The statistics on this list represent the culmination of over a year’s worth of research, with other supporting data included for context.

Online communities have become pivotal for facilitating authentic interactions. Marketers face challenges navigating between owned channels and social media. The evolution of community-building resources empowers digital practitioners to have greater ownership and purpose rather than solely relying on the influence of external platforms.

Community is more than a buzzword

Cultivating and managing a digital community has become an entire field of practice, with full-time roles, advanced certifications, and senior leadership allocating budget to the practice. Research from Gartner indicates that consumers are starting to pull back on social media platforms, driving organizations to launch owned brand communities to maintain that deep digital connection.

• 76.6% of consumers wish their favorite brands had a community.
• 27.5% of marketers own a dedicated online brand community distinct from social media and 19.5% are building one now. 16.0% of marketers who don’t have one wish they did.
• 59.5% of marketers are concerned about losing access to their brand’s fans on social media due to an algorithm change.
• 40.9% of consumers say their involvement in online communities will increase in 2024. That’s an increase of 9% year over year.
• 67.4% of consumers feel more connected through community than social.

Brands are a reflection of the consumer

People want to buy from a brand that reflects their worldview. Marketers need to move beyond the superficial use of the term “community” and focus on understanding the meaningful impact of community-driven strategies. Our report unearths the dynamics influencing consumer spending, loyalty, and intent, each affecting how people connect and relate to a brand.

• 69.2% of consumers believe the brands they buy reflect who they are and are important to how they want to be perceived .
  • 77.5% of consumers are incredibly/very loyal to their favorite brands… but 42.4% are very likely to try competitors to those favorite brands.
• 73.6% of consumers are more likely to purchase more frequently because of an online brand community – an increase of 8% over 2022.

Building community powered Feedback Loops

Owned Brand communities play a significant role in powering feedback loops. Consumers want to share their voice and perspective with brands. Communities provide a discrete but public forum for ongoing feedback. But communication must go both ways. Consumers want to know that the brand is listening and responding to their perspectives.

• 88.1% of consumers believe it’s important to have two-way dialogue with brands so they can share feedback and opinions.
• 97.3% of consumers are motivated to be loyal and purchase more frequently when a brand listens to their opinions and feedback.
• 74.5% of marketers agree it’s important to have two-way communication with consumers, but 1 in 4 believe their brand’s two-way consumer communication is weak.
• 88.0% of consumers are motivated when a brand makes them feel involved, like they are part of a team.

Consumer Insights Drive Action

The brands that engage, listen, and respond are able to discover a treasure trove of valuable information specific to their organization.  These insights can drive product creation, marketing campaigns, and generate vital User-Generated Content like ratings and reviews that support in-store and eCommerce sales.

• The top way marketers use or plan to use online communities is to collect consumer opinions (51.0%), amplify other marketing initiatives (45.0%), and grow loyalty (41.0%).
• 67.5% of marketers believe community-building is important to creating emotional loyalty.
• 70.0% of marketers feel community-building is important to customer retention.
• 42.0% of marketers feel they don’t have cost and time efficient approaches to obtain all of the consumer insights they need for their brand.

Challenges of Data and Hyper-Personalization

Community-centric marketing creates direct consumer relationships, serving as the bond that creates enduring brand loyalty. But brands must also deliver on their commitments to hyper-personalized experiences and responsible management of user data.

• 39.1% feel a brand’s community provides more personalized, tailored, and relevant experiences than its social media account.
• 58.5% of marketers struggle to get consumers to provide zero party data.
• 54.0% of marketers struggle to keep consumer data up-to-date for effective personalization.
• 93.4% of consumers are more comfortable sharing their data if they know what it’s being used for.
• 91.3% of consumers share their data in exchange for unique experiences and offers.
• 74.0% of consumers feel brands fall short of providing personalized experiences.
• 67.2% of consumers are disappointed when they share their data and the brand doesn’t do anything with it.

Loyalty and Advocacy are in the spotlight

As we predicted, marketers have faced challenges in building brand loyalty and advocacy in the constantly accelerating world of digital and social. Brand communities have emerged as the ultimate bridge between purchase and loyalty. Community members are more likely to leave reviews, provide feedback, and make future purchases. The future will see owned communities continue to shape the landscape of brand-consumer relationships.

• 40.1% of consumers are more likely to stay loyal to a favorite brand because of engaging with it in an online brand community.
• In the past year, marketers top 3 challenges were in securing authentic advocacy.
  • 64.5% struggled to secure a large volume video/stories UGC
  • 62.5% struggled to maintain a pipeline of fresh reviews
  • 62.0% struggled to secure high quality video/stories UGC
• 81.5% of community members identify as advocates.
• 68.0% of consumers are likely to create videos about brands because they belong to a community – an increase of 74% increase over 2022.
• 91.0% of consumers are more likely to leave a review because they belong to a community – an increase of 22% over 2022.

Brand Communities Drive Revenue

Communities support brands across departments, from marketing to product to retailing. But, perhaps the most important validator, is the fact that established brand communities are drivers of revenue. Leadership always wants to know how initiatives affect the bottom line, and community members are more likely to purchase, make additional purchases, and keep a business top of mind.

• 81.6% of consumers are more likely to purchase new product varieties because of an online brand community.
• 77.1% of consumers are likely to use an online community to purchase products.
• 68.5% of marketers are planning to prioritize community-building over the next 2 years.
• 78.2% of consumers say interacting with a brand’s online community makes that brand more “top of mind” when shopping.
• 68.7% of consumers prefer to purchase brands that they interact with in an online community.

2024 is the year of community powered marketing. More than a buzzword, or flashy growth hacking strategy, brand communities lay the foundation for long-term brand affinity and loyalty, while driving immediate revenue growth. Learn how TINT powers community initiatives for the world’s largest brands. Schedule a demo today.

The post Big List of Community Powered Marketing Stats appeared first on TINT.

This is an interview with Cyle Perez, Director of Public Relations at San Antonio Zoo. The transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Download your copy of the 2023 State of Social & User-Generated Content. 

David Ramirez
Let’s start off with who you are, what you do, and where you do it.

Cyle Perez
My name is Cyle Perez. I am the Director of Public Relations at San Antonio Zoo. In that falls all of our PR work and our social media department. 

David Ramirez
For those who do not know the greatness of the San Antonio Zoo, give us a quick plug.

