Eva Gutierrez, Author at TINT

Social Media is now a Search Engine

Eva Gutierrez — Wed, 31 May 2023 22:12:53 +0000

Social media is now a search engine. Social media platforms began as places for connecting with friends and family. Today, it’s evolved into something much different.

People spend an average of 65 minutes daily scrolling on social media platforms.

That’s 7.5 hours a week.

People are no longer using social media just to connect with friends and family. They also use it to seek out brands, new products, and influencers. This is social search, the newest iteration of the search engine.

As more and more people began using social media platforms to share and discover new products, brands, and experiences, social media platforms have transformed into powerful search engines.

In our 2023 State of Social and User-Generated Content Report, we found that the majority of consumers use social media as a search platform.

Here’s how brands can effectively leverage social media as a search engine to be well-positioned to reach and engage with potential customers in the digital age.

Social Media as a Search Engine Statistics 2023

According to our study, 75.78% of consumers have used social media to search for or discover new products and brands, and 68.75% of consumers have made a purchase based on something they saw on social media.

This highlights the significant role that social media plays in the process of finding and buying new things.

“Social platforms are evolving into search engines for consumers to discover brands and products. Monitoring what content is performing well in your industry can guide you on what content and influencers to work with on each of these platforms,” says Benjamin Beck, Director of Marketing at Tortuga Backpacks.

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are among the most popular platforms for such searches, with Facebook being particularly popular among older demographics. However, other platforms, such as Pinterest and TikTok, are also gaining traction as search engines for discovering new products and experiences.

This has now created a demand for marketing and digital practitioners who understand and can create content that is search engine optimized for social search. Welcome to Social SEO.

How Consumers Will Use Social Media as a Search Engine

If you were to peek over someone’s shoulder as they used social media as a search engine – what would you see?

At its most basic level, people use social media as a search engine by using the search function on various social media platforms to find products, brands, and experiences that interest them.

Many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, have a search bar at the top of the screen that allows users to search for specific terms or hashtags. If a consumer is interested in finding a new skincare brand, they could search for “skincare” or related hashtags on social media to see what brands and products appear in the search results.

One step beyond basic search is when people follow brands and influencers, hoping to find products that pique their interest. Since people trust user-generated content more than brand-created content, they prefer to seek the advice of their peers, which includes influencers and creators. This advice can come directly from the influencer or creator’s profile or be reposted on the brand’s account.

Melissa Wood Tepperberg is an influencer connecting with her audience over a healthy balanced lifestyle. Her health-related content creates a space where followers can look for aligned products. Melissa’s audience can scroll through her account to find supplements, beauty products, food, and clothing they know are Melissa-approved. Melissa’s team puts together holiday gift guides aligned based on the products she vouches for.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MWH (@melissawoodhealth)

Past searching and following influencers, social media users also use the platform to search for products within the content. Many social media platforms have “explore” or “discover” sections that recommend content to users based on their interests, which can be useful for finding new products and experiences. Instagram even shows related searches they think users would be interested in based on their behavior.

Consumers are using social media as a search engine and are becoming more adept at finding what they want on the platforms. As algorithms continue personalizing the scrolling experience, brands must cater to these algorithms to ensure they know their ideal viewer, follower, and buyers.

How Brands Can Use Social Media as a Search Engine

Brands can use social media as a search engine by creating a strong presence on the most popular social media platforms and optimizing their content for search. This can involve using relevant keywords and hashtags in their posts, using visually appealing and high-quality images, and including links to their website and products.

The key is giving algorithms the information they need to know that your content resonates with a specific audience. As social media platforms continue to lean into SEO, brands need to stay up-to-date on what they can do to increase visibility.

Here are a few tips to get started using social media as a search engine:

Use relevant keywords and hashtags: By including relevant keywords and hashtags in their social media posts, brands can increase the chances of their content appearing in search results.
Use visually appealing and high-quality images: Social media is a visual platform, so using visually appealing and high-quality images can help attract attention and increase engagement.
Include links to their website and products: By including links to their website and products in their social media posts, brands can make it easy for users to access more information and make a purchase.
Engage with followers and respond to comments and messages: By interacting with followers and responding to comments and messages in a timely manner, brands can increase engagement and help their content appear higher in search results.
Utilize paid advertising: Brands can use paid advertising on social media platforms to increase their visibility in search results and target specific demographics.

Social media as a search engine is just the beginning. As social platforms continue to build out the one-stop-shop experience of social media, brands can expect that the majority of their marketing will sit in a single funnel. The key to a successful social media SEO strategy is learning how to make that funnel works best for you. The best way to stay ahead is to know exactly what consumer trends will shape social media in the coming year.

Get access to our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report to see the six other themes that will change marketing in 2023. Get the report for free here.

The post Social Media is now a Search Engine appeared first on TINT.

Top UGC Statistics Shaping the Future

Eva Gutierrez — Tue, 02 May 2023 21:40:57 +0000

One scroll through social media and it’s clear that user-generated content has taken over the feed.

Consumers love seeing brand communities and customers share their experiences. They’re asking brands to post UGC – and scrolling past brand-created content at a, seemingly, faster rate than ever.

Each year, we compile a list of user-generated content statistics (and a few supporting stats!) that help marketers plan their campaigns and overall strategies. These statistics come from our 2023 State of User-Generated Content report, as well as past reports, and statistics from other sources.

Check out the need-to-know UGC statistics leading the 2023 marketing trends, and make sure to read the last section to get advice on how to take action.

Key User-Generated Content Marketing Stats to Remember

Consumers rank authentic UGC as the most trustworthy content. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
69.08% of marketers feel ratings and reviews are important to their conversion rates. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Only 23.03% of marketers always request rights to other people’s content – which means the remaining 76.97% could do a better job at doing this. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
78.51% of marketers are investing in video content in 2023 which isn’t surprising considering the 3 platforms marketers plan to increase activity on are TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
54.17% of marketers feel their team has the methodology to know what visual content will convert across marketing channels. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Only 19.52% of marketers feel like they have the resources and team to create visual content. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

UGC and Social Media Marketing Stats

75.78% of consumers have used social media to search for or discover products, brands, and experiences. Get ready, social media is turning into a search engine! (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
68.75% of consumers have purchased something they saw on social media. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Overall, consumers mostly use Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube (in that order) to search for new products, brands, and experiences. However, Gen Z and younger millennials (18-34) prefer Instagram for search. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
68.2% of marketers agree social contests and campaigns boost engagement and conversions. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Marketers are most active on Facebook, Instagram, and Linked In with Pinterest beating out TikTok for the fourth spot (TikTok is #5 most active platform). Marketers are the least active on YouTube. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Marketers plan to increase activity on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube in 2023. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
The top 3 challenges marketers are facing when producing social and visual content are budget, time, and engagement (in that order). Compared to 2022, time has replaced content quality as the second biggest challenge for marketers. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

User-Generated Content for Email Marketing Stats

Email click-through rates can increase by about 73% and produce more conversions when they include user-generated content.
Email is the preference for buyers over 45 years old in comparison to social media and other marketing channels. (State of User-Generated Content)
Email or social media? 4 out of 5 marketers said they’d rather give up social media than email marketing.
A 760% increase in revenue has been seen when marketers use segmented email campaigns.
Marketers are mainly publishing UGC to social media, advertising, and email marketing channels right now. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

Digital Advertising Meets User-Generated Content

62% of consumers report that they are more likely to click on content like ads, websites, social posts, or emails, that feature customer photos rather than an image created by the brand. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Buyers admit to being 4-6X more likely to buy from “purpose-driven” companies and advocate for them (through UGC and word-of-mouth referrals).
Cost-per-click has been seen to decrease by 50% with the addition of user-generated content in social media ads.
65.6% of consumers believe there is a difference between influencers and creators and 72.59% of marketers agree there is a difference between influencers and creators (here’s the difference).
53.73% of marketers agree influencer content converts higher than brand content. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
6 in 10 marketers report that their audience engages more with UGC in marketing and communications channels than branded content. (State of Social & User-Generated Content)
Only 18.2% of marketers always measure the performance of their content across marketing channels – which means the remaining 81.8% could do a better job at doing this. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
59.87% of marketers rely on stock video and photography for visual content even though 80.47% of consumers prefer seeing photos of real customers. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

