Strategies to Unlock the Power of User-Generated Content
Businesses crave it, followers create it, Google pluses it and Facebook likes it! User generated Content is the core of social media and the key to amplify your brand awareness without having to break the bank. Most businesses understand the importance of quality content in increasing engagement, but unfortunately still a very few of them are taking advantage of the power of user- generated content.
So how do you encourage your followers to get involved and spread the message to rest of the world without having to buy those expensive commercials?! Let’s take a deeper dive….
1- Make it #Simple
Asking your followers to share their content with you might already be a hassle that they don’t even want to go through, so the last thing you would want to do is to make it even more complicated. Don’t ask them to go through four or five steps to be able to be part of whatever digital campaign you are running…make it easy and straightforward. A good way to ask fans to get their content to you would be by using appropriate #HASHTAGS. Invite your customers to participate by inserting hashtags in all your email campaigns, press releases, television advertisements and other marketing messages.
2- Ask for Share, Tag and Retweet
People love sharing on social media with their family and friends, it is just natural! So if you have an exciting campaign running that you want to spread the word about, simply ask you followers to share & re-tweet it, they will happily do that if they think it is an interesting campaign. You can even go beyond just sharing and ask them to tag the friends that they think might be interested to enter or participate.
3- Give them a reward
Who doesn’t like rewards?! People love contest and free prizes, and when the reward is grand then they are willing to share just about anything! Running contests has been proven to be a very successful approach to stimulate your followers into sharing and spreading your message across their networks. So with the right incentive and simple methodology, your message could buzz and go viral across all social media networks.
4- Recognition & engagement
Grand prize is king, but sometimes recognition and a simple thank you message could be the best prize you can offer your followers. Respond to the loyal followers engaging with your content and say thank you to all those who’ve shared photos, videos, and posts on your behalf. Give a little; you will definitely get a lot in return!
Social media marketing has a great potential in its ability to turn social media users into content generators. With the proper methodology and social media strategy, your follower’s photos, comments, videos and posts could become your marketing messages buzzing the online communities.