Cyle Perez
The San Antonio Zoo is a 501(C)3 nonprofit. We’re 108 years old, here in San Antonio, in a prime location right in the center of the city.  Every ticket that’s purchased at San Antonio Zoo goes straight back to conservation here in Texas and all around the world. In reference to social media, we hit 4,000,000,000 (4 billion) in reach in 2022 with over two billion views. 

David Ramirez
Congratulations! That is a huge number!

I’m excited to chat about The State of Social and User-Generated Content. I know you  had a chance to review an advanced copy. Let’s run through a couple of the themes. 

Theme 1: Doubling down on video (and audio) content

David Ramirez
We seeing more investment from marketing and communication professionals across the board in video and audio. What are you all doing at The Zoo in the video space already, and is there anything different or interesting you’re doing in video and audio for this coming year? 

Cyle Perez
In 2022, we started to ramp up our video work. A lot of the attention spans we see nowadays are short. In small snippets, people can consume quickly and then move along. You are competitive in the space if you have enough of those small snippets. You start to get into people’s feeds more and more. 

It helps to work at a zoo because we have a lot of cute animals. Our bread and butter is showing these cute animals in their habitat interacting with enrichment items. Short videos have really been successful for us. 

The new thing that we’re doing for 2023 is working with trending sounds to tell these stories. We’re starting to use that trending audio to get into the algorithm more. 

David Ramirez
I think about the zoo, and I think about the soundscape of a space like that. You can tell when you’re near the big cats. You can tell when you’re near certain animals. Have you thought or experimented at all with creating sounds at the zoo and uploading it to platforms like Tiktok, Clubhouse, or Linkedin audio?

Cyle Perez
Somewhat. We’re working on getting those animal sounds and putting them throughout the zoo on QR codes. Also, bringing in composers who will then create music based on these animals. 

Social media will be part of that story, but we haven’t considered making it a sound for others to use as well. But it seems to be where everything’s going because if that [sound] hits, then other people are interacting with it. Then you get organic user-generated content.

Learn more about the trends discussed in this blog. Get your free copy of the State of Social & User-Generated Content. 

Theme 2 – Social Media as a Search Engine 

David Ramirez
We’re seeing Gen Z, young millennials, and Gen Alpha skipping Google and using social media as their primary place to search. How are you adapting to the idea that it’s not just your Google Adwords driving traffic, but it needs to be your SEO on a platform like Tiktok?

Cyle Perez
Personally, that’s how I search for things too. I’d rather go to a hashtag then the brand. What’s the story that they’re telling from their own mouths, and then what’s the story that their customers are telling?

Theme #3 – Return on Investment for social

David Ramirez
As a robust marketing organization with more than a century of history, I’m sure there is the challenge of attribution, being able to tag back ticket sales to specific channels or media. What things are you doing to track ROI for specific channels this year, and are there any specific challenges that you’re working through as part of your 2023 plans?

Cyle Perez
I’m over our public relations. A lot of that is earned or “free” media. We do have paid elements like targeted ads and billboards. We measure click-through rate, and how people get to our website. As a nonprofit, we don’t have the most robust backend. But, we can see where people are coming from, what interests them, and the basic demographics of our audience.

We’re about to step into an event called “Meet Your Next Ex.”. That’s not really the “traditional” San Antonio Zoo audience. Meet Your Next Ex is a specific target and so we use different graphics, different social media, with even different a voice. By targeting these people specifically on social, we can really see a better return than if we were to put even a commercial on TV because the event is highly curated to a younger, digital audience. 

You funnel your dollars into something that you know gets in front of the people you want, instead of casting a large net like it used to be.

David Ramirez
Looking back at what you all did in 2022, was there any specific media or campaign you were surprised took off? You were not expecting it to be as successful or as powerful as it was?

Cyle Perez
We’ve done a lot. We did a Black Friday sale. We did Timothy’s twenty-five days of Christmas, and it’s all the storytelling of it. There are a lot of stories to tell at a zoo. 

Like Timothy, he’s a famous hippo that writes love letters to a hippo in Cincinnati. We built him a brand. People follow him. He’s got his own Facebook page with thousands of followers. People tune in every Thursday to see what he writes to the Cincinnati hippo. Using these brand pillars and these followings helps us with those campaigns. 

A lot of it was due to targeting and truly getting in front of people over and over again. But we broke every single record for every campaign that we did in 2022, and all of that has to do with social media.

Theme #4 – UGC is the most trustworthy content

David Ramirez
People trust other people that look and behave like them. What UGC have you seen out there that’s been created for the zoo (by visitors), and have you used any strategies to incorporate that into your different media and channels?

Cyle Perez
Actually, what I found most interesting about the report was the idea of incentivizing UGC to happen. We’ve seen this done before, but it’s not something the San Antonio Zoo has considered. 

We’ve worked with influencers and creators. Really just for getting people excited. For instance, in the “Cry Me a Cockroach” campaign, you can name a cockroach after your ex, and then we feed it to an animal. That’s millennial gold. People love to see it. It’s petty, and so that gets its own traction.

The best content that we’re seeing, and the best traction we’re seeing, is from user-generated content. It almost doesn’t matter how much we get influencers involved or how much content we generate on our own. It’s the UGC that’s actually going to go viral and get a further reach than whatever we pre-plan and push out there. So, I really loved reading about the idea of incentivizing.

We have around 200,000 followers on Instagram. If we were to reshare somebody who tags us, that excites the audience, that excites the customer who we are resharing because you’re getting all these eyeballs that you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten. In a way, that is an incentive to be featured on the San Antonio Zoo page. People love the zoo; in turn, we can truly get this authentic content that comes from the voice of our guests.

Theme #6 – Stock Photography is Out

Learn more about why marketing and communications professionals are avoiding stock photography. Read the full theme and research in the State of Social and User-Generated Content. 

David Ramirez
Another big trend that we’re seeing this year is that people are done with stock photography.  Folks are quick to identify the same picture in that mortgage commercial, that was also in that foot cream ad, that’s now in this influencer ad, and so on. What are your thoughts on stock photography?

Cyle Perez
This report sheds light on the next generation and what they’re interested in, and truly it’s transparency. Stock photography doesn’t lend itself to any of that. I think it really helped us, as marketers, in a new world where we have to get all this content out there. We’ve got to build graphics. We got to build billboards and show people the experience. 

But after a while, as the new generation came up, we know that’s not the experience. I’ve seen that same photo in all these different areas. We have an in-house team of a videographer, a photographer, and a bunch of cute animals. So we can create our own content and it’s important for us to do so. Every event that we have we staff a photographer. But, I think it’s really important to have authentic photos that show the experience.

