Why UGC is a Key to Successful Modern Marketing
If you are interested in modern marketing, you already know that the advertising world has dramatically changed from the era of catchy jingles, newspaper ads, billboards, and TV commercials. Today, the name of the game is experiential marketing, and user-generated content (UGC) it sparks is the key to its success.
UGC is any content consumers create that features a brand, usually posted on social media. It helps build trust, encourages authenticity, and allows customers to get to know your brand through their peers.
So, since UGC doesn’t come from spending late nights at the drawing board brainstorming TV ads, a la Mad Men, how do you get customers to use the power of their platforms to promote your brand?
The answer is simple: create experiences people want to share with the world.
Create an Experience that Drives UGC
Promoting UGC is a two-way street: You provide consumers with a fun, memorable experience, and they provide you with content that helps boost your messaging. Very few people are likely to interact with a run-of-the-mill ad (seeing an ad on Instagram isn’t really an experience, after all), so one of the best strategies for achieving this dynamic is to create live, interactive campaigns for people to engage with.
Take a look at a few examples of campaigns that generated a wealth of UGC:
- Laneige x innisfree Glow On The Go Tour: FTP built a custom truck that went on tour to promote two of K-beauty’s biggest brands. Glazed donuts, scratch-off tickets, and many selfie opportunities gave people plenty of reasons to post.
- Gisou Honey Glow Pop-Up Truck: Between the honey lemonade, product samples, and customization station that allowed guests to bedazzle their own lip oil, this campaign made it almost impossible for consumers not to want to spread the word.
- Loungefly’s Minnie Mouse Glass Truck: Nostalgia was at the heart of this campaign, celebrating one of everyone’s favorite childhood icons. Polka dots galore, complementary pastel boba lemonade, and multiple photo moments led to people posting, unleashing their inner child in droves.
Many people view social media as a form of escapism (we know we’re guilty), which is why people are so likely to post and engage with content that transports them to another world. Whether it’s feeling like a kid at Disney World, letting creativity flow with an art project, or getting to indulge in a sweet treat, experiential marketing brings people out of the ordinary world into an extraordinary experience.
Tips for Integrating Experiential Marketing and UGC
If you’re ready to start leveraging the power of experiential marketing, FTP has a few tips and tricks that will help your brand inspire consumers to create and share authentic content. Take a look:
- Make Posting Easy: Posts are more helpful when the creator tags your brand, so it’s crucial to make doing so easy. Create a catchy hashtag, use QR codes, and ensure your social handle is highly visible.
- Provide Incentives to Post: As we said, UGC is a two-way street, so it’s helpful to provide consumers with tangible reasons to create content. Contests, drawings, and giveaways that require a tagged post for entry are good strategies.
- Bring Influencers on Board: Enlisting the help of an influencer can create social media buzz around your campaign that often translates into consumers posting their own content.
Keeping these tips in mind as you conceptualize your experiential marketing campaign will help make the UGC element of the experience feel natural.
Get Ready to Harness the Power of UGC
When it comes to valuable marketing tools, UGC is an MVP. Not only will harnessing the power of UGC get the word out about your brand, but it will also help you expand your network of loyal consumers. When you use experiential marketing as the foundation of your UGC approach, you’re showing the world that your ultimate goal is to connect in a way that’s memorable, fun, and based on bringing people joy.
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