User-Generated Content and Web Content Stats

The #1 marketing channel used is social media with a brand’s website as the #2 most used marketing channel.
In 2021, marketers took SEO more seriously with 69% of marketers investing in their strategy.
When websites feature UGC, they can see an increase of 29% in web conversions, a 20% increase in return visitors, and a 90% increase in time spent on-site.
79.69% of consumers look at ratings and reviews before making a purchase. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
69.08% of marketers feel ratings and reviews are important to their conversion rates, but only 35.75% of marketers often or always use UGC in their strategies. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
57.03% of consumers feel stock photography should be replaced with the diversity of real customers and teams. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Only 18.2% of marketers always measure the performance of their content across marketing channels – which means the remaining 81.8% could do a better job at doing this. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

Brand Marketing Stats

66.41% of consumers believe that brands that use video and audio stand out more than those that don’t. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
Inconsistent brand messaging is a frustrating experience for buyers.
Only 35.75% of marketers often or always use UGC in their marketing strategies. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
44.3% of marketers are investing in audio in 2023. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
The top 3 reasons marketers use social listening are to understand their audience, analyze trends, and conceive new ideas. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
In 2022, the number one challenge marketing teams faced when creating social and visual content was budget related. Yet in 2023, it looks like that challenge continues with 35% of marketers saying their budget stayed the same over the past year. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
60.97% of marketers feel they don’t have enough resources for the amount of content they need. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

eCommerce and Social Commerce Stats

In 2023, online purchases are predicted to reach 20.8% of sales. This could be due to the 5-year acceleration in online shopping that experts predict the pandemic caused.
Currently, eCommerce websites contribute 22.3% of total retail sales.
Purchases made on smartphones were predicted to take up 6% of the total retail sales in 2022.
It’s predicted that online retail sales will reach $6.51 trillion by 2023.
In the US, 20% of online shoppers said they took part in live commerce.
Buyers have said that they’re about 4x more loyal to eco-friendly businesses in comparison to non-eco-friendly brands.
75% of consumers claim they know when they are being advertised to. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
77% of shoppers are more likely to buy from brands that personalize their shopping experience. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
The majority of buyers surveyed by PayPal, 57%, said that they shop from international brands (almost 2 in 5 survey respondents had made an international purchase in the last quarter).

Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality Stats

The majority of millennials, 66%, book their travel trips using their smartphone. A higher majority, 74%, said that they use their smartphone for research related to their travels.
With an $8.9 billion value, Booking.com is the #1 most valuable travel and tourism brand in the world.
In 2023, it’s predicted that 2,934 hotels will open in 2023.
2023 sees a rise in the return of meetings and events with 86.9% of meetings and events predicted to start back up this year.
89% of global business travelers have said they want to add personal holiday travel to their business trips in the next year.
42.98% of marketers experienced the most success with in-person events. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)
42.98% of marketers plan to host or sponsor more in-person events in 2023 and 20.61% plan to host virtual or sponsor events. (State of Social & User-Generated Content 2023)

What Do These Marketing Stats Mean For Your 2023 Strategy?

Statistics tell you which direction to look – but they don’t give you the map to find your destination. Looking at the macro landscape tells us that there are some major trends to tap into that will increase your engagement and conversions. Better yet, it can build a stronger bond between your brand and community.

Here are some actionable tips for adding these statistics to the micro parts of your marketing strategy.

Social Media

As social media grows into a better search engine, it’s up to marketers to create searchable content. Add in buyers requesting user-generated content along their buying journey and all signs post to creating UGC with clear value propositions (that can get picked up by the social media algorithms!).

Email

Personalization in email is winning. Subscribers want less of everything you do and more of what they care about. Use lead magnets, contests, and specific ad campaigns to segment subscribers as they come into your list to ensure you’re only talking to them about what they care about. For people already subscribed, send out a quick “What do you want to see from us?” email with links that automatically segment the subscriber when clicked.

Digital Advertising

The shift to video is here. It’s no longer on the horizon – something to worry about later. Marketers need to create video and audio content that meets the latest in consumer trends to meet their community where THEY are. To get a boost on video content, use TINT to find videos your community has already posted.

Web

Your buyers want to read reviews from other customers just like them. By adding reviews to your website and product pages (alongside user-generated content), you’ll create the feedback loop that your audience is looking for. You’ll also warm up buyers to leaving their own reviews after purchase.

Brand

Consumers are asking for video and audio content, but that doesn’t magically make time appear for it on your to-do list. Avoid putting off this necessary shift in content and add user-generated content to your marketing channels to publish high-quality, highly converting content that your buyers are already asking for.

Let these statistics serve as a compass that can show you the way to create a high-performing marketing strategy in 2023. Start to build out your brand’s social content strategy (and start grabbing UGC from the web in no time!) with TINT. We help brands like Canon, Nestle, and more connect with their audiences through the power of UGC.

Schedule a demo to see what TINT’s all-in-one platform and UGC experts can do for you.

The post Top UGC Statistics Shaping the Future appeared first on TINT.

How to Increase Ad Conversion Rates With The Power of UGC

Eva Gutierrez — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 20:00:43 +0000

User-generated content ads outperform conventional ads on the same topic by 20-50%.

Why?

The psychology behind social proof.

People are naturally inclined to look around and see what other people are doing before making a buying decision. We like to copy the behavior of our peers.

User-generated content feeds into buyers’ desire to see other people using products and trusting brands — before making their purchase. And they’re not just looking for the opinions of celebrities or authority figures.

“People are influenced by shared interests, not necessarily popularity,” Instagram explains.

Artists want to know what type of watercolor paint their peers are using (and how they’re enjoying it). People with curly hair want to see the experience somebody had using a specific brand of shampoo. Buyers looking to purchase a new vehicle want to hear how happy another customer is with their purchase.

Adding user-generated content to ads feeds into the social proof buyers yearn for.

What is User-Generated Content

User-generated content is a photo, video, testimonial, or feedback created by customers, influencers, and UGC creators about a specific brand and product. In comparison to brand-created content:

76% of consumers have purchased a product because of someone else’s recommendation before.
72% of consumers believe that reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than the brand talking about their products.
62% of consumers report that they are more likely to click on content like ads, websites, social posts, or emails, that feature customer photos rather than an image created by the brand.

Here’s an example of a UGC video from a customer that bought The Pink Stuff (“the miracle cleaning paste”) after seeing another UGC video from an influencer they trust.

Your buyers are looking to fulfill the social proof desire in their minds.

If you can show them how happy other customers (that are just like them!) are with their purchase, you remove friction from your marketing funnel and nudge them forward towards buying and joining your community.

How Do Brands Get UGC?

Building your content library doesn’t require hiring somebody to stalk your marketing channels and screenshot UGC as it gets published. Thankfully technology has driven us far from that point and automated the process. TINT’s machine learning platform finds UGC and automatically collects it into your very own dashboard. TINT will tag UGC based on your preferences to help you organize content by product or campaign.

Brands that are new to building out their content library, or want to find fresh content to post across their marketing channels use 3 strategies to collect UGC:

Collecting the UGC their customers are already creating (TINT can find UGC even if your brand wasn’t tagged in the photo or video!).
Hiring influencers to run campaigns for brand awareness or conversions.
Outsourcing UGC production to UGC creators who expertly create content that explains your products, the benefits, and who they’re for.

The bonus of each of these strategies is that it inspires customers to create more UGC. 60% of consumers wish that more brands would tell their fans and customers what type of content they want them to create and 72% of users will accept a brand’s request to use their content.