No matter what event I go to, I want to see what that experience will be like before I get there. That’ll make me decide whether I want to spend my time doing it. It’s important to use original content. Stock photos are a little inauthentic.

Theme #7 – Influencers vs. Creators

David Ramirez
The next theme is about more clearly defining the boundaries between what is an influencer and what is a creator. How do you approach influencers and creators as you’re doing your planning?

Cyle Perez
We’re still at the beginning stages of exploring this world. We’re creating a “Zoo Troop,” as we call it. It’s kind of like a club of influencers. They have audiences that aren’t necessarily our audience. We have a large audience, but it’s in a particular field. People who want to see cute animals. They might not necessarily live in San Antonio. They could live all around the world and follow us because of our social presence. But, we need people to physically come through the zoo in San Antonio, Texas. 

I look for influencers that kind of have that audience that might not necessarily be our traditional [audience]. I might go to a foodie influencer who would enjoy coming to our Zoo-la-la event, where we have over 50 restaurants come through and serve food. 

Theme #8 – Ratings & Reviews

David Ramirez
The final theme is ratings and reviews. We are seeing people asking for more and more of them. How are you dealing with these sorts of expectations to see more customer testimonials, and how are you amping up your efforts to collect them?

Cyle Perez
That’s why I really love this report. We’re starting to expand in this world and start to consider these things as a top priority. Of course, we want good ratings. We want to ensure that we leave a satisfied guess after they experience our attraction. But we need to start utilizing that more. We have a survey that we send guests, but we don’t do anything with it on our end. 

I think people really respect the transparency of seeing a review or understanding how people perceive you. You always want to make sure that you ask and that you encourage people or even incentivize people to give you that rating.

David Ramirez
What was the most interesting or surprising fact that you found in the report?

Cyle Perez
The most interesting theme to me was about UGC being the most trustworthy content. Then, seeing the graph of where everything landed and what was important to people. Influencers have kind of gone in and out a little bit. The consumer is realizing people are paying these people; are they that trustworthy? It’s fun to see how the market changes as the consumer becomes knowledgeable of how the backend works. Truly the marketer isn’t behind the curtain anymore. We are all experiencing it together, and we’re all holding each other accountable. 

David Ramirez
Where can people go to learn more about the San Antonio Zoo?

Cyle Perez
They can go to sazoo.org. We have 21+ events. We have children’s programming. We have behind-the-scenes where you can pet a rhino or feed a hippo. And all of it’s in the name of conservation. Any money you spend there is all in the name of good. We hope to see you soon.

—-

Download your copy of the 2023 State of Social & UGC to dive deep into the eight themes that will impact the marketing and communications teams across industries.

The post Interview with Cyle Perez – State of Social & UGC appeared first on TINT.

Micro-influencers are bumping mega-influencers out of the way. Social Commerce has gone mainstream. Employees are now all marketers. Social Media supports a variety of goals and is getting bigger than ever. Dig into the top 50 user-generated content stats

Looking for even more UGC stats? The User-Generated Content Marketing Stats You Need to Know

Key User-Generated Content Stats for Marketers

The right user-generated content platform is more important than ever as a turbulent global landscape leads consumers to expect brands to show a real, more authentic face. With screentime at an all-time high, people are constantly creating and engaging with content. 

1. 93% of marketers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands. People trust people. (State of UGC Report)
2. 41.2% of marketers rank engagement as their top key performance indicator (KPI) for social and content marketing. (State of UGC Report)
3. 75% of marketers know that adding UGC makes brand content more authentic. (State of UGC Report)
4. 59.8% of marketers agree that authenticity and quality are equally important elements of successful content. (State of UGC Report)
5. 66% of consumers think transparency is one of a brand’s most attractive qualities. 

Marketers are Stretched Thin, in a Content Crunch

It is no surprise that 2020 left marketing departments stretched thin and hurting for resources. Savvy marketers are turning to user-generated content and employee-generated content to fix their content crunch. Not only does UGC and EGC save time, but it also is more authentic and performs better than brand-created narratives.

1. 72.2% of all marketers report having more responsibilities now than ever before. They are looking for new and creative opportunities to save time. (State of UGC Report)
   
2. 52% of marketers believe that time is a challenge when it comes to social and visual content production.  (State of UGC Report)
3. 41% of marketers feel headcount (departmental staffing) is a challenge when it comes to content production. (State of UGC Report)
4. 43.1% of marketers reported that it is challenging to manually find engaging user-generated content. (State of UGC Report)

Think Small! Micro-influencers are here to stay.

As influencer marketing continues to evolve, more and more marketers are finding that uber-influencers with their enormous followings are not driving action like they used to. Micro-influencers activated en-masse are more engaging, higher performing, and cost-effective alternative to digital celebrities.

Need a refresher on Micro- and Nano-Influencers? Read our article.

1. 75% of marketers are currently working with micro-influencers. (State of UGC Report)
2. 300% increase in the number of micro-influencers used by companies since 2016.
3. Only 14% of influencers are fully compliant with the Federal Trade Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority.
4. Micro-influencers see 7x the amount of engagement over mega-influencers, and that number is even higher on TikTok.
5. 80% of social media livestream viewers say they’re likely to buy a product as a result of the endorsement of their favorite influencers.
6. What’s the use of an Influencer Campaign?
   • 40% of companies run influencer campaigns to spread awareness. 
   • 36% of companies use influencer campaigns to drive sales. 
   • 24% of companies use influencer campaigns to specifically encourage and obtain user-generated content.
7.  47% of marketers will spend their influencer budget on micro-influencers.

Social Commerce goes Mainstream

Countless consumers adopted new technologies in the face of the global pandemic.  Social Commerce entered 2020 as a powerful tactic and exited the year as the top tool for eCommerce. Retailers now know that shoppers are willing to buy their product whenever the opportunity presents itself, on- and off-network.

1. U.S. Social Commerce is expected to increase by 34.8%, growing the industry to $31.4 billion. The trend is expected to continue with Social Commerce accounting for almost $40 billion by the year 2022.
2. 60% of people say they have discovered new products on Instagram.
3. People are buying on Social Media
   • • 40% of consumers have made a purchase via Facebook. 
     • 13% have made a purchase via Instagram. 
     • 12% have made a purchase via Pinterest.
4. 50% of global eCommerce sales happen on mobile devices.
5. 55.4% of global internet users have bought something online using a mobile device.
6. 27.5% of global social media users list “Researching Products to Buy” as their primary reason why they log in.
7. 44.8% of global social media users have used social networks to research information about brands.
8. 55.9% of female, and 51% of male, Gen Z’ers (Zoomers) visit social media networks to search for information about brands.
   

