When all the users have discussions on your website, there should be one person who is monitoring the whole conversation, because a healthy conversation can lead to disaster for your website. This can alter your brand image, therefore social media content moderation is necessary.