The truth is…
User-generated content (UGC) continues to prove itself as a powerful and effective marketing tool for businesses.
Why?
UGC has benefits for both consumers and businesses:
Win-win right?
UGC creates the bridge for real and authentic marketing that works.
That’s what makes it so powerful!
These user-generated statistics will show you why UGC is so powerful and how businesses benefit from it.
What Will I Learn?
Want to see how much user-generated content (UGC) can impact your business?
These are the key user-generated content statistics you need to know:
User-generated content is proven to work as a marketing tool. In most cases, quality UGC delivers a higher ROI than official brand-authored content.
These user-generated content statistics explain why you should take advantage of UGC in your marketing campaigns.
These days, authenticity is important in advertising.
How important exactly?
Over 90% of consumers say that authenticity impacts their decision significantly when choosing which brands they like and support.
UGC also has an even more significant impact on millennials.
A study at the University of California showed that millennials find user-generated content to be 35% more memorable than content from traditional media sources.
70% of all UGC online today comes from millennials.
In other words – If millennials are one of your target audiences – UGC ads are the best way to reach them.
User-generated content is also proven to increase authenticity in advertising while driving higher conversions.
In fact, UGC results in up to 29% higher conversion rates than campaigns or websites that don’t use it.
Struggling to generate engagement on your social campaigns?
According to a ComScore study, customer engagement is 28% higher when using UGC compared to content that was professionally created by experts.
That’s a big difference. Social media campaigns incorporating user-generated media also saw a 50% increase in engagement overall.
The bottom line is this:
UGC ads drive better engagement from customers and improve conversion rates significantly.
More trust = higher sales.
One key goal for any business is to continually build more trust in their brands so consumers feel comfortable purchasing from them.
Here’s what I mean:
Ecommerce statistics show that 92% of consumers turn to people they know for referrals about products or services they trust.
Using UGC to influence better word-of-mouth campaigns is a great way to increase referral sales.
A further 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions.
Seeing authentic videos and testimonials from customers is proven to increase simultaneously:
That’s a win-win, right?
It’s common for customers to do their own research before making a purchase decision:
The truth is that just 1 piece of user-generated content isn’t going to be enough. Consumers want multiple pieces of UGC from different people.
That’s how you really build trust with your customer base.
More than 90% of consumers are influenced by positive reviews when seriously looking for a product or service.
Sometimes a well-timed positive review is all you need to get a sale.
Clearly, there is a big push from younger audiences for more authentic UGC.
Millennials (over 25 years old) trust user-generated content 50% more than content created by brands.
A further 35% of Gen Z (under 25 years old) believe that UGC will be more credible over the next 3-5 years than content created by professional marketers.
Consumers also find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than normal content when deciding whether to purchase.
Want to reach new customers?
Use more UGC marketing in your campaigns.
48% of all customers claim that user-generated content is an effective way for them to discover new products.
77% of consumers that use Pinterest at least once a week have found a new brand or product on the Pinterest platform.
User-generated content is not only a benefit for businesses. It also helps customers discover new products and services they can confidently trust.
Instagram stories are also an effective way to leverage UGC to increase sales.
Why?
Social media user statistics show that 1 in 4 people have made a purchase after seeing a product in another user’s Instagram story.
Stories are:
The right recommendation from a user can be a powerful way to generate more sales. More on influencer UGC statistics later.
Twitter has also become a great place to take advantage of user-generated content.
Brands that share UGC on Twitter report a 20% increase in new visitors from the platform alone.
So, once you have your first few pieces of content, post them to all the social media channels you have a presence on.
User-generated content offers a ton of benefits to brands over traditional ads.
The following UGC stats show why you should use user-generated content as part of your marketing strategy.
One of the biggest benefits of UGC content is that you don’t have to create it yourself.
Results?
That is more than the average salary of a dedicated in-house content creator.
Videos seem to be the best-performing content overall.
93% of brands said they have successfully acquired a significant amount of new customers because of video content on different social media channels.