Social Media Transforms Organizations

This year we turn to the Hootsuite Social Transformation Report to better understand how modern organizations are expanding their use of social. Social is no longer perceived as “just” a tool for Marketing and Communications. The world’s top companies are using social media to achieve cross-organizational benefits that increase brand health and directly drive revenue.

1. 67% of established organizations have used social media to build strong relationships that benefit the business.
2. 84% of mature organizations have used social media to improve brand health indicators like consumer sentiment, share of voice, and perceived brand value. 
3. 78% of marketers agree that social media empowered them to reach prospects more efficiently than other media.
4. 28% of organizations report that they can directly attribute revenue to social media engagement.
5. 58% of organizations with established social media programs have tracked sales that can be, at least, partially attributed to social media.
6. 78% of marketers consider Facebook the most effective for reaching business goals. This is followed closely by Instagram (70%) and LinkedIn (42%).  

An Eye on Customer Experience and Consumer Perspective

Customer service is fully social with many brands launching dedicated social media handles and teams to provide service across channels.  Your customers want to connect and expect a response regardless of where it is on the internet.

1. 50% of consumers wish brands would guide them in creating content.  (State of UGC Report)
2. 46% of organizations (B2B and B2C) are confident that their social media followers are more valuable than customers they don’t engage with.
3. 81% of marketing professionals believe social data analysis tools will be the most important resource for generating customer insights.
4. 42% of users expect customer support inquiries submitted on social media to be responded to within an hour, if not sooner.
5. 1.4 billion people use messaging apps (like Facebook Messenger and WeChat) and are willing to talk to chatbots.
6. 33% of users would rather have a social media customer care service than one by telephone or email.
7. 71% of customers will recommend your brand if they have a positive customer service experience through social media. 

Employee-Powered Marketing

The power is with the people. Marketing is increasingly powered by the entire organization. Elaborate employee advocacy programs are surfacing that encourage, and sometimes incentivize, staff to support marketing efforts on their own personal channels.  Expect to see an employee-generated content boom during 2021.

1. 24x – Number of times a brand message was reshared when distributed by employees instead of brand social accounts.  (State of UGC Report)
2. 33% of employees will post messages, pictures, or videos about their employer without any encouragement from their company. That number increased to 50% with direct company encouragement.
3. 58.8% of employees in a formal employee advocacy program spent at least 5 hours promoting their employer each week.
4.  42% of marketers say employees don’t share branded content because they’re afraid of saying something they shouldn’t on social. 

Social Is Bigger Than Ever

Nothing can slow the spread of Social. This year’s 2021 Global State of Digital Report is tracking explosive growth around the world. The report is a recommended read. Here are our favorite stats. 

• 4.2 Billion active social media users worldwide, that’s over half the world’s population.
• 2 hours 25 minutes, the global average amount of time people aged 16 – 64 spend on social media.
• 44.8% of the globe uses social media to find information on brands or visit corporate accounts.
• 74% of all North Americans are on social media. More specifically (from North to South):
  • 84.4% of Canadians
  • 72.3% of Americans
  • 77.2% of Mexicans
• American social media users grew by 4.3%. That’s over 10 million unique individual users added in 2020.  

Other User-Generated Content Trends

We always have our eyes on the horizon. Digital trends are being adopted at breakneck speeds.

1. 75.5% of marketers are considering virtual events in 2021. (State of UGC Report)
2. 48% of consumers will try or otherwise engage with augmented or virtual reality before the end of 2021.
3. 40.7% of global internet users have used or scanned a QR code in the past month.
4.  55% of 13- to 35-year-olds send memes every week. 30%+ send them daily. 

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The numbers don’t lie. These user-generated content stats show that UGC is here to stay.  User-generated content, employee-generated content, and micro-influencers are the most effective tools for marketers. Learn how TINT helps the world’s top brands engage with their consumers. Schedule time with one of our experts today.

The post The Big List of User-Generated Content Stats appeared first on TINT.

Academic Research

eWord-of-Mouth

Academia seems to be struggling with UGC vs eWOM too. A 2020 publication in the Journal of Marketing and Consumer Research is simply titled, “Is It Possible for ‘Electronic Word-of-Mouth’ and ‘User-Generated Content’ to be Used Interchangeably?”. 

There seem to be two primary camps in academic circles. One believes that “UGC is a form of eWOM”. The other posits that “UGC is broader than eWOM”. 

The use of Word-Of-Mouth, regarding marketing, is well established in marketing canon. One of the earliest recorded references was in a 1967 literature review by the Advertising Research Foundation. Early marketing texts start to develop the idea of “not commercial[ly] motivated” content (such as WOM) being a driver of action.  

We don’t see a practical eWOM definition until 2004 when an article in the Journal of Interactive Marketing creates a framework for it. The researchers were to answer the question “what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet?” They established four criteria for an eWOM statement. 

Elements of eWOM:

1. Positive or Negative Statement
2. Made by Potential, Actual, or Former Customers
3. Made about a Product, Service, or Company
4. Made widely available to “multitude of people and institutions” through the internet

Subsequent efforts to define eWOM were variations on this framework. Some scholars rejected that statements must be positive or negative, allowing neutral commentary to be included in the consideration and thereby paving the way for what would become net promoter score criteria.

Others took issue with “potential customers” being included in the discussion, attempting to pull that piece of the conversation into the discipline of reputation management. Newer research has worked to add additional criteria like information exchange to make eWOM more dynamic and communicative in nature. 

User-Generated Content

UGC also has an established and varied history. Perhaps the best historical perspective on UGC can be found in Axel Bruns’s simply titled “User-Generated Content” published in the 2016 International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. 

Bruns suggests that UGC first began with the “participative” internet. This was early communication platforms, beginning in 1990, with platforms like bullet board systems and internet relay chat. At this point, “user-created content” was also used to reference the multitude of pages, content, and code that was being created by early technologists. The new renaissance of UGC began a decade later when sites like Xanga, Geocities, and Friendster created new opportunities for the emerging digital natives and hobbyists to generate content. 

Formalization of UGC as a term of art within marketing and communications seems to have started with the release of a 2006 Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) publication called “Digital Content Strategies and Policies”. 

OECD UGC Definition

1. Must be published and available online. 
2. Must be a creative effort using written and/or visual media.
3. Must be created by a “user” outside of any professional capacity. 

