As an online marketer, you may have dabbled in the worlds of both influencer marketing and user-generated content (UGC).
The former is about leveraging content creators to reach consumers and influence them while the latter is content produced by their followers or a brand’s customers.
But how can you tie these two together to generate UGC at scale?
That’s what you’ll learn about in this post.
Influencers represent the people you want to reach
Influencers represent audiences in just about every niche you can imagine: Beauty, fashion, travel, technology, bitcoin investing, and even the funeral industry – all have influencers who write articles, blog, video and podcast.
Not only is every industry niche represented, but influencers reach every demographic group imaginable including millennials.
So, no matter how you segment your target market, you can pinpoint it by following the right influencers.
People look to content creators for their opinions
Why are content creators influential?
Because people like to be entertained, challenged and inspired but most of all, they want to relate to other people who are willing to talk about their experiences, successes and failures.
You see, it’s about vulnerability – something you don’t get from the mainstream media, advertising or celebrities.
But there’s also something else. They’re normal, everyday people using social media to express themselves. It’s that “normality” rather than celebrity that attracts and keeps followers.
Consumers inherently understand that celebrity has a falseness to it, a quality that’s manufactured by an army of agents, publicists and image specialists.
On the other hand, most influencers don’t have those advantages and are therefore more approachable, real, and for lack of a better word, authentic.
Even better, as they gain credibility through the content they create, followers begin to see them as authorities who can inspire and persuade them to make purchases.
Influencer partnerships are natural and feel authentic
Over the past few years, brands have started working with influencers to a greater degree.
Business segments like beauty, fashion and travel have adopted it quickly and some companies pay big money to influencers for product promotion, unboxing videos and reviews.
They quickly figured out that influencer marketing is more effective than advertising, forges a connection with the consumer and persuades them to buy.
Ever ask someone you trust for a movie recommendation? If you have similar tastes, you’re more likely to put stock in what they have to say about movies.
The same goes for social media influencers. When they make a recommendation about a product or service, it carries more weight than an advertisement.
For example, 53% of women made purchases as a result of influencer content.
Consumers don’t trust advertising anymore
And why is it that people would rather believe the word of a friend over, say, a Facebook ad or television commercial?
It comes down to the reality that marketers are figuring out: Consumers don’t trust advertising anymore.
In fact, a recent study by the McCarthy Group found that up to 84% of millennials have been found to distrust traditional advertising – in all its forms.
Let’s face it, this isn’t hard to believe.
Just about anyone can think back to an instance where they’ve felt burned by an ad.
It might have been a movie that looked great in trailers, but ultimately disappointed. Or it could have been a smartphone that touted a bunch of great features but didn’t live up to the hype.
It’s happened to me and I’ll bet you’re no different.
Today’s savvy consumers are conditioned to believe that ads aren’t truthful, that they have something to hide.
The upshot is this:
It’s better to be endorsed than it is to be marketed.
A recommendation from a trusted source holds more water. And when it comes to influencers, they hold a whole lot of trust with their followers.
But it gets better:
Influencers create a friendly face for brands, giving a human quality to a positive endorsement.
Where a marketing message from a business is faceless and anonymous, an endorsement from an influencer is akin to a positive review from a trusted friend.
Why user-generated content is powerful
In their 2016 State of Marketing Report, Salesforce revealed that 50% of top marketers leverage user-generated content because it is widely seen as one of the most trusted forms of media.
Remember, UGC is content created by other consumers rather than by brands or even influencers.
The upshot? Consumers trust other consumers.
They trust it so much that they believe content created by another consumer is three times (3x) more authentic compared to content created by a brand according to Stackla in their Consumer Content Report.
But it gets better:
A survey by Turnto Network found that 90% of shoppers admit that user-generated content influences their purchasing decisions.
And that’s not all:
The same survey by Turnto Networks found that 87% of search engine results consider UGC as the second most influential element for a purchase decision.
Now let’s take a look at combining influencers and UGC.
Influencers and UGC: A potent mix
Think of user-generated content as another form of fresh content. The more fresh content created, the more the conversation continues online.
And that’s better for you.
The trick is getting users to create content for you.
So, let’s take a look at the circumstances needed to prompt them.
First, it’s important to understand that users would rather create something within their own communities of interest than at the behest of a brand. Why is that?
Because brands often place rules and regulations on content related to them. They instinctually want to control their brand message.
They also tend to be one-sided in their thinking… what’s best for them.
