5 tips to motivate your customers to create content around your brand

If we talk about content generated by consumers about a brand, we are obviously talking about UGC. User Generated Content is a marketing lever that is increasingly appreciated by e-tailers, because it is loved by consumers! And we have the figures to prove it: 70% of French consumers are influenced in their purchasing decisions by UGC.

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The secret to the success of this content format? It is generated organically and spontaneously by your consumers, who share their experience with your brand, their feelings, their opinion about a product in an authentic and enthusiastic way. Their spontaneity is what gives them their credibility. 

But this authenticity leads to a lack of control on the part of the brand. The way it works is that during the month of December, everything is going well. It's the peak time of the year and sales are up. Lots of satisfied customers take to the networks to share their experience, send you videos via private message to let you know how they feel or leave in-depth comments on your product pages. The UGC machine is running, and you take advantage of this content to post it on your own networks or to add it via web stories to your product pages. Customer reassurance is 100%! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. By January, consumers have exhausted their savings and with the joy of the holidays behind them, they are less motivated to show up or speak up about their latest whims. 

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But it worked so well in December! Disappointed, you are looking to re-motivate your consumers. Fortunately, there are ways to do this. 

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UGC Tip #1: Make the unboxing experience unforgettable

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You should never forget that above all, a purchase is supposed to be a pleasant experience. Often, your customer thinks long and hard before deciding to put his trust in your hands and place his order. He is excited and impatient as soon as he confirms his purchase, even checking several times a day on the status of the shipment. Imagine his disappointment if all he receives is a plain cardboard box with his product wrapped in paper or plastic. 

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The unboxing is the moment when the customer is put face to face with your product, but also with his expectations! The choice is yours: to live up to it or not. Now, let's imagine that your customer does not receive that sad brown cardboard box. Let's imagine that the package that arrives at his home is personalized with your brand's colors and logo. He turns it over in his hands and gently opens it because, well, it's beautiful! Inside, a personalized note with a mysterious QR code that reads "Scan me" awaits him. He does so, and discovers a web story with a video carefully filmed by your teams to present the product he holds in his hands. Under a layer of colored paper and with a packaging that matches his personality and expectations, the product is finally waiting for him. His excitement builds, and he doesn't waste any time. With care, he returns everything to its original state and films the unboxing for his social networks, eager to share this little piece of happiness with his loved ones. And that's it! A new UGC in your pocket. 

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Tip for generating UGC #2: Give a small reward

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You may not have realized it, but your consumers often don't realize the true value of their content! You have to remember that consumers are neither micro-influencers nor influencers. That is to say, they are not looking to make a living by posting on networks, if not just to share a particular moment or feeling with their loved ones.

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That's why one way to motivate your customers to create more content around your brand is by showing them how much you value that content! Consider keeping a close eye on consumers who are in the habit of posting to you on their networks. You may have a consumer who can't get enough without one of your products, and has already spoken out about it a few times. It would be a nice gesture to send her a free copy with her next order, or a discount code. Consider adding a web story QR code to the package in which you explain that you've noticed their love for your brand and appreciate their support. 

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That person will definitely want to share their experience on the networks! Other consumers will remember that there are prizes to be won if you create content around you, which will push them more to do so.

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Tip for generating UGC #3: Give creators visibility

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Another way to show your appreciation: publish your consumers' content on your own networks!

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Often, brands appear to their consumers as distant and inaccessible. In the network world, a repost from a major account is both a privilege and a compliment: a sign of status. By selecting the best content from your customers and publishing it in your own profiles, you challenge all your creators: the best content will get its reward in terms of visibility! Nothing like a challenge to inspire creativity and motivate your consumers to stand out with their content.   

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You also have the option of creating a social media profile dedicated to your consumers. This was the approach chosen by Dior, who created the profile @diorbeautylovers where they post exclusively content from their community. Having a strong and engaged community is fundamental to push the creation of UGCs.

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UGC Tip #4: Create an Ambassador Program

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With an ambassador program, you are guaranteed to get UGCs every month. However, with this invaluable peace of mind comes some disadvantages. 

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We all know the classic way an ambassador program works: a few elected customers commit to generating content and we, as a brand, commit to providing them with products for free. It is important not to confuse this technique with the reward one: in the first case, we reward a spontaneous and voluntary behavior of our consumers, in the case of the ambassador program, we have established a relationship of mutual agreement with the consumer in which the product is not at all a reward but rather the means that we put at his disposal to fulfill his part of the agreement (the creation of content) 

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Indeed, it's efficient and it's guaranteed: you choose your consumers, send the product each month and voilà! Unlimited UGCs. 

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Small disadvantage to consider? You will always put the same profiles forward. A possible solution is to systematically renew the profiles that are part of the program, but remember to give a plausible and polite reason why you are stopping the collaboration to the old profiles. 

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Tip for generating UGC #5: Launch a contest on your social networks

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Sweepstakes are a big favorite on social networks. It's a quick way for brands to increase brand awareness and also an opportunity to give back to their community. 

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Traditionally, you have to follow a profile on social networks and post a comment tagging X people to enter a contest. We offer you the traditional contest... with a twist. To participate in your game, you have to publish a Reel (or a story, or a video if we are on TikTok) that revolves around the product that the customer prefers from your brand. With this system, you win twice: you generate qualitative UGC and you have the opportunity to give a reward to a loyal customer!

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This system is particularly powerful if you want to generate content around a concrete product or service. You just have to indicate in the game rules "Show us your ideal morning routine with our product X! You will have generated a campaign dedicated to this product on the networks at a cost of 0, and you will be able to recover these UGCs for your product sheets later on. 

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Now that you have in your hands plenty of good ideas to generate UGC for free, we want to remind you that while this content is an invaluable force for your brand, it is essential to have the right means to use it. 

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Think, in particular, about using an influencer platform to gain the rights to these contents, or asking your consumers privately if they authorize the use of your content. Also think about the best way to highlight this content on your site, and make it mobile friendly: young audiences place their orders mainly from their mobile device. Web stories are a native digital and mobile friendly format that can be ideal to insert UGC in their native format on your website. Moreover, some platforms like JOIN are already thinking about the best way to have this content automatically brought up on their platform. But that's a story for another article... 

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