Additional scholarly discussion argues about the term “professional”. If a marketer creates a piece of UGC about an unrelated subject, is that no longer UGC because it was created by a professional? 

There are also questions about Influencer Marketing and incentivization of content. Many UGC definitions require that content is created without “expectation of remuneration or profit”. If a business hosts a contest or promotion to drive content creation or acquisition, is that content still UGC? 

Many scholars have firmly drawn a line in the sand that it is the creative effort and content created by an “end-user” that defines UGC. Incentives, promotions, or tactics used by marketers to acquire content are simply tools for aggregation. They do not change the inherent nature of the content. 

eWOM vs UGC

Both eWOM and UGC have long histories and uses in both practice and academia. They are both involved with the sharing of information, opinion, and perspective across digital media. 

However, eWOM is more limited in scope. eWOM, by definition, is generally written content about specific commercial transactions or experiences. It is an information-driven perspective that requires that existing, or possible, transactional relationship to happen. 

UGC does not require a direct commercial relationship to function. UGC can be created about a variety of topics, experiences, and places. This means that UGC can be created about both concrete and abstract concepts. A photo can be created about a meal or a holiday. A review can be written about a concert and a political movement. Video can be created about dramatical satire and satirical drama. 

UGC also encompasses the ever-widening varieties of media. User Content can now be vlogs, micro-video, or AR/VR experiences; and as technology evolves the available media will evolve with it. 

Search Trends

Academia feeds practice and vice-versa. We also reviewed search trends as a pulse-check on UGC vs eWOM. We looked at both abbreviations and spelled-out terms to ensure a higher degree of accuracy. We’ve limited search trends to the United States to account for other popular uses of UGC abroad.

Considering UGC vs eWOM, UGC has a higher prevalence in search terms throughout the United States. eWOM as an abbreviation in incredibly weak with the full user-generated content search term having the occasional spike in popularity.

Focusing on Business and Industrial as a topic increases the trend interest over time. eWOM is virtually nonexistent. UGC continues to own the trend with only occasional spikes of user-generated content to momentarily leapfrog its popularity.

Looking at more recent trends, UGC is a significant force in the trendlines.

Again limiting the trends to Business and Industrial starts to see more spikes in variability. It is only recently that eWOM even starts to register as a competitive trend against UGC. This could be due to the increased usage in both academia and practice. Either way, UGC still holds strong as the common phrase for this particular use.

Whatever side of the UGC vs eWOM conversation you prefer, TINT creates tools that support the world’s top brands as they engage with the content created by their customers. Discover the power of TINT and chat with one of our UGC (or are they eWOM?) specialists today.

The post User-generated content vs eWord-of-Mouth (UGC vs eWOM) appeared first on TINT.

If we are truly influenced by observing others, then social cognitive theory would have wide application in relation to user-generated content (UGC) and the behavior brand’s want the audience to replicate. After all, when we look at influencers’ and social media users’ posts and photography, we watching what those folks do: the products they use, the places they travel and the events they attend. This blog post highlights some of the key points of social cognitive theory that Krcmar presented in her book as well as impacts on UGC and influencer marketing.

Four Processes Required for Modeling Observed Behavior

Observing behavior is not enough to merely replicate it. Krcmar says that there are four processes that we must go through before we adopt the behavior.

First, we have to make sure that we’re paying attention. As Krcmar notes, “If a behavior is not observed and attended to, then it cannot be imitated.” This is where partnering with an influencer—even a smaller scale micro or nanoinfluencer—can really help a brand. Those influencers already command the attention of a loyal audience, so your brand is already able to overcome the first hurdle when it comes to getting people to actually pay attention to what’s happening.

But paying attention is not enough—to model behavior we must also retain the message we saw. By showcasing authentic, user-generated content in your social channels and online, you increase the frequency with which your followers are exposed to the message. This repetition of your message makes it more likely to be retained. And through securing the user content rights, you can repurpose the UGC in your paid digital marketing efforts to further drive audience retention.

“Motor reproduction” is the third process that drives a user to adopt a behavior—a person must have the physical skills needed to perform the modeled behavior. This won’t be applicable for most lifestyle products but could make sense for more adventure and sporting products. Put simply, individuals without the physical skills to use your product will not become a consumer.

Motivation is the final key to adopting a behavior. As Krcmar writes, “unless he or she wants to actually perform the behavior, modeling does not occur.” This motivation is largely influenced by what researchers term “self-efficacy,” or the perception that the individual could actually reproduce that behavior they’ve observed.

Consider a dieting product, such as Weight Watchers. Even if the dieting behavior has caught the attention of an individual, they have retained the message and have the physical skills to model it, if the person lacks the conviction that “I can follow this diet,” there’s no way they’re becoming a Weight Watchers customer. Grounding a consumer in the belief that they too can “do this” to achieve results, a lifestyle or experience is key in getting a person to model behavior. This is where UGC can have the most impact.

Identification with the Influencer and Other Consumers is Key

The key to self-efficacy, says Krcmar, is seeing people who look like us already modeling a behavior. She writes, “In short: Successfully modeled actions performed by people like us make us feel like we can do the same, as can verbal encouragement and our own internal sense of confidence.”

This is why user-generated content marketing strategies are so powerful for brands. By showing a wide variety of people using your products or services, prospective customers are able to see themselves in that media. And that can translate to sales.

They see a person with a similar social stature clutching a designer purse and realize that dream is within reach. Seeing someone with a similar body shape and size going through a dieting program makes them believe that decreasing their weight is achievable. And seeing folks from a similar walk of life staying at a luxury hotel and destination can make them believe that is attainable.

With social media, a brand’s spokesperson has evolved from being purely a famous actor to now being either (1) a normal person who’s part of an individual’s real-life network creating online posts of their brand experience, or (2) an admired online celebrity who may (or may not) be contracted as a brand influencer.

“In both cases,” Krcmar writes, “identification with the person modeling the behavior would likely be stronger than for an actor on television or in a film with whom the user may not identify. Thus, the self-selecting nature of social media audiences might actually increase modeling outcomes.”

Start Your UGC Strategy with TINT

Social cognitive theory is only one of many media effects theories, but it is  widely accepted by communication researchers. As the research has illuminated, we as humans clearly wish to model observed behaviors. And it is not a far leap to see that user-generated content can be a major driver in eliciting a number of effects on an audience.

