UGC: New kid with the highest marks in the marketing class

The ever-changing holy grail of marketing has now added the most talked about chapter of UGC marketing, the one often misspelt as influencer marketing. 

Is UGC user-generated content? Yes

Is UGC used by brands to build awareness? Yes

Is UGC used as testimonials? Yes

Is UGC a way to build customer trust? Yes again!

Is UGC same as Influencer marketing? Not really.

Consider UGC as a child of influencer marketing. Used to influence people by the people. Testimonials or reviews, usage, benefits. All things are packed in one bag when it comes to UGC and Influencer marketing too. But can both be replaced by each other? Debatable. 

Let's understand the crux of both marketing strategies.

Influencer marketing is OG, primarily used by brands to promote their products through targeted and hand-picked influencers based on their reach, engagement, and of course followers. Brands add this strategy to their marketing funnel when they want to launch, introduce or build awareness about a product that requires trust and credibility. This not only keeps them top-of-the-mind, but it also correlates to conversions through clicks, discount codes, referrals, and even paid ads. Fun fact, more than 70% of brands opt for influencer marketing but it all comes down to budget. 

Through their visually rich and thoughtfully curated content, the market has seen an undeniable boost in influencer marketing; from macro to mega, the charges of influencers have skyrocketed taking a big chunk of bucks out from marketing budgets. While it's a strategy that has shown unbeatable results, it also comes with a cost, authenticity, and credibility. Especially beauty, lifestyle, self-care, wellness, FMCG, and sports brands rely heavily on influencer marketing, a way to stay in the conversation, be relevant, and be close to audiences. 

Digitalisation growth has positively impacted the rise of the influencer marketing industry where the future looks like 3375 crores by 2026 as per the report from Ernst and Young (EY).

Despite all the positive insights, battling influencer fraud makes it slightly challenging to navigate in this domain. For example, with Instagram & YouTube's boost creator interaction, AI integration and whatnott, it has become hard to monitor the authenticity. Backed by our own agency's experience with influencer marketing, the biggest obstacle is to align visions that suit both, the brand and the influencer. While micro and macro influencers are easy to read and navigate, the mega influencers take a dip in your mental barriers as both parties tend to focus more on their side of the story. But it's a battle worth fighting, all thanks to this multifaceted industry that keeps the likes, shares, and purchases moving.

Let's talk about the new cricket in the marketing funnel - UGC!!!

It's not old enough and certainly not so new, but the amount of User Generated Content that has been flooding the digital platform is bonkers. Everywhere you look, it's either UGC or UGC. But what makes it the new favourite for all the marketers? Customer loyalty. In a nutshell, UGC is a real user's POV, experience, and not-so-over-polished content. UGC allows the customer to become a part of the brand through the journey, making them a reliable and loyal source to attract more customers.

With the cutthroat competition in the internet space, where consumers are also becoming conscious; the best way to convince them is by sharing testimonials of your loyal customers. From the Stackla survey, it was found that consumers are likely to regard UGC by 2.4 times, consider UGC as social proof. In short, UGC becomes a focal point of performance marketing leading to a lot more conversion and engagement. A review/testimonial system that is not restricted to Google reviews. 

Harsh to say, but we all know influencer marketing over the years has become evident - consumer knows how much Instagram and YouTube celebs charge to do product placement in their video, whereas the new wave of UGC lets customers be the influencer.  While brands vouch for influencers, they certainly know the need to capture UGC, from big brands like Huda Beauty which truly relies on UGC to FMCG brands who bring out the realness of their product, it has become imperative for brands to stay up and above.

So how does one fit both similar yet opposite poles of marketing in their funnel?

The best way out is to lay out the vision and mission of the brand. Understand the brand's current stage and need for navigation, and balance it with appealing content for mass audiences with influencers and bring in user-generated content to build a world of testimonials that support your all marketing activities including influencer marketing. 

A significant 70% of consumers will make their purchase decision based on UGC, so, put yourself in the viewer's shoes - bring them something so appealing and then back it up with realness and credibility.

This article is penned by Chirag Shah, Founder and Creative Head, Boch & Fernsh.

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.