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User Generated Content

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Let’s start with a fact we all know…

Marketing is undergoing a fundamental change.

Three technical innovations are combining to transform the way brands relate to their customers:

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As a result, peoples are creating and sharingimages and words like never before.

Two thirds of the content in the digital universe is created by consumers, not corporations.

72% of all internet users are active on social media, and they’re using it every single day

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Let’s give all that activity some daily perspective…

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Smart brands are taking advantage of this sharing economy.

They’re taking user-generated content that refers to their own brands and using it for their own benefit.

Research suggests that it’s much more effective in engaging and influencing customers than their own branded content.

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For example…

Nike often use authentic content generated by their consumers on Instagram rather than use expensive photography for their campaigns.

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Consumers trust their peers.

They take inspiration from other people’s experiences, ratings, reviews and their sharing of products and services.

A brand is now defined by how its community perceives and uses it, rather than by expensively commissioned marketing stories.

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Fact time…

A New York social media agency analysed data from 100 million impressions, including ad campaigns from more than 15 advertisers.

A recent study by Nielsen suggests that 92% of consumers around the world trust word of mouthover any other form of advertising.

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Content creation

Brands spend a huge amount of time, energy and money creating content.

But most just aren’t able to produce the volume and variety of content that will resonate with their target audiences.

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User-creators

Today’s consumers publish words, photos & videos online to share all aspects of their lives, including their favourite brands.

The Pew Internet Research Project found that 54% of adult internet users now post 50% more original photos or videos online than last year.

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Consumers are skilled at selecting the most appropriate channel for each piece of content.

YouTube for long videos

Twitter for news & updates

Instagram for photos and short videos

Vine for ultra-short videos

Snapchat for messages they don’t want hanging around

They have become expert marketers themselves and potentially of the brands they love…

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Research suggests most brands have not seized the opportunity that user-generated content presents for transforming web experiences and driving socially-referred commerce.

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Things are changing…

Marketers are changing their campaign objectives from generating likes on a social network to landing consumers on their own websites.

In 2012, Facebook and YouTube accounted for 69% of all campaign destinations.

By the end of 2013 this fell to just 30%.

In contrast, websites as the primary destination rose from 25% to 61% in the same time frame.

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Why is the website becoming the main campaign destination?

Brands are starting to realise that pointing traffic to a single social network isn’t the best way to engage customers. A single network provides rather a narrow view of a brand and it’s community.

Instead, websites & microsites now represent an effective central location for authentic user-generated content that has been sourced from a range of social networks.

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The bottom line? 84% of millennials say user-generated content has influenced what they buy.

While user-generated content is one key to a successful website strategy, brands shouldn’t ignore their own professionally produced content. Brand engagement rises by 28% when users are exposed to both types of content.

Featuring relevant user-generated content at the point of purchase boosts conversion rates by 7%.

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Brands that take this approach have had some impressive results…

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Start mixing it up!

Link in other elements to get customers involved.

Build on user-generated content, include ratings, reviews, promotions, hashtag competitions and why not throw a poll in there?

Because… basically, the more involved people become, the more engaged they become, the more insights we can gather and more the client can sell!

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In summary…

Consumer generated content has exploded and branded content is starting to taking a back seat.

However, there are no shortage of photos and videos featuring the brands’ products.

On top of this, customers love the recognition of having their content featured on a brands website.

User generated content isn’t just out weighing branded content… it’s out performing it.

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So what?

Lets start looking where we can integrate user generated content for our clients in their campaigns

Is this something TBH can use to showcase the potential increase in engagement?