If your brand is looking to start a UGC program, TINT is here to help. We not only have a platform to aggregate user-generated content that you can easily select to repurpose on your website, social media accounts or digital signage, we also offer a user rights management system to ensure that you secure the permission to repurpose those images. Schedule a demo to learn more about TINT today.

The post Social Cognitive Theory: Behavior Modeling Effects of UGC appeared first on TINT.

A few years ago, some marketers thought that user-generated content wouldn’t leave a significant mark. 

Today, user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful weapon that every marketer needs to have in their arsenal. Let’s take a look at these amazing user-generated content statistics to see why you’ll want to take advantage of UGC.

Looking for the latest stats? Get the latest UGC and community research 

Key UGC Stats to Remember

1. Ads based on user-generated content receive 4 times higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click compared to average ads.
2. More than half of consumers (50%) wish that brands would tell them what type of content to create and share.
3. As few as 16% of brands have a strategy regarding user-generated content.
4. More than 86% of companies today use user-generated content as part of their marketing strategy.   
5. When users create and share content on social media channels, they get 28% higher engagement compared to standard company posts.

Inbound Marketing and UGC

6. One-quarter of search results (25%) for the world’s biggest brands are links to user-generated content.
7. Websites with featured user content saw a 20% increase in return visitors. Additionally, these websites recorded a whopping 90% increase in time spent on-site.
8. Almost half of customers (48%) claim that user-generated content is a great method for them to discover new products and this can be accelerated with product sampling.        
9. It is estimated that companies can receive a traffic increase of 26% when they share customer reviews on Twitter.
10. Almost half of marketing professionals (48%) think that content created by customers helps humanize their marketing.
11. 34% of TINT users and 45% of marketers agree that user-generated content helps improve social media campaigns.
12. 41% of marketers rank content engagement as their top KPI.
13. On average, UGC can save brands the expense of a dedicated content producer ($72,000).
14. For 43% of TINT users and 42% of non-TINT users, UGC is an essential component of their marketing strategy.
15. User-generated content drives a 73% increase in email click-through-rates.

User-generated Content and Buying Decisions Stats

User-generated content is proven to help drive conversions and sales.

16. There has been an increase of 29% in web conversions when websites featured user-generated content.
17. A whopping 84% of millennial consumers claim that user-generated content on company websites has influenced the way they do online shopping to some extent.
18. A significant 70% of consumers will consider UGC reviews or ratings before making a purchasing decision. At least 41% of them will read four to seven UGC reviews to gain important insights on a product. 
19. On-site consumer reviews can increase conversions by 74%.  
20. A significant 64% of consumers will not only strongly consider online reviews, but they will also actively seek them out before making a final purchasing decision.
21. 71% of consumers state that online reviews are important when considering buying electronics, appliances, home décor, and others.
22. A staggering 93% of customers believe user-generated content is very helpful when making a purchasing decision.
23. User-generated content is 20% more influential than any other kind of media when it comes to millennial buyers.   
24. Brands saw over a 50% conversion rate for visitors to pages featuring UGC. **

• **(“VMLY&R used TINT as part of a campaign to drive engagement for beIN SPORTS. Through their use of Experience Builder, they ran a contest to give away GOALden tickets. 5 trips during the season to watch beloved soccer teams in Europe. To date, the campaign has seen an almost 50% conversion rate for all visitors to the experience builder page.)

B2B Marketing and UGC

25. Brand messages are re-shared up to 24 times more when distributed by your employees instead of a brand.
26. Employee-shared content gets 8 times more engagement than content shared by brands.
27. An employee advocacy program with 1,000 participants can generate up to $1,900,000 in advertising value, according to a study.
28. Employees may get up to 10 times more followers than a brand’s corporate account, as well as get more organic social engagement. 

UGC doesn’t only work in the B2C industry. On the contrary, B2B companies can also make great use of this type of content.

Stats on Customer Trust and User-generated Content

29.  A whopping 70% of consumers trust online peer reviews and recommendations more than professional content and copy.
30. Almost half of the millennial consumers (44%) trust experienced consumers over family and friends when it comes to making a purchasing decision.
31. A staggering 87% of brands take advantage of user-generated content with the aim to share more authentic content, and 72% believe that it helps them engage their audience better.   
32. Finally, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people, even if it’s people they don’t know.
33. 75% of respondents claim that UGC makes content more authentic.

Gen Z and UGC

34. 35% of Gen Z believes that in the next 3-5 years, user-generated content will have more credibility than content created by a company or independent source.
35. In the near future (3-5 years), smartphone usage will lead to an increase in the number of consumers who prefer to watch UGC on mobile phones by 12%. 
36. 84% of this generation are more likely to trust a company if it uses actual customers in its ads. 
37. Gen Z’s attention is most effectively attracted by brand influencers who post authentic UGC.

Millennial Consumers and Content Generation

38. Millennial consumers (25+ years of age) are considered to be the biggest content drivers. They contribute to over 70% of all UGC for ambassador marketing.
39. Millennial consumers spend 18 hours a day engaged in various types of media. 30% of that time is spent watching user-generated media.
40. Millennial consumers believe that user-generated content is 35% more memorable than other media.   
41. This may come as a surprise, but only 1% of millennial consumers claim that a compelling advertisement would make them trust a brand more.

User-generated Content and Video Marketing

42. Almost half of the people (45%) watch over an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos on a weekly basis.
43. Engagement increases by 28% when consumers can view a mixture of user-generated product videos and official brand-authored content.

Case Studies on User-generated Content

44. A UGC-centered campaign from Burberry saw a 50% increase in eCommerce sales year-over-year.   
45. Tourism Queensland ran a campaign encouraging users to apply for the “best job in the world” and be a caretaker for a tropical island, with the aim to increase social activity and exposure. More than 35,000 people created video applications, resulting in $368 million worth of media coverage, 8.4 million unique website visits, and 55 million page views.
46. Using social media channels as their main voting platforms in a campaign focused on UGC, Lays got more than 22 million visits a week to the campaign’s competition Facebook page during the voting phase. Sales increased by 12% for that year.

Wrapping Up

There is no denying that user-generated content converts far more effectively than branded content alone. From an employee selfie at work to a full IG video, display on websites, in social, in ads, or social walls UGC drives trust and boosts sales.

Essential for driving awareness, consideration, and sales, UGC is your most powerful content marketing tool.

Schedule time with our UGC experts today to learn how TINT can help support your marketing goals. 

The post 46 Mind-Blowing Stats About User-Generated Content appeared first on TINT.

