How To Get UGC Content: A Primer For Driving Organic Brand Growth

Most brands know that UGC is essential for growing their online audience.

But only a few understand how to drive organic, authentic user-generated content.

If users aren’t creating the volume or quality of UGC you want, this article can help. It explores proven techniques to motivate users to create content, how to reward their participation, and strategies to amplify their reach.

Ultimately, this post gives you the tools needed to get UGC content. Understanding how the leading brands operate in this space means you can do the same.

But first, why does user-generated content matter so much for today’s brands?

Why User-Generated Content Matters For Brands Today

User-generated content is one of the fastest-growing marketing strategies, with countless brands using it to spearhead their campaigns.

But why does it matter?

1. Social proof. UGC often acts as an extra push to convince prospects that a product or service may also work for them. Seeing their peers benefiting makes it clear that they could too.
2. Unlimited content. On platforms like Billo, there’s also no limit to the amount of UGC you can create for your brand. Thousands of creators can support you over any period required, allowing you to reach out on multiple platforms.
3. Humanizing approach. Furthermore, user-generated content adds a human layer to your brand, cutting through polished corporate spin. When consumers see products talked about by people just like them, it generates more demand.
4. Unfiltered content. UGC also often appears to users as unfiltered, giving them the idea that they are getting real opinions (not marketing spin). Most audiences trust creators to provide accurate appraisals of specific products or services.
5. Increases engagement. Lastly, UGC increases engagement, which many Billo customers experience when they use our user-generated content for their brands. Around three-quarters of shoppers turn to social media creators to help them make better purchasing decisions.

Proven Techniques That Motivate Users To Create UGC

Most brands now understand the profound benefits of UGC–it’s probably the most powerful marketing technique out there.

But how do you get users to generate it for you?

That’s where many firms get caught out.

Fortunately, tried-and-tested techniques are being developed and are a goldmine for marketers, enabling them to scale UGC production beyond their wildest dreams.

Use UGC Platforms

The first (and most obvious) approach is to use UGC platforms, like Billo. We make it simple to get the authentic user-generated content you need on-demand (like any other marketing activity). Simply place your order and wait a few days for the content required to promote your products or services.

Billo has over 5,000 vetted creators on its platform, meaning you can scale as much as you want. And you only pay a fixed fee per video–no contracts.

Launch A Hashtag

Tactic number two is to launch a hashtag. These can boost interactions and encourage users to jump on a trend, potentially netting 29% more interactions.

Just make sure you give users a reason to create content before posting the hashtag across all your social media channels. Find a way to make it resonate with your target audience and encourage existing customers to take action.

Use Social Media Contests

Social media contests are another proven technique to drive UGC creation. Providing your audience with an incentive to post videos is a potent technique.

Contests are effective because they give customers a chance to win something big. Often, they work better than simply offering small payments to everyone, as the incentives to act on these are lower.

Drive Reviews And Testimonials

Finally, encourage review and testimonial creation. This simple approach is highly effective, especially when combined with rewards.

Figures suggest that shoppers prioritize review quality over volume, meaning a small number of detailed testimonials could drive out-sized results. Therefore, ask your audience to prioritize videos and images (alongside text).

Rewarding Participation: How To Say Thank You To UGC Creators

While the proven techniques described are effective, rewarding participation is essential if you want any of the above strategies to work. Saying thank you is a necessary part of the process.

Here, again, you have plenty of options. Here’s what to do:

Offer Discounts Or Coupons

You could start by offering discounts or coupons to customers. Providing money off future purchases or offering special discount codes can be an excellent way to encourage their involvement.

However, be careful. Don’t offer outright rewards for reviews as this may break platform rules and be seen as suspicious by audiences.

Send Personalized Thank You Notes

You could also send UGC creators personalized thank-you notes. These show your appreciation and can help generate potential brand ambassadors–individuals who voluntarily promote your products and services because they believe in them.

Enter Them Into A Monthly Giveaway

Another tactic is to enter UGC creators into a monthly giveaway. Offering them the chance to win a big prize is often all the incentive many individuals need.

Winners could receive:

• A lifetime subscription to your products or services
• A cash prize
• Access to behind-the-scenes operations at your company
• A chance to work with you long-term for guaranteed pay

Send Free Products Or Samples

Many brands also send out free samples to encourage UGC. Creators use these to discuss products without having to buy them first.

These are particularly useful for brands wanting to work with dozens or hundreds of creators. Sending out small, inexpensive packets keeps campaigns affordable.

Promote UGC Content

Promising to promote users’ content is another strategy that works for many companies. Offering to showcase the best UGC on your official social media channels rewards top performers and can encourage improved overall submission quality.

Use A Platform

Finally, you can avoid all of this complexity by using Billo. With us, you pay UGC creators directly to promote products or services, eliminating the risk of your incentive efforts falling flat. Then, you can distribute content on your channels (or get influencers to do it for you).

Billo lets you send a brief to creators, telling them what UGC you want them to produce. Then, you mail them their products to sample, review, or describe, receiving videos and images a few days later.

Importantly, our creators avoid corporate polish or spin, providing authentic content that generates maximum social proof. Everything they generate is believable as if it had come from a conventional customer or client.

How To Work With UGC Creators For Greater Reach

Of course, even if users start creating UGC for your brand, it won’t always have the reach you want. Individual customers don’t always have audiences of their own.

Fortunately, you can work around this issue by using various tactics to expand their impact and get their UGC in front of more people.

One method is to post users’ UGC on your channels or provide links to their content. Leveraging your existing audience can be a highly effective way to amplify their reach.

You can also provide resources for customers to leverage to help them generate the type of UGC other platform users want to consume. For example, you could:

• Provide branded resources on the content type that’s most successful in your niche
• Offer story templates users can follow when reviewing or discussing your products/services
• Set goals or expectations for what the content should contain to align with best practices

Once you have resources in place, make them accessible. Allow users to download them for free from your website and provide links on social media.

If you want campaigns to run long-term, offer incentives for lasting partnerships. Tell UGC creators they can get early access to products or discounts if they align their content. This approach can encourage higher production quality.

Finally, you can work with UGC creators directly, which is possible on Billo. Collaborating with them on campaigns and seeking out individuals with pre-existing audiences allows you to reach more people.

How To Spotlight User Content To Drive UGC Engagement Higher

Lastly, adopting specific strategies to spotlight user content can drive UGC engagement from campaigns. What’s more, many of these are simple. Tactics include:

• Featuring user stories in paid ad campaigns. Adding reviews and testimonials to PPC can act as powerful social proof, bringing UGC to a wider audience quickly.
• Creating “customer of the month” spotlights. Promoting a specific shopper or product user across your channels (and providing them with other rewards) can encourage others to take up the mantle and generate content.
• Incorporate UGC into your product pages. You can add users’ content besides your descriptions and images to encourage more sales when shoppers arrive from other platforms or landing pages.
• Highlight UGC on your social media feeds. Adding UGC to TikTok, Instagram Reels or Facebook posts makes customers feel valued and motivated.
• Include UGC in your newsletter. Making rich user-generated content a part of your newsletters shines a light on your productions.

Billo provides UGC videos in various formats for all these applications.