User-generated content (UGC) can be a powerful marketing tool, with so many benefits to incorporating it into your marketing strategy. It can help save time, take the guesswork out of creating content on your own, increase engagement and brand loyalty, and broaden your overall reach. (Phew- that’s a lot!)
So how can you leverage UGC for your business? All you have to do is ask! Check out these 4 ways to encourage your audience to share their content with you:
- Engage with your audience regularly. By simply responding to comments/feedback, answering questions, and participating in discussions, you humanize your brand and give your audience a reason to relate to you. This builds trust and opens the door for them to share more with you.
- Offer an incentive or reward. The reward or incentive doesn’t have to be monetary. You can feature customers in a newsletter, share their images on your website/social media, or even use them in a blog post.
- Create your own branded hashtags. These can be a strategic way to promote new products, describe your business, or refer to your community of followers. When promoted correctly, they can help motivate your audience to start including them in their own posts.
- Allow for a photo-op in-store. Showcase a cute decal on your dressing room mirrors or have a fun photo booth/space set up along one of your walls. People go out of their way to find creative photo-op spots to share on their feeds, so use this as an opportunity to drive them to your store.
And one more note: Before starting to share your followers’ images, videos, testimonials, etc., it’s important to make clear that if an individual shares this content with you that he/she is consenting to it being used/posted by you. The last thing you want is someone to deem you untrustworthy for taking their content without permission.
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