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The Problem
As a marketer you'll be painfully aware of the need to create engaging content. The type that promotes loyalty in your brand and skyrockets advocacy from your audience. You know that by providing value, you build the trust and recognition that ultimately builds your business.
And you know that creating said content, can be a real pain in the twitter. Crafting, publishing and amplifying quality content saps time, effort, money, blood, sweat and tears.
But what if you didn't have to do all the work? What if other people created your content for you? For free? And then shared it with all their friends?
The Solution
Introducing User Generated Content (UGC).
The practice of having your audience create your content and then share it with their network. If you're wondering how much they charge for this service: good news! They don't. In fact, sometimes they pay you (as we'll see in a later example).
You might also be wondering why they share it?
We humans have an innate urge to share ideas and information that have what Jonah Burger calls 'Social Currency' in his book Contagious. Such ideas and information are ones that we believe will be appreciated by our peers and will reflect well on us by making us look helpful, clever, funny etc.
We're also somewhat narcissistic. We're our favourite topic and we can't wait to tell everyone else about us. If you disagree, I need only to point you to the not-so-humble selfie. Google reported on it's blog that 24 billion selfies were uploaded to Google in the first 12 months.
You're also far more likely to buy from a brand that comes endorsed by a friend than one that is forcibly pushing their message down your throat. After all, who are you going to pay attention to more, your friends and family? Or some company paying to interrupt your Facebook browsing? When you consider this, UGC can begin to be a very appealing option.
Awesome Examples
Sounds amazing right? Whatever your budget is, there are endless ways to achieve this affect. To give you some inspiration around how to make it happen in your business, the following are four of my favourite examples.
Already got the ideas but need the tech? Send me a message to find out how we can help.
1. How to get your brand in thousands of selfies that make millions of impressions
Telstra netted a massive 1.3 million impressions on social via a Giant Selfie Stick located at Splendour in the Grass 2015. A great example of what's achieved when creative ideas mix with geek wizardry.
This activation attracted hordes of millennials with the offer of capturing a photo of them having an awesome time by the world’s largest selfie stick. The photos were then branded and sent to their phones. The millennials (the most skilled among us at narcissistically firing mug shots of ourselves around the internet) then got to work on the distribution, for free.
2. Make your brand the news and your audience the broadcasters
Wouldn't it be cool to be on the news, as the anchor, and have all your friends and family see you playing the staring role?
Seven Australia's audience certainly thought so as they jumped at the opportunity to become professional news readers or weather reporters at shows across the country. This five minutes of fame gave them the star experience. Seven Australia sent the video to them via email and they shared the Twitter out of it on social media. Not only was it shared but re-used for Seven's own campaigns and evening broadcasts.
3. Change your label for an 870% increase in Facebook traffic
Seeing your mates name on a bottle of Coke might not seem like a remarkable phenomenon. Especially if your mate is Dave or Sharon. But for Coke's marketing efforts, it was just that.
Their 'Share a Coke' campaign rewarded them with epic amounts of free digital marketing. People shared photos of the coke they had just bought with their name or their friends name on it. This went on for months, increasing sales among young adults by 7% and making it the most successful summer in the history of the brand. And what did it cost them? A change in a label. Genius.
4. No need to splash the cash! This one is frankly cheeky and utterly ingenious
Entering the market in explosive fashion, Frank Body's low budget, ginormous impact UGC campaign was a stroke of genius. All they did was attach a tag to the product with a simple suggestion: why not take a photo while (naked and in the shower) using the product and put it on social?
Whatever your sexual orientation, seeing a photo of your naked friend pop up in your news feed (for better or worse) is going to grab your attention.
What are you waiting for?
Having your audience share your product/brand online creates that all important social proof. And no matter how effective you are at selling you will never be as good as your customers.
I 100% believe that UGC gives you the most bang for your marketing buck. Make sure you get the content on social and re-purpose it to really see its power.
Got the ideas but don't have the tech? Come and talk to me, we have been providing the technology that supports interactive user generated campaigns for years. Full disclosure, we supported Seven and Telstra in the above two campaigns!
Lorinda Moxham