FedEx uses its Instagram channel to share UGC from (and with!) fans. Just by adding UGC to their social channels, FedEx’s follower count grew by 404%!

People want their favorite brands to share their photos and images — putting them on the pedestal of their marketing channels.

For brands, these become golden nuggets of content to repurpose on your paid ads channels.

How to Increase Ad Conversion Rates with UGC

Increasing ad conversion rates with UGC is a strategy of creating social proof around the aspects of your brand your customers are most hesitant about.

For example, if you’re a new brand on the eCommerce scene — buyers want to know that you’re legit. They need to know they’ll get the products they pay for and that your products are as high-quality as you promise them to be.

This is exactly why The Pink Stuff features UGC on their social media channels.

But, if you’re a well-known brand like Nike and Marriott, you have to worry less about proving your legitimacy and more about getting people to say yes to your products (over the other available options). In this case, your focus is on sharing specific deals and product experiences that you know your customers are interested in.

The key is understanding what your customers are looking for.

“Marketers must get to know their target audience in order to tailor their efforts in the appropriate manner,” according to The University of Southern California. “They need to have a solid grasp of the brand’s purpose, the needs it plans to fulfill, and how the brand will inspire the consumer to believe to the point of loyalty.”

The Ideal Mixture of Content for Ads and Formats

To garner 12x engagement from videos with UGC over any other type of content and a 28% increase in ad conversion rates when combining UGC and paid content — you need the right mix of images and short-form video.

What does that look like?

(Before you publish UGC, use TINT’s Attention Score to create higher converting ads, maximize engagement, and drive more purchases by looking through the eyes of your buyers).

Start by making each type of content below 30% of your strategy. Then, use measurements to figure out which content is performing best, for what campaign, and specifically for which products.

For your cold leads:

Your cold leads need the most attention-grabbing UGC content you have. They need content formats that replicate the famous copywriting formula: AIDA. Attention, interest, desire, and action are necessary to grow brand awareness.

The best type of UGC to use in your paid ads at this stage is a short-form video: Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts.

These videos can grab attention by featuring an expert or celebrity they’re familiar with (including micro-influencers). They’re storytelling-driven content that resonates with like-minded users.

The Container Store ran a #ShowUsYourDrawers campaign on TikTok to garner UGC from their audience. By working with celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Jose Rolon, they grabbed so much attention that their hashtag has over 4.8 BILLION views.

Using TINT, The Container Store can automatically collect all the UGC created for this campaign and get the rights to repurpose it in their paid ads. Yep, all of that automatically.

For your warm leads:

Your warm leads are more familiar with your products. They still need you to grab their attention (the online world is a distracting place) but they need you to show them how happy customers are with your product. They’re already in your brand’s matrix, but they need more details to know that your products are the right fit.

The best type of UGC to use in your paid ads at this stage is a short-form video: Instagram Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts.

These videos share more UGC (from happy customers or UGC creators) that creates social proof. They’re educational videos about your products and how to use them that drive people to want to buy them.

This UGC TikTok from Cheygren is the ideal video for warm leads of Nuface. By using this video as a paid ad, Nuface can target TikTok users that follow them and have engaged with their brand but haven’t bought their own Nuface yet. Nuface knows these users are interested in their product, but they need a better understanding of what to expect (and they want to hear it from a customer!).

For your hot leads:

Your hot leads are ready to buy. They’re just waiting for the right moment. It’s your job to create it for them. This is the ideal time to introduce FOMO, scarcity, or urgency through your UGC content.

The best type of UGC to use in your paid ads at this stage are images and videos with one CTA — make a purchase. UGC images and videos at this stage immediately tell prospects that now is the time to buy without them having to wait to watch a video for 2 minutes to find out. These ads are specifically targeted to people who are most likely to purchase.

These videos lean heavily on social proof to show the after-state customers are in thanks to your products and are focused on calls to action for purchase.

Rent the Runway can turn this UGC review into a carousel ad that displays the UGC image, the review, and the brand-created image of the dress. They can also include the “How Others Wore It Section.” This type of UGC is ideal for hot leads that have already visited Rent the Runways website and looked at this dress but need a paid ad to remind them about it.

Inside TINT, you’ll get access to all the metrics you need to figure out what content is performing and which needs to get optimized. UGC shouldn’t be a guess-and-check game. By integrating TINT’s platform into your marketing strategy, you’ll get immediate feedback as to how well your UGC is performing for each type of lead (cold, warm, and hot).

Instead of spending time, money, and team energy on content that’s not working — you can pivot quickly and double down on the highest-performing ad assets.

The Power of UGC

Brands like Nike, Marriott, and LinkedIn have tapped into the power of UGC for years. These brands know that their customers want to hear from other customers, more than they want to hear the brand talk about how great they are.

Using customers’ voices brands connect with their audience and grow their community, drive engagement, and increase customers.

All through UGC content, their customers are thrilled to create and have shared across the brand marketing channels.

Tap into the power of UGC through TINT and get access to our Attention Score, Rights Management, Experience Builder, and more. Schedule a TINT demo today.

The post How to Increase Ad Conversion Rates With The Power of UGC appeared first on TINT.

How Social Commerce Brands Can Repurpose User-Generated Content

Eva Gutierrez — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 20:48:05 +0000

Social commerce is taking over social media feeds – so much you may have noticed brands increasingly repurpose user-generated content.

It’s the new mom sharing her favorite crib mattress, an employee excitedly talking about their new promotion, or a travel influencer at a fancy hotel with #sponsored in their caption.

From professional influencers to people unknowingly partaking in social commerce—it’s the current state of social media. As it turns out, it’s exactly what people are looking for.

Eighty-one percent of buyers surveyed by Facebook first research a product on social media apps.

Using social commerce, brands are selling products and creating a better buying experience—and it’s paying off big.

Why Does Social Commerce Work So Well?

Social commerce creates a new buying experience thanks to user-generated content.

People are far more aware of what to expect from a brand before they click “buy now” and they love their newfound intel. Sixty-two percent of consumers surveyed in our 2022 State of User-Generated Content Report said they are more likely to click on content like ads, websites, social posts, or emails, that feature customer photos rather than an image created by the brand.

User-generated content created a new way for brands to establish the know, like, and trust factors essential to success. Seventy-six percent of surveyed buyers have purchased a product because of someone else’s recommendation before. With UGC, brands are:

Showing social proof
Establishing value
Building trust and credibility

Buyers are looking for customer opinions at the start of the buyer’s journey. Seventy-two percent of consumers believe that reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than the brand talking about their products. Social commerce creates a direct link between brands, UGC, and sales.

Social Commerce brands that aren’t leveraging the creator economy are missing out on a major opportunity to connect with consumers, gain their trust, and boost sales. More reviews and authentic content spread across multiple touchpoints create a better experience for buyers.

These interactions become high-value opportunities to show potential buyers your products in the wild—and your customers want to help you with content creation. Sixty percent of consumers wish that more brands would tell their fans and customers what type of content they want them to create and 72% of users will accept a brand’s request to use their content, meaning people are excited to participate when brands ask them for rights to repurpose their user-generated content.

Buyers are happy to create content for your brand. User-generated content outperforms brand-created content – and all you have to do is place it throughout your buyer’s journey to create a high-converting, more personalized shopping experience.

Here’s where to start.

Repurpose User-Generated Content Within the Shopping Journey

When you repurpose user-generated content into the buyer’s journey, brands can engage and influence potential customers at every stage of the process – from awareness to consideration to purchase.

Homepage

Salesforce found visitors spend 90% more time on websites with user-generated content galleries.

The buyers spending time on your homepage are people newly aware of your brand and potentially interested in your products. They’re scouting out anything that doesn’t align with what they’re looking for because of social doubt. They’re also looking for reasons why you’re the perfect fit thanks to social proof.