Unresponsive apps and websites, one-size-fits all customer service or marketing campaigns, and the glossy, branded content that used to move the needle just won’t make an impact with Gen Z. They expect authenticity, transparency, new levels of convenience, deep personalization and engagement with not just your brand, but its products, employees and customers. They want to see how you operate in the world — from your values in action to the User Generated Content that showcases why your products and brand matter in the first place. It’s a tall order.

But with Gen Z climbing to 40% of all consumers in 2020, it’s an order that savvy marketers everywhere will happily embrace. Already, they wield $44 million in buying power.

The trends are clear: Gen Z isn’t just online to connect and share stories. They’re also trying to discover new brands to follow and products to buy.

Who is this generation, and how can you effectively gain their attention when they shop?

Since we’re all about social media storytelling, led by users and fans, we spent some time exploring this generation’s story. We wanted to create a simple, easy-to-use guide that covered everything you need to know about:

• Gen Z’s size, reach and identity
• Challenges of marketing to this generation
• How to optimize content for Gen Z

The result is our ebook “Marketing to Gen Z.” We took a deep dive into the stats that matter and the ways marketers can engage this generation.

Trust is more important than ever before to this generation in particular. And fueling that trust is vibrant, authentic User-Generated Content that has never been more critical.

Download the eBook to learn everything you need to know about marketing to Gen Z.

The post Ebook: Marketing to Gen Z appeared first on TINT.

There’s an explosion of brands leveraging UGC (user-generated content) and it’s no surprise given that people trust other people more than brand messages. In fact, the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index reports that 92 percent of consumers trust UGC more than they trust traditional advertising.

Out of the five total nominees for this year’s Emmy awards, two ads for Apple created by the agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab are compiled almost entirely from user-generated content.

The Earth Day spot titled “Don’t Mess With Mother” is an impressive collection of footage taken on iPhones from the long-running Shot on iPhone campaign.

“Make Something Wonderful” from the Behind the Mac campaign features candid shots and behind the scenes type content from a wide variety of well-known and not so well known artists and creatives.

Other spots contending for the 2019 award are Nike’s “Dream Crazy”, Netflix’s “A Great Day in Hollywood”, and “Point of View” from Sandy Hook Promise.

If this year is any indicator, UGC will continue to evolve the advertising world by allowing brands to spotlight the authentic voices of their fans and customers.

The post UGC stars in commercials nominated for Emmy appeared first on TINT.

The Research

The study, “Selectively Emotional: How Smartphone Use Changes User-Generated Content”, was conducted by Shiri Melumad (Assistant Professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania), J. Jeffery Inman (Professor at the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania), and Michal Tuan (Professor at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University).  They analyzed five studies, conducting most of them themselves, to test for use of emotional language in UGC. The big question considers whether “smartphones [are] just an additional platform for creating UGC, or are these devices fundamentally changing the nature of the content…?”

• Study 1: Analyzed two data sets, focused on restaurant reviews, from TripAdvisor. The first set considered over 29,000 reviews in Philadelphia. The second set included over 30,000 reviews in San Francisco.  

• Study 2: Students were asked to review their most recent on-campus dining hall experience on either a smartphone or desktop computer.

• Study 3: Participants were asked to complete a “Restaurant Experience Survey” on either a smartphone or desktop.

• Study 4: Participants were asked to write a restaurant review focused on one of three randomly assigned areas: a positive review, a negative review, or their most recent experience either positive or negative.

• Study 5: Analyzed usage of 32 hashtags on Twitter, constituting over 70,000 unique tweets.

Lessons Learned

1. Smartphones and Brevity
   The inherent convenience of smart devices pushes users towards creating brief, or more concise, forms of content. The emotional language in UGC created on these devices is filled with strong, specific reactions. The word choice may not be the most eloquent, but it is filled with telling and descriptive language.

2. Desktops and the Long Form
   Conversely, desktop-created media tends to feature a more restrained emotional language in UGC. Individuals, generally, have had time to mull over the moment and develop a clearer narrative of the experience. Desktop-Created content focuses more on nuance. It will often delve into the minutiae of the experience, not just focus on the highlights.
   
   
3. “Temporal Proximity”
   Absence makes the heart grow fonder. When people create and share UGC on their smartphones, they  capture the moment. Their UGC is often shared in real-time. Desktop-created UGC is often viewed through a gap in time. The user must return to their home or office to create their content. This allows time for the emotions to simmer, perspectives to clear, and time to allow themselves to be suaded by outside influences.
   

The Comparison

Mobile-Created User Generated Content

• Created in real-time.
• Captures emotions and immediate opinions of a brand or experience.
• Tends to take briefer forms.
• Greater use of emotional language in UGC.

Desktop-Created User Generated Content

• Created after “simmering”.
• Captures more holistic perspectives of a brand or experience.
• Tends towards longer forms.
• Greater use of impassive language.

What this means for Marketers

Calls-to-Action

Consider how your call-to-action feeds into your user generated content needs. If you are seeking images and content that speaks with emotional language, then encourage mobile use. Utilize mobile-first websites and apps that improve the way users share their content. If you are seeking longer-form feedback or written social proof, then incentivize the desktop user to create that content. Allow for desktop-only versions of your site with specific calls-to-action to write out longer reviews.

Social Monitoring

Does your current listening strategy consider whether the content was originally created on a phone or desktop? Social media marketers and managers are often the first line of defense against bad generated media. Work to deploy tools that identify source devices and consider the language difference between each platform.

User Generated Content Marketers

There is an endless number of possibilities and opportunities to leverage user generated content in existing marketing strategies. Mobile-Created content like photos and video capture the emotional authenticity of an experience. Desktop-Created content can speak to the authority and realness of social proof. Being able to identify and separate these types of content is an important skill for any UGC marketers.

Whether the content is created on a phone or desktop, TINT finds, curates, and displays authentic user generated content. Schedule a demo today and explore the many ways to use user generated content in your marketing strategy.

The post Emotional Language in UGC: Desktop vs. Mobile appeared first on TINT.

If so, you’re not alone.

In fact, 64% of consumers will actively seek out reviews before they commit to handing over their money.

Source: v12data

Reviews, and user-generated content (UGC) in general, are making marketing more authentic. Content created by customers has magic powers that marketers can’t recreate themselves – more time, anyone? How about increased engagement?

We frequently release new research on UGC and community marketing. To find out just how powerful UGC is today, we surveyed 500 organizations about the role it plays in their businesses, the challenges it helps them overcome, and how they integrate it into their wider marketing efforts.

