User-created content are pictures or videos which customers of a brand publish on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok. It’s so powerful because it shows the pure identification of a customer – when he basically shows off a product – and he also recommends that product in that way to his friends. Check out the podcast interview about the subject.
How can a brand get user-created content?
You can have intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for customers to post about your brand. Extrinsic means that the customer receives something in return, for example, a coupon or a small gift when they post something about your brand. Some years ago brands tried out that method and it can generate some reach. Today I wouldn’t advise a brand to use that strategy because it lacks long-term reliability and can hurt the branding.
Much better it is when customers have an intrinsic motivation to tell others about your product. That means they love it so much they want to tell others about it out of their own motivation.
What does a brand need to have that customers want to share their products on their own?
The basis is an awesome product – and the product must look beautiful. But of course, so many firms out there have awesome products – so there is more to it: You need to stand out and build up an emotional connection. This goes usually best through storytelling. You need to stand for something that can be because you achieved something in the past.
For example, Rolex stands for innovation and success. Tesla stands for progress and the future. Storytelling works best when you show it on ambassadors, for Rolex that’s for example, Roger Federer. For Tesla, it’s obviously Musk himself. These testimonials can be actors, celebrities, influencers – the important thing is that they are outstanding in their field and they 100% fit your brand.
Basically, these three ingredients will not only give you user-created content but an awesome branding. It makes your brand cool. And in one sentence: You will only get user-created content if it’s cool to speak about your products.
Not every company can design the future or invent diving watches – what are other ways to tell a story?
You can also stand for a feeling. Vans stand for independence and freedom of skating and is an incredibly strong brand.
But of course, if you’re relatively new on the market, then it’s more difficult to build a brand. The rule of thumb is The lighter your story the heavier need to be the ambassadors to create a cool brand.
The perfect example is Daniel Wellington. They had a great product: Low-budget watches that looked beautiful. But they have a very short history founded in 2011 – they became very popular in 2-3 years. As they didn’t have an interesting history, they needed to work with heavyweight ambassadors. In the time around 2015, they worked with the biggest influencers in Europe, they all wore their watches. In combination with the great look of the product, the product and the brand had a huge hype.
In that way, it’s been the influencers that made the watch cool, and not the story behind it. It’s a great example that a heavy ambassador can lift a brand that has an unspectacular history.
What about products that result out of a collaboration with an ambassador – do they perform better user created content wise?
People will post content to show off or more general to express that they think a certain product is cool.
For the community, influencer products or influencer collaborations by brands are per se cool in the community. So influencer products are predestined for provoking user-created content.
That’s one of the big advantages of influencer products, that the products basically market themselves – in particular in the community of the influencer. For more information on that tune in to our third episode in which we talk about challenges and opportunities for influencer products.
Bold Creators Club can keep you updated to the influencers world
Dealing with social media influencers is not always easy. Actually, most of the time, companies and influencers can’t communicate clearly, as there is a lack of a cultural, linguistic, and social bridge that connects both.
When it comes to Latin influencers, this communication barrier is even bigger. Not only because a lot of people in countries like Brazil or Colombia don’t English, but also because these countries are highly multicultural, with cities with completely different styles, slang, social and cultural movements within the country.
In the case of Brazil, this aspect is so strong that there are even completely different cultures within the same city, in big metropolises like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.
It is really hard to keep up with the constant changes in the pop culture and in the internet world, so contacting an agency whose job is to always be updated about what the influencers are doing, how is the stability in the country, and more important information for your company, is the best strategy.