Here are different ways to share user-generated content on your homepage to show buyers you’re the brand for them:

Share a UGC gallery of happy customers showing off your products in action and ask customers to share content for a chance to be featured
Replace your stock photos with REAL customer images
Feature customer reviews of your best-selling products
Feature testimonials or a video of a customer story

Fable Home puts buyer testimonials in the third section of its homepage. Their above-the-fold section highlights a new collection (in collaboration with an influencer). The second section of their homepage has links to their varying products. The third section highlights positive buyer experiences, with full names, locations, and star ratings.

Product Pages

Seventy-two percent of consumers believe reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than the brand talking about their products.

Product pages need review sections to show that products will fulfill their promises. For example, clothing reviews that show a previous buyer’s height and clothing sizes make it easier for a similar buyer to feel confident making the purchase.

Here’s a quick start guide to adding user-generated content to product pages:

Add a ratings & reviews section and let customers share visuals
Mix in UGC-style visuals to show your product in real life
Turn questions and answers into a FAQs section at the bottom of the product page

Ikea asks customers to rate products on a scale of 1-5 for variables like value for money and works as expected. This creates product pages filled with user-generated content that tells potential buyers exactly what to expect from purchasing this product.

Checkout Pages

The average cart abandonment rate is nearly 70%, which means getting a buyer to click “Add to Cart” is far from the finish line.

Buyers need a final push to get excited about their purchase. When they’re checking out, their mind is looking for reasons why this would be a risky purchase (even if it’s a low price point). People are more attuned to risk than they are to gain—so this is the time to show them why buying from your brand is a risk-free experience.

Here’s how to add user-generated content to your checkout pages:

Feature ratings and reviews while scrolling through their cart
Add customer testimonials to your checkout page
Showcase similar products a customer might like (with ratings and reviews) as an upsell opportunity!

At the bottom of Quince’s eCommerce checkout page is a reminder that the clothing brand was featured in Forbes (social proof) and customer reviews to scroll through. Each review showcases what the customer bought, has a few sentences about the product, and a 5-star rating.

Social Media

Consumers are nearly 3x more likely to engage with a brand’s social media content than any other type of media they create (64% of consumers have tagged a brand or used a hashtag on social media before).

People want to interact with their favorite brands on social media, but they want a little guidance. Brands can’t expect their customers to figure out what content they’d like to repost. They need to show them or tell them.

To get user-generated content that you can repurpose on social channels:

Add guidance in your bio (Tag #BRAND or @BRAND for a chance to be featured on our marketing channels)
Ask for unboxing videos, product photos, or something more specific and unique. Share this on stories, feed, etc. Make them feel FOMO!

Chaco Footwear uses #ChacoNation to get its customers excited about creating user-generated content. They also run campaigns, like #FitForAdventure, asking creators, customers, and participants to use the hashtag to be featured on their social media. With these hashtags, Chaco can easily find user-generated content that they organize inside TINT.

Social Ads

Using user-generated content in social media ads can reduce cost-per-click (CPC) by 50%.

User-generated content social ads that highlight customers see better engagement than brand-created content. These social ads feel more native to the platform while creating the social proof that drives clicks. Brands can either post UGC directly as a sponsored post or add UGC (like testimonials and reviews) to their social ads.

Here are a few best practices when it comes to UGC social ads:

Use customer reviews and link directly to that product’s landing page
Post UGC directly (automate content right management)
Hire UGC Creators to make content for social ads

Shopify highlights customer reviews of their POS system. They add a testimonial to their social ad image and then explain who the customer is in their copy. Their link directs people to their Shopify POS landing page specifically designed to show merchants how their system benefits the merchant’s business.

Email

When emails contain user-generated content, click-through rates increase by about 73% and produce more conversions.

Email is an important part of the buying journey because you’re nurturing the relationship with your leads and customers. You want to show user-generated content from happy customers to turn leads into buyers. You also want to prioritize getting customers reviews that you can repurpose across marketing channels.

Here’s where to repurpose user-generated content to email marketing:

Send an email to customers post-purchase and ask them to share a photo or video using your hashtag
Re-engage cart abandonments by sending “almost” buyers an email repurposing user-generated content of the products they had in their cart
Educate customers about other products

Abercrombie offers customers a chance to participate in their $100 gift card giveaway in return for a review. Customer reviews get left on product pages where new buyers can easily find them.

Print

Seventy-eight percent of consumers surveyed feel that they can tell when a brand is advertising to them.

People are inundated with ads on a daily basis. Brands can’t expect stock photos to catch buyers’ interest (just look at the shift in Instagram content over the past few years). They need to show their brand in an authentic light. Sometimes, that means showcasing their products through the eyes of their happy customers.

Brands place user-generated content offline to create an authentic touchpoint with their buyers through:

Packaging
Signage
Billboards
Posters

Delta places user-generated content on their travel kit packaging that reminds flyers where they can travel with the airline. Not only does this act as advertising for Delta’s travel routes, but it also shows their focus on consumer sentiment. UGC shows that brands are in touch with their customers. Strategically, Delta makes sure to tell customers to share their photos and videos with the airline on the backside of the packaging.

Billboards and screens

Ninety-two percent of consumers surveyed said they trust recommendations from other people (including strangers) more than the brand.

Events are an ideal opportunity to add user-generated content on-screen and engage your audience offline. With billboards and screens, you can share customer testimonials. These testimonials lead to 1) more UGC to repurpose in the future, 2) increased buyer trust through social proof, and 3) motivation from other customers to make UGC once they see their peers highlighted.

Add offline user-generated content to events through:

Digital billboards that show customer testimonials in real-time
Screens with user-generated content like tweets and Instagram posts

During iHeart Radio’s Wango Tango event two large screens highlighted happy crowd members. Customer selfies were displayed alongside the main stage to create a moment of delight for the concert attendees. With a tool like TINT’s UGC Studio, platforms can organize, tag, and repurpose this UGC in the future as needed.

In-store

Seventy-two percent of consumers believe that reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than the brand talking about their products.

User-generated content isn’t an exclusively online experience. Brands collect UGC online but can repurpose it across their offline marketing channels, like their retail stores. Buyers have the habit of checking reviews before making a purchase, and they’d love to implement this for in-person products as well. Why not make it easier for them by adding customer content and reviews across in-store displays?

Here’s how to bring online UGC offline into your retail store:

Take customer testimonials for specific products and place them next to the product
Show a star rating (gathered from online data) next to products
Tell in-person shoppers which products are the most popular

Amazon stores relied heavily on user-generated content advertising. Thanks to their huge database collection, Amazon implemented in-store user-generated content, like this customer review. By placing UGC alongside physical products, they created an online shopping experience in-person.

The key to a successful social commerce strategy is creating a personalized marketing experience that makes buyers think, “That’s exactly what I needed to know to feel comfortable making this purchase.”

But, how do you know when you’ve achieved this?

How to Measure Social Commerce Success

Social commerce success isn’t a cookie-cutter approach.

It depends on the channels you’re prioritizing as to which metrics of success you’ll keep an eye on. It also depends on your current business strategy—are you more focused on brand awareness or do you need to drive sales?

Metrics worth paying attention to are:

Where are your customers creating the most high-quality UGC for your brand?
How do your online marketing channel engagement levels change when you repurpose user-generated content vs. brand-created content?
How did your product page conversion rates change with the addition of UGC testimonials?

How to Get Started With Social Commerce

Creating a social commerce strategy is a big task. But, it’s a compilation of lots of smaller tasks and valuable platforms that move you closer to the finish line. When done right, your user-generated content social commerce strategy will have much less friction than your brand-created content strategy.

Steps one through five of establishing a social commerce strategy are:

Step 1: Look for gaps along your customer journey and identify key touchpoints your audience will come across

Step 2: Find a way to repurpose user-generated content into those marketing channels

Step 3: Create a unique hashtag to collect creative content from customers

Step 4: Ask for permission to re-use other people’s content

Step 5: Re-share their contributions

TINT’s platform helps brands like Nike, Nestle, and LinkedIn capture, organize and repurpose user-generated content. Machine learning algorithm finds content with your products online (regardless of if users tagged you or not) and brings it all together Marie-Kondo style to make repurposing content that much easier.