Working with influencers, however, offers more creativity, flexibility and fun for the followers.
For instance, if an influencer asks her community to share stories about a product, that community will be far more likely to hop on board.
It’s because followers get a feeling of belonging within influencer communities. They are a part of something, a community of like-minded people.
It’s emotional and there’s a feeling of friendship while a corporate entity feels cold and impersonal.
But here’s the best part:
Consumers don’t just rely on the influencers, they also check out the opinions of other followers, fellow consumers.
How to leverage influencers to generate UGC
Influencers are a great vehicle to generate user-generated content in mass because they have large, built in followings.
They’re also tuned to their audiences and know how to engage them. When given proper guidelines, influencers are also good at delivering brand messaging because they are good at what they do and can be relied on.
Here’s what you need to know:
1: Invite influencers to run a contest
Many brands run #hashtag contests on Instagram and Twitter with a chance to win a prize. The followers are asked to share content on social media using brand hashtags during a set period of time. The content they ask to share is typically a customer image, a video or a product review, something simple and easy to share.
Another option is to invite bloggers to run a contest on their blogs while evangelizing it over their social media channels.
HP did this and the results were outstanding. They recruited 31 influencers and asked each of them to run a contest to win a laptop computer over the course of 31 days.
It worked like this:
Each influencer was gifted the laptop to give away to their readers during a week-long contest of their creation. The influencers were assigned a sequence so they didn’t run their contests at once. Every day during the 31-day period, a new contest was kicked off. That’s 31 individual contests and 31 chances for followers to win.
Also, every time an influencer’s contest kicked off, all 31 influencers would simultaneously promote it.
The result was that the influencers were excited because of all the promotion, the followers were thrilled because they had 31 chances to win the laptop, and HP loved the thousands of pieces of UGC that rolled in: photos, videos, testimonials, photo captions, and more.
Even better, the influencers set up their own website to centralize information about the contest and the participating influencers.
2: Get feedback and solicit ideas from the influencers
Just because you think your idea is terrific doesn’t mean the influencers will.
Be sure to solicit feedback from them once you pitch your idea to them (whatever it is). Get their feedback and incorporate it into your plan.
The influencers are good at what they do and they are more aware of how their audience will respond than you are, so listen carefully. They can help you turn your idea from a good one to a great one.
3: Set clear, simple guidelines for working together
It’s critical that you clearly communicate the goals of the campaign and how you expect to work together. Set expectations carefully and with the influencers in mind. Make it as easy for them to participate and don’t overburden them with expectations.
Remember, working with influencers is a two-way street so don’t think solely about what’s best for your brand.
In the case of the 31-Days campaign, careful guidelines were established in advance. They clearly communicated what they expected. This included deadlines, brand messaging, product specs as well as the order and timing of the contests.
Once the campaign kicks off, don’t expect to sit back and relax. Be engaged and address questions.
This will demonstrate that you stand behind your brand and your products, that you support the influencers and you’re willing to engage one-on-one with their followers.
It’s an opportunity to humanize your brand.
4: Engage and promote influencer content
Be sure to promote the influencers’ content about your brand and products across all your social channels. Put a few bucks behind it and boost their content on social media.
If you are running contests, promote the participating influencers and the winners of the contests.
If you are looking for more ways to promote their content, check out platforms like Lumanu, especially if you are a consumer brand.
And that’s not all:
Ask your employee advocates to evangelize the influencers who are promoting your brand, products, and contests. If you haven’t got an employee advocate program, check out Onalytica’s report about how useful this can be to your marketing.
5: Measure the influencers and how well they perform
Be sure to keep track of your influencers and how their content performs. You’ll want to track each influencer and their posts for engagement, click-throughs, and conversions. The best way to do this is to have a CRM code assigned to each influencer.
The data you collect will help you determine the content that resonated with your audience and which didn’t. Equipped with this data, you’ll be able to adjust for your next influencer/UGC campaign.
Wrapping up
Influencers are like nicely wrapped up packages with pretty pink bows. They’ve done the hard work: they’ve collected your audience for you. Think of it as years of market research that you no longer have to do. Because that influencer already has them assembled and ready to go.
By working with influencers, you can target groups of consumers more effectively than you could advertising a broad audience, and you can usually do so at a lesser expense.
In the end, you’ll likely see more bang for your buck working with influencers and encouraging their communities to create content. And in the business world, that return on investment is something that can’t be ignored.
Guest post by Victoria Greene.
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