Our respondents came from far and wide. 42% were TINT users, while 58% were non-TINT users in marketing and branding roles.

We asked a lot, and we learned a lot along the way. Here’s what we uncovered:

1. UGC Makes Marketing Human

75% of respondents claimed that UGC makes content more authentic.

Now that consumers are craving deeper connections with brands, the need for authentic content is greater than ever.

The future might look like a robot-infested sci-fi dystopia, but what consumers actually want is a human-to-human relationship with businesses, and UGC can help.

48% of marketing professionals believe that content created by customers can help humanize their marketing, believing that it’s an effective way to interact and connect with their people.

But why is authentic content so important for success?

Because it has been proven to produce increased engagement and conversions. Word-of-mouth recommendations the most influential, as 84 percent of global respondents across 58 countries to the Nielsen online survey said this source was the most trustworthy. This suggests that the authentic approach to content is the best-practice approach.

2. UGC is a Powerful Tool for Boosting Social Media Metrics

While authentic content is a top priority for marketers, they’re still tied to metrics like social media stats. Numbers show growth, so it makes sense that numeric goals are still an important part of a successful marketing strategy.

34% of TINT users surveyed and 45% of marketing professionals agreed that UGC helps increase those all-important social media stats.

This shows that UGC can have a powerful impact on all parts of the marketing funnel, right from the awareness stage through to the sale.

Many marketers struggle to measure the success of their content, but because of the social nature of UGC and its effect on engagement (more on that in a bit), it’s easier to measure results in a traditional, numbers-focused way.

3. UGC Supports Wider Marketing Campaigns

With limited time and resources, marketing teams are often stuck when it comes to creating enough content for an entire marketing campaign – particularly if they’re running more than one at any given time.

We learned from the survey that UGC provides practical value for marketers, in that it gives them higher-quality content at scale.

With an increase in content ready and waiting to be distributed, campaigns are more supported, showing that UGC can have an important impact beyond just the top of the funnel.

4. Increasing Engagement is the Main Goal

41% of marketing professionals ranked content engagement as their top KPI.

This was placed above numeric stats like follower counts, impressions, and even the total number of leads.  

For TINT users in particular, creating enough quality content was also high on the list, with 18% naming it as their top KPI. Further down the line, 10% were focused on generating leads, while 9% wanted to boost brand value.

And, for the non-TINT users, there was a similar result. 16% put creating content as their main KPI, while 15% wanted to focus on awareness.

This shows that UGC is an effective top of the funnel and inbound tool that’s a key driver in boosting engagement.

By displaying UGC at first and second customer touch points, marketers are finding it easier to generate the impressions and engagement they need to hit their monthly or quarterly goals.

5. Traditional Advertising is Not Effective Anymore

Now that consumers are more in control of their internet habits and are considerably more skeptical about advertising than they used to be, traditional methods of promotion are no longer cutting it.

The number of adblockers downloaded each year is on the rise. Source.

Adblockers are on the rise, and consumers are getting savvier by the day when it comes to separating ads from non-ads. Because of this, we’ve found that marketers are turning towards SEO, social, and content as methods for attracting, converting, and retaining customers.

The main reason for this pivot is that, when done right, content marketing is perceived as authentic by prospects and customers.

6. Time is the Biggest Setback

36% of TINT users surveyed admitted their biggest concern when it came to content marketing was not having enough time.

With the incredibly quick cadence of the internet, this just shows how important modern forms of marketing are in order to stay on top of the game.

Consumers are inundated with online content multiple times every single day. The biggest challenge for marketers is cutting through the noise with a high quantity of content that is also high-quality.

For non-TINT users, 26% claimed poor performance was the biggest thing holding them back when it came to implementing a successful content strategy, while lack of content was the reason 24% of marketers weren’t seeing the success they wanted.

7. UGC is an Invaluable Tool in Any Marketing Arsenal

The study showed that, as marketers continue to deal with a lack of time and the increased need to generate more engagement, UGC will become more and more of an invaluable tool for marketers.

For 43% of TINT users and 42% of non-TINT users, it’s already a vital component of their marketing strategy.

As we move to an age that requires more authenticity and human connections, UGC might just be the golden ticket marketers have been searching for since the slow downfall of traditional methods.

8. UGC Can Be Leveraged Right Across the Marketing Funnel

The responses we received about how UGC is being used or can be used across campaigns varied greatly, ranging from demand gen emails, to presentations and marketing support.

Today, more than ever, consumers are constantly connected via mobile, which means brands need a multi-channel presence if they want to reach the right people in the right places. We found that the omni-channel presence for UGC is huge, with marketers choosing to add it to a diverse mix of marketing strategies.

And, when you consider that engagement is the number one aim for many marketers, this makes sense. According to research carried out by ComScore, brand engagement rises by 28% when consumers are exposed to a mixture of professional marketing content and UGC.

Digging into the specifics, our report showed that 27% of TINT users implemented UGC on designated microsites, 25% included it in presentations, and a further 27% made use of it in marketing campaign support.

For the general marketing professionals, 50% utilized UGC in email marketing, 58% implemented it in ad campaigns, and 49% used it to support their overall marketing campaigns.

9. UGC is an Effective Inbound Tool

The crux of the report boils down to this: UGC saves marketers time, and it can be applied to numerous different stages of the marketing funnel.

It’s not just a way to get bulk content quickly. Instead, it’s a tool that creates a library of authentic content that can be implemented at various consumer touch points to create a deeper, more connective marketing campaign.

What we learned from the report is that UGC shows great promise as a method for supporting mid and bottom of the funnel efforts.

In a time where traditional ads are floundering and marketers are having to find new ways to reach their audiences and build relationships with them, UGC is bridging the gap.

What Will the future bring for User Generated Content?

So, after the report, what can we expect to see in the world of UGC?

After learning that it’s one of the best marketing tools to produce and deliver authentic content, and that it generates an increase in engagement – the top KPI for many marketers – it’s safe to say that UGC will be sticking around in the new year.

As well as increased use of UGC on various different platforms, we can expect to see marketers implementing it in a range of creative ways, from email, ads, ambassador marketing campaigns, to presentations and more.

According to the report, it’s the perfect solution to the lack of time and resources marketers have to produce successful, powerful campaigns.

Using TINT, brands can drive new customer acquisition, secure emotional and long-term brand loyalty, and “future proof” with agile insights and ongoing data collection.

The post 9 Things We Learned From Our User Generated Content Study appeared first on TINT.