Schedule a TINT demo today to see how you can add user-generated content to your marketing.

The post How Social Commerce Brands Can Repurpose User-Generated Content appeared first on TINT.

The Psychology of Building Trust For a Purchase

Eva Gutierrez — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 20:54:44 +0000

What makes buyers click the purchase button?

Your buyers are always looking out for reasons they shouldn’t trust your brand. It’s because people have a natural aversion to loss. Loss aversion motivates buyers to compare similar products and spend time thinking about each purchase.

Which product works better?
Which product looks nicer?
Which product is worth the money?

People are more informed than ever before. They have a better understanding of marketing strategies and aren’t easily swayed into purchases. Sixty-nine percent of online shopping carts are abandoned—and even more carts are abandoned on mobile devices.

Buyers want to click buy with confidence. And that requires trust between brand and buyer.

How can you get your hot leads to turn into customers? By having your previous customers do the selling for you.

The Impact of Ratings & Reviews on Purchase Behavior

What makes people buy?

Several factors play a role. Aside from a great brand experience, products that solve the buyer’s pain point, and the right price—76% of consumers have purchased a product because of someone else’s recommendation before, which personalizes their experience.

Buyers move past the tipping point of a buying journey thanks to your customer’s voices. New buyers want to know if previous buyers are happy with their experience. Sixty-two percent of people surveyed report being more likely to click on content like ads, websites, social posts, or emails, that feature customer photos rather than an image created by the brand.

Ratings and reviews are the tipping point of every buying journey. Your hot leads need an extra push to know this is the right product for them. And they don’t want that push from your brand. They’re looking to hear from your customers.

It’s time to put your customers and new buyers in touch with each other.

How Reviews Impact Conversions

Ratings and reviews create social proof that builds credibility and reputation.

Robert Cialdini placed social proof as one of the six principles of persuasion because of its dramatic impact on consumer behavior. Our 2022 State of User-Generated Content Report found that seventy-two percent of people surveyed believe that reviews and testimonials submitted by customers are more credible than the brand talking about their products.

Here’s the thing: you don’t need thousands of reviews. The Spiegel Research Center discovered that just 5 reviews increased the likelihood of a purchase by 270% in comparison to a product without reviews. For higher-priced products—reviews are an even more important factor in the buying process.

But just because your products are great doesn’t necessarily mean your customers are flocking to leave reviews. Reviews are as much a strategic part of your marketing strategy as bringing people towards a purchase.

How can you get more reviews?

How To Get More Reviews From Customers

Customers are happy to leave reviews, especially when they see other customers taking the lead. Ninety-one percent of consumers agree that when brands they like and use re-share content by customers, they are more likely to share content about the brand or its products. Consumer behavior shows that people want to leave reviews about your products—you just need to inspire them to take action.

There are 4 reasons people leave reviews:

They had an extreme reaction (either positive or negative).
They loved their experience so much that they want to share it with others.
They want to help others with the same pain point or challenge.
They were offered an incentive.

Your customers are having these experiences every day. Use these 3 easy strategies to get more reviews (and conversions!) for each of your products.

#1: Reach Out to Loyal Customers

Don’t wait for your customers to leave reviews. Ask them for reviews. Create an automated email in your post-purchase series that asks customers to leave a review. Send this email a few days or weeks after purchase while your products, and their benefits, are still top-of-mind. LMNT sends a post-purchase email requesting a review 20 days after customers receive their electrolytes. They strategically make their email simple with a single request to leave a review (notice how they haven’t added any links to products or upcoming sales). They also automatically fill in the 5-star option.

#2: Share User-Generated Content

When your customers see other customers sharing their product experience–they get inspired. They see how they could make a fun Instagram Reel featuring your product or what they could talk about in a quick TikTok. This doesn’t have to come from professional influencers, either. Share user-generated content across your online channels and ask your customers to send in their UGC through your post-purchase emails and packaging.

Liquid Death made themselves distinct in the on-the-go water space through their branding. As founder Mike Cessario explains, “We launched on social media long before we ever had a real product. Cut to three or four months later and our Facebook page has more followers than Aquafina and our marketing video has three million views.” Their social channels feature UGC from their customers of people cliff diving while drinking from a Liquid Death can and a woman “shotgunning” their product.

#3: Make It Easy

Your customers are happy to support your business—but that doesn’t mean they’ll go through a tedious process to create a review for you. If your review process is too complicated…you’ll lose out on the amazing reviews your customers want to leave. Audit your review process to see how you can make it more simple and more straightforward.

Take a page out of LMNT’s book and send a simple email with ONE call to action: “Leave us a review.” Let people leave their reviews directly in the email so they don’t have to click on another page. The less friction, the more reviews you’ll collect.
Instead of asking customers to read through your brand guidelines—just show them what you’re looking for. Take a scroll through Liquid Death’s marketing channels for some inspiration. (And remind your customers they don’t need to be professional influencers to get featured!)
Incentive your customers with a free gift, access to exclusive content, or a discount code in return for a review. Make it easy for them to say yes to leaving a review. The bonus of this strategy is that you’ll get reviews from your happiest customers (the ones who are dying for that free gift, content, or discount for their next purchase).

Once you start getting reviews, share them across your marketing channels and touchpoints. One review can live on your product page and turn into an Instagram Reel, TikTok, tweet LinkedIn post, and even make its way to your in-person marketing channels. The Loews hotel adds user-generated content to their keycards!

Each touchpoint in your customer journey (from brand awareness to the post-purchase experience) has dozens of touchpoints to add reviews to. These reviews are the social proof that give your brand credibility and a positive reputation. Your loss-averse buyers are on the hunt for them.

So give them what they’re looking for.

Turn Your Customers into Your Sales Team

Happy customers love to share their experiences.

People want to connect with their favorite brands, and getting featured on their online and offline channels is a special experience that nurtures the brand relationship. It’s up to brands to give buyers a place to share it and highlight their reviews and user-generated content. This builds the ultimate buying flywheel where your reviews turn into customers that continue to leave reviews!

Build trust at every step of your buying journey through TINT. TINT’s UGC Platform uses machine learning to automatically find reviews and user-generated content so your marketing team can focus on the important stuff. You’ll also be able to tag, organize, and easily repurpose your social content across your multiple channels and touchpoints (both online and offline!).

Schedule a demo with TINT today to see how brands like Canon, Marriott, and Nestle are using TINT to showcase reviews and UGC.

The post The Psychology of Building Trust For a Purchase appeared first on TINT.

5 “Cool Brands” Doing Marketing Well (And What Marketers Can Learn From Them)

Eva Gutierrez — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 15:32:54 +0000

What are some of the biggest brands in their industry doing to get attention?

The attention economy is in full swing, with marketers like Gary Vee explaining, “Find the attention, bring value, and then everything else clicks.”

But, how do you get attention when the average person scrolls the equivalent distance of summiting Mt. Everest every 20 days?

Patagonia, Liquid Death, Spotify, and other household names have figured out the science behind marketing for attention AND creating value that builds consumer sentiment.

Take a look through their campaigns and marketing messaging for inspiration.

5 Brands to Watch for Marketing Inspiration

Marketing Messaging Inspiration: Patagonia

Patagonia knows their audience.

Their outdoor gear is tailored for people who want to spend the majority of their time surrounded by nature. The Patagonia brand shares the same values as their customers: respect the planet. By regularly sharing their values they create a strong relationship with aligned customers. Their marketing messaging clearly displays who their brand is for and aims to bring together their community to fight related causes (like climate change).

Patagonia prioritizes their values so much that their homepage doesn’t open up to a display of products and sales. The above-the-fold section of their website is dedicated to the message of helping website visitors connect with grassroots groups to “meet the climate crisis head on.” This authenticity about their values is the ultimate marketing messaging.