In fact, 73% of consumers said they have been persuaded to invest in a new product or service because of video content.
Want to get more views on your videos?
Leverage user-generated video. On average, UGC videos about a brand are viewed 10 times more than official brand videos (ads) on YouTube.
You don’t have to create the content, and you get 10x the amount of views. It doesn’t get better than that, right?
But videos are just part of the puzzle. Getting internet users to engage with content is another big challenge that businesses face.
Ready for some good news?
Engagement increases by 28% when consumers view a mixture of:
It’s the combination of both that creates the most significant impact.
What about ads specifically?
Ads featuring UGC generated 73% more positive comments on social media platforms when compared to traditional ads.
UGC-based ads also get 4x higher click-through rates (CTR) and a 50% drop in cost-per-click (CPC) than professionally made brand ads.
31% of consumers also say social ads that feature UGC content are significantly more memorable than traditional ads without it.
User-generated content ticks all the boxes for creatives for paid advertising campaigns.
But ads are not all that user-generated content is good for…
Websites that put UGC on their product pages have seen purchase conversion rates increase by up to 29%.
Emails that contain UGC experience:
The ultimate UGC stat is this…
UGC has increased conversions by over 10% globally when included as part of the customer journey.
That’s a significant difference for worldwide conversions.
These user-generated content statistics prove that UGC is an effective part of any marketing strategy – especially when using video in social media ads.
Ready to leverage user-generated content for your business?
The following user-generated content statistics detail different trends you should embrace this year.
Virtual reality is a popular medium right now.
But experts predict that we are scraping the surface of what virtual reality can do and how it will be a part of everyday life in the future.
For marketers, this is also an exciting trend to take advantage of now.
Over 48% of consumers will experiment with or engage with augmented and virtual reality before the end of this year.
Virtual reality content is far more engaging than traditional ads because of the interactivity.
Finding ways to combine virtual reality with user-generated media is a powerful combination for marketing.
Video contents are a proven way to generate more leads for your business.
89% of industries already use video contests to promote their products and services to new audiences.
But the new way to run video contests is with user-generated video. Get your customers to create different UGC videos as a way to enter the free contest.
The result?
You can generate tons of new leads for your business and gets more user-generated content that you can leverage for other marketing campaigns in the future.
We live in the age of personalisation.
But what does product personalisation have to do with UGC?
Personalised products are an excellent way to get more user-generated product videos. It makes sense, right?
Customers are far more likely to post about your product or service if it has been uniquely created for them.
Creating personalised products for your customers is a great way to generate more revenue for your business while getting a flow of UGC.
89% of large companies are investing in digital personalisation this year.
The list of companies includes:
And so many more!
A study by Deloitte indicated that 1 in 5 shoppers will pay 20% more for a product that has been personalised or customised specifically for them.
This means that if you add personalisation to your products or services, you could charge up to 20% more.
Over 80% of consumers surveyed by Epsilon indicate that they are more likely to do business with a company that offers personalised experiences while shopping online.
With the power of automation and some creative thinking, you can start taking advantage of product personalisation.
Don’t underestimate the power of micro-influencer content.
When influencers create content about products or services – that’s user-generated content.
Micro-influencers see 7x the amount of engagement over mega-influencers on Instagram.
It’s even higher on TikTok. 80% of social media live stream viewers say they’re likely to buy a product advertised by their favourite streamer.
The key is finding the right micro-influencers that create great content their followers engage with.
There you have it.
A complete round-up of user-generated content statistics and proof of why UGC works.
If you aren’t taking advantage of user-generated content for your business – now is the time to start.
What’s the best way to use UGC right now?
Short answer – Video ads.
Combining UGC with video ads is the best way to create content that-
All at the same time! There aren’t many marketing strategies or channels that can do all of that. The best part is that you don’t even need to create the content for yourself.
Marketing really doesn’t get much better than that.
Want more statistics posts? Take a look at these blogs:
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