Social media offers brands hundreds of opportunities to promote their message — not just with the content they upload but also with user-generated content (UGC). UGC can involve anything, from customer reviews to sponsored influencer posts, along with anything in between these two.

The end goal is not that different from classic social media promotion — spreading your message to larger audiences through likes, comments, and shares. Except this time, users should make posts about your brand.

But how can a brand urge its followers to post about its products or services? The easiest way is to hire social media marketing specialist (something which you will need to do anyway, user-generated content or no UGC).

But there are a few other strategies that can turn your customers into loyal brand ambassadors.

What makes your audience click?

Before you even start thinking about turning your audience into brand ambassadors, you should carefully consider who your audience is and what they want.

User-generated content is a powerful tool in promoting practically any product to almost any audience, but GenZ is particularly receptive to it. In fact, many late millennials and GenZ trust UGC more than branded content.

So, if your ideal customer profile covers these demographics, UGC can raise your brand awareness to a new level. But, of course, it all starts with a good product and transparent brand image — if you have those, you’re halfway there already!

And the following tips will take you even further along the road.

Encourage people to leave reviews

This is one of the most straightforward ways to advertise your product, but it should not overstrain the customers. So, simplify this process as much as possible.

Make the review section on the FB page easily accessible, optimize the review page on your website, send emails asking people to review the product after they purchased it, etc.

There are specialized services, like Reviews.io, that can automatically send invitations and collect positive reviews about a brand in one place.

Create branded hashtags

This is vital for spreading your message to a wide audience. Just think about it — whenever people post anything about a show streaming on Netflix, they use both the show name and the Netflix tag, promoting the company and its products further.

This Instagram-native logic can work with pretty much any product or social platform. But, of course, the hashtag that also includes your brand name has to be short, catchy, and easy to remember.

Collaborate with influencers

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach younger audiences, and its power will only continue to grow as more Zoomers start getting their independent income.

Instagram is the obvious choice here, but you do not necessarily have to limit yourself to this network.

YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok can promote your brand effectively, and you can find many influencers on these platforms, too.

So, connect with micro-influencers — they may have smaller audiences (10,000-100,000 followers), but they generate up to 60% more engagement than macro-influencers.

Search for influencers who share the same values as your brand, who would love using your products, and mention them to an engaged follower base.

Educate your audience

Today’s brand promotion is about empowering and educating your potential customers. There are plenty of ways to educate your audience through product tutorials, guides, and other materials people may find useful.

Another idea is to create communities, start discussions, engage with your customers on forums, etc. A sense of community and belonging is one of the top factors that turn first-time buyers into regular customers and, eventually, even brand ambassadors.

Find it hard to believe? Then think about Apple products — without the sense of community and customers advertising the brand on every corner, such an astounding success would never have been possible.

The same logic applies to any other products, from jewelry to kitchenware.

Run Contest and Challenges

When it comes to user-generated content, people love a contest, and the possibility of a prize even more!

Engaging contests and online challenges are a great way to create some buzz and urge followers to share your content. A challenge can be an even better idea because, instead of sharing brand content, your audience will start creating content of their own, ‘referencing’ it back to you with relevant hashtags. For instance, if you organize an event, you can collect contacts from your event management and camp registration software, reach out to the contacts via a targeted email campaign, and incentivize them to share their UGC.

At first, thinking of a suitable challenge that falls in line with your brand vision and products can be a bit intimidating.

But if we take TikTok as a good example of how viral user-generated content can be, it becomes obvious that practically any idea can turn into a viral challenge.

Most popular TikTok challenges to date had to do with makeup, fitness, books, pets, and much more — so the sky is really the limit here!

Share polls & other interactive content

Another idea that can generate some extra buzz and boost shares of your branded content.

While this is not a form of user-generated content, people gladly share funny polls and tests with their friends’ circle, and mention who created the poll in the first place.

The interactive polls can be about anything — from personality type to unexpected ways to use your products — as long as it is funny and relatable.

Make user-generated content part of your ads

One of the best ways to show your audience that you value their experiences and opinions is to feature their content on your official brand channels. This may go way further than sharing positive reviews on your FB page.

Collecting UGC that showcases how people use and enjoy your products can help you create relatable ads that attract a lot of new followers.

For instance, GoPro regularly leverages user-generated content to promote its products, showing all sorts of extreme sports and other activities their users film on the go.

Emphasize brand values and vision

A loyal audience that acts as your brand ambassador is a dream come true for most businesses. But one should not ignore quality brand content, of course.

Younger audiences expect regular posts that inform, educate, or entertain from the brands they follow and represent.

Make sure that your vision and values are clearly seen in all social media posts — and keep in mind that mobile-native generations of users see the fake from a mile away.

Take Away

In conclusion, if you strive for a reputation of a sustainable brand that cares about more than profit, you should continue with user-generated content without any deviations from the course.

But do not forget that all social media efforts, including UGC, are about consistency. In fact, with user generated content, consistency may be more important than ever because your goal is maintaining and nurturing relationships with your existing customers.

Keep giving them new reasons to buy your products and share their experiences, and soon enough, you will see how generously your efforts pay off.