Consumers are 4-6X more likely to buy from and advocate for “purpose-driven” companies. Patagonia creates a relatable brand (despite technically being “faceless”) that makes their customers want to share their experience. Customers talk about how much they love their products AND how aligned they feel with Patagonia’s mission. This creates deeply resonating user-generated content that continues to spread Patagonia’s message even in customer-created assets (like UGC).

Take Action: What values does your brand share with your customers? Figuring out these values through customer research writers your marketing messaging for you. It shows you how your customers word their values and which products align with that identity. Share your customers’ voices as they talk about their values across your marketing channels to create attention and value for your brand.

Brand Voice Inspiration: Liquid Death

Liquid Death came onto the water scene in 2019. On paper, it sounds like they were late to the water game. At this point, brands like Aquafina, Poland Spring, Dasani, and Arrowhead owned the water market. Only the boldest of entrepreneurs could attempt to break into such a competitive market.

Cue Mike Cessario, the founder of Liquid Death. “We launched on social long before we ever had a real product. Cut to three or four months later and our Facebook page has more followers than Aquafina and our marketing video has three million views,” he explains.

Mike went against the grain of traditional marketing and created a unique tone of voice and entertainment around the brand. The tagline says it all, “murder your thirst.” Through Buzzfeed-like videos, the brand continues to garner attention.

It’s hard to look away from a brand that highlights negative reviews. It’s even harder when you find out there’s a taser involved. Liquid Death’s marketing campaigns include attention-grabbing content of a blind taste test with people who have previously said it’s the worst-tasting water. The caveat? If they say another water brand tastes worse, they get tased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwoeO73tVNk

Take Action: When everyone in your industry is zigging, how can you zag? Saturated industries aren’t impenetrable. Liquid Death proves that. The key is understanding how you’ll differentiate yourself. Through an original brand voice (to that industry) brands can get attention and deliver value that creates novelty and loyal customers. (Bonus points for using negative user-generated content, like bad reviews, in your marketing campaigns!)

Personalized Marketing Inspiration: Spotify

The best brands are relied upon. Their customers RELY on them for something (products, experiences, opportunities). When people think of Spotify, there’s something they can rely on every year. Yep, we’re talking about Spotify Wrapped. At the end of every year, Spotify sends a summary of users’ music listening habits. Their most played song, album, genre, and artist are built into a pre-made easy to share template that takes temporarily takes social media by storm.

But what’s so great about it? Spotify leans into hyper-personalization. They know their users care less about the top charts for the year and more about THEIR personalized top charts. Personalization is exciting…and shareable. People want to show what their favorite songs were each year – not what the favorite song was in the U.S.

Spotify Wrapped is a case study in the virality of personalization. Personalization generates, what we can only guess to be, at least one million user-generated content posts. The word-of-mouth marketing that comes from Spotify Wrapped is unmatched.

Take Action: Hyper-personalization in marketing creates moments of delight. It makes customers feel special and aligns them with the best product options. 77% of shoppers are more likely to buy from brands that personalize their shopping experience. How can you add personalization to your marketing that makes customers stop and pay attention? Personalization leads to user-generated content – so prepare to capture UGC to repurpose across your marketing channels for higher engagement, clicks, and conversions.

Influencer Marketing Inspiration: Hootsuite

Not every brand gets to market from the place of Patagonia, Mastercard, and Spotify. Like Liquid Death, they have to figure out a way to get noticed without a household name backing them up. Smaller brands and niche brands lean on user-generated content and influencer marketing to get attention and deliver value.

By tapping into the authority of influencers in their niche and amplifying user-generated content across their marketing channels they create buzz. Even without physical products, brands like Hootsuite engage with fans with relatable content. They work with influencers to create word-of-mouth marketing and highly engaging and converting content.

Hootsuite’s Social Media Trends 2023 promo video features TikTok creators like Ben Kielesinksi (2.7 million followers), GirlBossTown (578,000 followers), and PleaseSponsorUs (625,000 followers). By leaning on the authority of influencers in the business space they can grab the attention of their followers – 3.5 million people collectively – and bring them through the funnel for their social media trends report.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A2NDsibmZI

Take Action: Your ideal buyer fangirls over several influencers online. Who are they? By tapping into the power of influencer marketing you create authority for your brand while garnering a larger audience. Strategies like white labeling also give you the option to put ad dollars directly behind their sponsored posts.

Marketing Inspiration Done Right

Marketing requires a medley of strategies, like nailing your marketing messaging, standing out from the crowd, following consumer content trends, personalization, and aligning with authorities in your niche.

And each of these strategies generally needs to happen at the same time as the others.

If that sounds overwhelming to you – take it slow. Choose the one strategy that aligns the most with your marketing goals and figure out ways to automate the process along the way. Then, you can add more strategies faster without bogging down your team with too many tasks.

Use TINT to capture, collect, and repurpose user-generated content for your brand and products automatically. TINT is the sidekick that combs the internet for any related content and helps make sure that you get to add it to your marketing strategy.

TINT can even score content to predict people’s attention before you post.

Schedule a TINT demo to automate the UGC process and fill your editorial calendar.

The post 5 “Cool Brands” Doing Marketing Well (And What Marketers Can Learn From Them) appeared first on TINT.

The Elusive Metric: How To Prove Marketing ROI

Eva Gutierrez — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 02:45:45 +0000

How to prove marketing ROI is an age-old problem. Technology is supposed to make attribution easier, but for many professionals, choosing the right tool or technique to make the jobs easier is challenging. The complexity of proving ROI grows as a marketing organization becomes more robust. Prospects can enter a funnel from almost countless sources, and being able to map that journey is a battle unto itself.

Don’t let the challenge of attribution make proving return on investment (ROI) an unsolved mystery. In our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report, we found out just how many marketers have left ROI a mystery. Those who are willing to invest in the tools and the time have a competitive edge over others.

The Statistics Behind ROI

Melanie Gaboriault, Global Head of Corporate Communications at Hootsuite, says it best, “Social is a fast-evolving space, and teams need to be given the license to be nimble, to test and iterate tactics, but never lose sight of the objectives.”

54.17% of marketers feel their team has the methodology to know what visual content will convert across marketing channels.

Yet only 18.2% of marketers always measure the performance of their content across marketing channels. This leaves 81.8% of marketers admitting they could do a better job at tracking content ROI.

What holds marketers back from measuring performance across every channel? Is it a lack of resources, time, or knowledge?

By investing in performance measurement and tracking, marketers can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their content and make more informed decisions about their strategies.

The journey to prove marketing ROI begins with sensible steps. Here are a few ways marketers can start prioritizing ROI so they can confidently put money toward their content marketing efforts.

Easy to Implement Strategies to Improve and Track ROI

Content ROI reporting requires two focuses. Focus #1 is improvement. It’s knowing what to post in the first place so that you can get an ROI. Focus #2 is tracking. Once you start posting, you’ll need to know how your audience and buyers feel about your content. Then, you work your way back to improving, tracking, improving, tracking, etc.

Improve ROI through Attention Scoring

Improving ROI doesn’t come from posting and hoping your content performs. Optimize your content for maximum attention through insights that grab attention and inspire action. Content creation tools can make this difficult since there is a myriad of variations and templates that can endlessly iterate any single piece of content.

Using user-generated content, influencer content, and creator content allows you to use the authentic voice of your customers. But how can you know which piece of content and creative will perform best?

An Attention Score gives you a look behind the eyes of your audience to visualize how content will be perceived before you publish.

Curious about which image works best? Or if one of your CTAs will outperform the other?

The technology behind this is our unique Eye Tracker technology that creates a dynamic heatmap. The heatmap shows you the areas of your content that are visually appealing before you publish. Inside TINT’s Attention Score is Cognitive and Clarity scores that help you understand how your visual content is understood and perceived by the viewer.

Here’s how to use TINT’s Attention Score:

Select existing or upload new visual content to UGC Studio.
Analyze Cognition, Saliency, and Eye Tracker heat map results to identify key attention spots.
Make edits like adding text, stickers, and Calls-To-Actions to content directly in UGC Studio to maximize the Attention Score.
Publish content optimized for Attention Score across any and all channels using native publishing features or by pushing the content into a marketing integration like Hootsuite, Hubspot, or Mailchimp.

After posting, use TINT to track mentions and replies to keep the feedback loop open.

Track ROI through Customer Sentiment

Maybe engagement is down? People are still viewing content, but their desire to like or comment on posts has dwindled. This makes it tough to understand the true ROI of your content marketing. That’s why the ROI of your latest campaign is more than just impressions, engagement, and conversions.

It can also be found in the way your buyers are talking about your brand online.

Imagine having the choice between a large audience speaking neutrally about your product vs. a small devoted audience speaking positively about your product. Most brands would want their target audience to be involved in smaller, positive conversations rather than the opposite.

Consider Tarte Cosmetics. They sponsored an influencer trip to Dubai with some of the most trendy lifestyle TikTok creators. Of course, the influencers did their part by posting about the trip. But, Tarte’s audience also started posting about the trip.

TikTok was flooded with short-form videos of other creators using Tarte products and asking for an invite to the next event as well as people breaking down the back-end logistics of the trip. This is customer sentiment in action.

@sarajmccord #alixearle #tarte ♬ Mastermind – Taylor Swift

Tarte can see the ROI of their campaign through the amount of user-generated content coming their way. They can automate the process of collecting and organizing this UGC to better understand their buyers and how they can create another viral moment in the future.

ROI: Decoded?

ROI may not be entirely decoded (attribution STILL has a lot of growing to do), but using tools and techniques like Attention Score and customer sentiment analysis is an ideal starting point. This can lead to a better understanding of which content will perform best and how to optimize future content based on audience and buyer feedback.

More focus on ROI is just one of 7 marketing trends we discovered in our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report. In 2021, we followed up our UGC prediction with a rise in UGC creation and the new roles that would support it. Cue the newest (outsourced) role in content marketing – UGC Creators. In 2022, we saw that slashed marketing budgets and UGC were coming together to create small yet powerful marketing teams.

In 2023, we’re predicting more than just a priority on analyzing content ROI. We also see less static content and more video and audio content, and social media as a search engine on the horizon. Get free access to our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report for more statistics and insights into these 7 marketing themes.

The post The Elusive Metric: How To Prove Marketing ROI appeared first on TINT.

Consumers Want Authentic Ratings and Reviews

Eva Gutierrez — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 06:09:28 +0000

Are you part of the 80% of people who check ratings and reviews before making a purchase? Consider your own buying behavior. After ensuring that a product or service is up to your specification, you likely look for authentic ratings and reviews like testimonials and photos.

People prioritize other people’s opinions before making a purchase.

And these people don’t have to be friends or family members. People trust ratings and reviews from strangers and base their buying decisions and brand sentiment around them.

In 2023, the trust consumers have for ratings and reviews is only increasing. Our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report found that buyers want to see authentic reviews.

What’s an authentic rating and review? Let’s dig in.

The Statistics Behind Consumers Wanting More Ratings and Reviews

People read ratings and reviews before they buy products. Those reviews can live on the website’s product page, in the comments section of their social media platforms, or on their Google business page.

Our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report found that 79.69% of consumers check ratings and reviews before making a purchase.

But here’s the thing– 75% of people surveyed said they were aware when they were being advertised to. When marketers use too-good-to-be-true reviews or show only 5-star reviews on their products, buyers don’t budge. There is a science to picking the best reviews to showcase.

The key is in authentic ratings and reviews that come directly from customers and are as personalized as possible to the buyer.

Marketers recognize the importance of ratings and reviews in driving conversions, with 69.08% stating that they are crucial to their strategies. Yet, they’re struggling to find the correct reviews. Marketers are hunting down reviews from their buyers instead of looking for organically posted reviews.

Only 35.75% of marketers regularly incorporate user-generated content (UGC) into their campaigns. Marketers must help buyers feel confident in their purchasing decision by leveraging ratings and reviews that speak to buyers’ objections and hesitations.

Examples of Ratings and Reviews

In the 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report, we explain, “highlighting happy customers across marketing channels saves marketers time required to create trustworthy content; it’s genuine feedback brands can not only re-share to strengthen the connection with their audience but also allows brands to understand market sentiment and iterate faster.”

What do great ratings and reviews look like? They are authentic user-generated content from your fans, audience, and customers. User-generated content is a photo, video, testimonial, comment, rating, or review. Brands leverage UGC to create ratings and reviews for their brand and specific products.

Use Your Community to Create Personalized Recommendations

Sephora’s Beauty Insider Community has over 5 million members. Inside the community, they featured user-generated content from happy customers using products they purchased from Sephora. They break down UGC by category (e.g., nails, gift ideas, fragrance) to make it easy for their buyers to find exactly what they’re looking for from precisely who they’re looking for.

Sephora’s buyers can see how an eye shadow works on someone with similar color eyes or how a skincare product works on somebody’s similarly dry skin. They can see if a highlighter is a color they like or if the latest curling iron gives the right size curl.

These UGC reviews are precious to Sephora because it does something their campaigns can’t. It personalizes the buying experience. UGC reviews bring a level of personalization that’s almost impossible to create in marketing campaigns with a big budget. With UGC, brands like Sephora can show their customers people with the same skin tone, eye color, skin type, and hair type using specific products.

Share Your Data with Buyers

Abercrombie and Fitch is leaning heavily into ratings and reviews as well. Instead of making their prospective buyers scroll through hundreds of reviews to see if a product is a good fit – they generate a data-driven report from their reviews and show a specialized summary of that information.

They show:

How many total reviews
Overall rating
Percentage of buyers recommending the product
Average customer ratings based on fit, appearance, comfort, and product quality.
User-Generated photos

And below this summary, they have the entire list of reviews with personalized questions to help buyers find their size and style.

Use Your Ratings and Reviews as Content

If buyers like to see user-generated content more than brand-created content, does it make sense to fill your marketing channels with only brand content?

Based on the consumer trends we’ve watched for the last 4 years, our 2023 State of User-Generated Content Report points to the importance of highlighting UGC across marketing channels.

Brands should post UGC to their in-person and online channels as a form of content.

Brands like Nike use digital signage in their stores to feature UGC.
Conferences and events share a digital wall of incoming UGC content to promote more UGC (and promotion of their event!).
Airlines like Delta share UGC on their in-flight pamphlets.
Hotels like Marriot repost UGC from happy customers on their Instagram accounts.
Restaurants like Chipotle dedicate their entire TikTok feed to UGC.

UGC fills in-person and online marketing channels at a lower cost than average campaign production. And it does all of this while getting more engagement and conversions than brand-created content.

6 Other Trends Shaping Marketing in 2023

Ratings and reviews are coming into maturity in 2023. We’re seeing more brands lean into giving buyers what they want and, in turn, hosting communities, sharing their review data, and prioritizing sharing UGC.

The maturation (and continued rise) of ratings and reviews is only 1 out of 6 marketing themes we discovered in our research.

Download a free copy of the State of Social & User-Generated Content Report to see the seven themes that will define marketing in 2023.

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How Different Industries Use UGC

Eva Gutierrez — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 17:13:11 +0000

Jay Abraham is a famous name in the marketing world. He’s one of the OG’s of the space and he’s not shy about sharing his secret to success.

It’s simple: stop looking at what everybody in your industry is doing and instead look outside of it.

The whole point of marketing is to stand out from the competition and attract the right buyers. But, it’s dangerously easy to get caught up in the same tactics and strategies your competition is deploying. We get wrapped up in what we “should” be doing and forget to innovate. Ads start to sound and look the same and consumers’ eyes begin to glaze over after reading their hundredth rendition of the same copy.

Let’s follow Jay’s advice and think outside of the box.

What are marketers in other industries doing that you can get inspiration from?

Change your perspective by seeking POVs outside of your industry with these examples.

How Brands Across Different Industries Use UGC

There are certain marketing tactics that work universally across industries. One of those is user-generated content. Buyers always want to know what customers have to say about your products regardless of your niche. Sixty-two percent of consumers report that they are more likely to click on content like ads, websites, social posts, or emails, that feature customer photos rather than an image created by the brand.

Selling wood to contractors? They’d love to see ratings and reviews from happy customers.
Selling baby accessories to new moms? They’re looking for UGC to make sure it’s worth the money.
Selling office equipment to Fortune 500 companies? They want customers to prove that you’re delivering high-quality products.

The foundation of user-generated content traverses industries but the execution is where things get interesting. From travel and hospitality to beauty and fashion — brands are using the voice of their biggest fans to stand out from the noise.

Here’s how they’re doing it.

#1: UGC Inspiration for the Travel Industry

Delta’s goal is to get flights booked. Luckily for them — travel influencers have infiltrated Instagram. The airline can repurpose user-generated content to share special experiences on its social media channels. UGC shows real people traveling around the world and taking frame-worthy photos.

Delta uses user-generated content from influencers to show the after state they’ll experience from buying a Delta flight to Iceland.

#2: UGC Inspiration for the Tourism Industry

Travelocity’s #IWannaGo contest turned into a user-generated content magnet. They offered a dream vacation to their lucky winner. In return, they asked for UGC on Twitter, Instagram, or Vine from participants explaining where they wanted to go and why. 25,000 entries later and Travelocity had their winner…and an endless library of user-generated content.

Travelocity strategically asked for UGC across multiple social media platforms creating native content to repurpose in the future.

#3: UGC Inspiration for the Hospitality Industry

Sometimes hospitality brands can’t go all in on user-generated content. There’s specific brand-created content that needs to be displayed on social media channels (like a fancy drone shot of their hotel). For hospitality brands that want to feature high-production images and videos yet still garner the benefits of user-generated content — a mix of UGC and brand-created content is ideal.

The Marriott shares user-generated content with just a few brand-created images across their social media channels to maintain that high-production feel while still connecting happy customers with potential customers.

#4: UGC Inspiration for the CPG/FMCG Industry

MUD/WTR entered a competitive market when they decided to open their beverage company. They knew they’d need to stand out amongst a crowd of legacy competitors. Their strategy? A brash brand voice that inspired customers to share their brand experience online. From emails to packaging — MUD/WTR creates a sharable experience through the entire customer journey (including post-purchase!).

CPG/FMCG products used daily have an opportunity to collect massive amounts of user-generated content when your customers feel connected enough to your brand to continue to share their daily habits online.

#5: UGC Inspiration for the Food and Beverage Industry

Dunkin’ realized quickly that user-generated content drove growth, engagement, and conversions. In their strategy to win over Generation Z the legacy coffee and donut house started featuring their customers’ voices across their social media channels. Their TikTok is dedicated to user-generated content. More interestingly, they’ve started to turn their employees into nano-influencers for the brand.

They’re actively pursuing employees who are interested in sharing Dunkin’s products throughout their work shift. The mix of user-generated content and employee-generated content gives Dunkin’s TikTok an authentic and genuine feel that platforms the customer’s voice instead of the brand’s.

#6: UGC Inspiration for the Fashion Industry

Don’t wait for user-generated content to come organically. Add requests for UGC within your customer journey, as Quince has. Quince sends an email requesting reviews and testimonials a few days after a buyer receives their order. The email strategically only has one call-to-action — leave feedback.

The fashion industry thrives off of user-generated content but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get. Inspire your customers to leave UGC through strategically timed emails, discounts, and giveaways.

#7: UGC Inspiration for the Health and Beauty Industry

Health and beauty brands, like NYX Cosmetics, are prioritizing user-generated content on their product pages. Every product has a huge below-the-fold section dedicated to reviews and star ratings. Website visitors can navigate through reviews by choosing the star level they want to read (ex. 3 star reviews) and seeing the average customer ratings. The reviews are almost more detailed than the product descriptions!

The more reviews and testimonials you can feature — the better. Customers want to know if a product is a great fit for them and these reviews create personalization that brand-created content just can’t.

#8: UGC Inspiration for the Retail Industry

If you’re going to trust a marketing strategy in the retail space…it probably should be Amazon’s. As the online retailer moved into brick-and-mortar stores, they brought user-generated content with them. Ratings and reviews of books were strategically placed on shelves to give people the online shopping experience in-person. Notice how they showcase highly rated books and personalized reviews per book below?

Retailers can take a page out of Amazon’s strategy and move user-generated content across in-person and online platforms for the ultimate impact.

How To Get Customers To Create UGC (Actionable Steps)

Even if you don’t realize it — your customers are creating UGC for your brand and products. It’s slipping through the cracks as your marketing team focuses on brand-created content. How often do people take a photo or quick video as they walk into the beautiful lobby of their vacation hotel? How much do we love to post our dinners (even if it’s McDonald’s!) to social media? Sixty percent of consumers wish that more brands would tell their fans and customers what type of content they want them to create!

To snag the UGC promoting your brand that already exists use our machine learning technology inside of TINT’s UGC Studio.

If you need to generate more UGC or UGC for a specific product or campaign — here’s how to motivate your customers to post that review.

#1: Host a Contest or Giveaway

Don’t wait for your audience, fans, and customers to create user-generated content. Ask them for it! Contests and giveaways are a great way to inspire your fans to create user-generated content. Just make sure you’re extra clear about what you’re looking for.

Do you want them to talk about a specific product?
Do you want them to leave a review on Google or Instagram Stories?
What does your ideal piece of user-generated content look like?

The more clear you are about the user-generated content you’re looking for the better the results will be.

#2: Ask for UGC Throughout the Customer Journey

Your buyers are moving through your customer journey. They see your social media content, read your emails, and browse your product pages. These are all ideal places to put user-generated content and ask for it. Ideally, you have UGC that promotes specific products by strategically moving buyers through the customer journey. Your UGC can target cold leads, warm leads, and hot leads.

The best place to collect this UGC is during the buying journey. Add guidance to your emails, social media posts, packaging, and websites asking your customers to create UGC while they’re in that stage of the buying journey. Ask them to share their package on Instagram Stories with a cute note inside their delivery. Or ask your social media followers to share their favorite products through your Instagram Stories and repost their responses.

#3: Keep Your UGC Organized and Easily Accessible

The best marketers are prepared. When your team decides to launch a new campaign — you can plug right into your UGC Studio to grab the necessary assets. Let’s say your team asks you to create more UGC around a specific product. You’ll hop into your UGC Studio and find existing UGC of that product and share it across your socials as you run a contest or giveaway to request more UGC from your audience.

The goal is to build out a library of content spanning from someone sharing their excitement when they booked a trip to your hotel to the moment they leave and sharing what a great experience it was. Your UGC Studio keeps all of that content organized and ready to share.

Which Industry Inspired You The Most?

Seeking inspiration outside of your industry is the name of the game if you ask Jay Abraham. He’s always on the lookout for how different sectors are using strategies and tools to garner results. To become an A-player marketer like him — you just need to follow his lead.

Which examples of UGC felt like they could be tweaked for your brand?

Send them to your team (in this moment of inspiration) to see how they can creatively play on those ideas. Who knows…this could lead to your best-performing campaign ever.

And don’t forget to stay organized. A Google Drive folder won’t cut it when it comes to quickly accessing UGC as needed.

Easily collect, curate, request rights, and distribute reviews and testimonials with TINT.

Schedule a TINT Demo to see the magic you can create with UGC.

The post How Different Industries Use UGC appeared first on TINT.

Eva Gutierrez, Author at TINT

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