Last Updated on December 16, 2024 by Damien Hurwitz
Any person who’s spent an appreciable amount of time scrolling through social media feeds such as Facebook or Instagram in recent days will have almost certainly noticed a proliferation of user-generated content ads. At Sandhill, we’re big fans of user-generated content ads, and we’ll explain why.
What Are User-Generated Ads (or User-Generated Content)?
What do we mean when we speak of user-generated ads — or user-generated content (UGC) — as opposed to more traditional brand-originated advertising? User-generated ads are created by four distinct types of people, according to the American Marketing Association:
- Customers: Simply put, these are the people who buy your product and who enjoy(ed) it enough to post a review, whether that’s in the form of a text review or a TikTok video. Their genuine enjoyment and endorsement of your product can resonate deeply with audiences.
- Brand loyalists: A step above the average customer, brand loyalists are customers who are deeply in love with what it is that you have to offer. Instead of a one-off review, brand loyalists will frequently share how much they purchase from you without reservation. Again, their authenticity generally appeals to those who come across their shares.
- Social media followers: When you take loyalists and customers and mix them together with those who are simply curious about the product and following from afar, this is the category. Social media followers of all stripes can help to boost engagement via comments, likes, and other means — this extends your reach and visibility, both vital to your success as a brand.
- UGC creators: These are the professionals who seek to make a living via genuine-seeming endorsements. By creating sponsored content that doesn’t feel like sponsored content, but rather authentic and enthusiastic endorsement. “Their content authentically showcases products without the need for personal profile exposure, which differentiates them from traditional influencers,” the AMA outlined.
Are User-Generated Content Ads Effective?
As to the question of whether user-generated ads are effective, the answer seems to be yes. The AMA’s notes suggest that “92% of consumers preferring the authenticity of user-created moments over polished ads,” there is one caveat: The data being referenced here does come from an older Nielsen study (2012). A similar proportion of survey respondents found “visual UGC more influential in their decisions than brand-generated photos or videos” in a 2016 article from Adweek, reinforcing this notion.
However, the likelihood of user-generated ads being more positively reviewed in 2024 seems high, particularly given how often they show up in contemporary social feeds.
With that being said, prospects do seem bright for user-generated ads. What are some ways to tell if your campaign will work?
1. It Hinges Around Authenticity
All good user-generated ads inspire a true sense of authenticity in the majority of the audience (you can’t please everyone, but should aim to capture most). According to marketing professional Alicia Esposito, this is key. In a post contrasting three ads — one “good,” one “bad,” and one “ugly” — authenticity was top of the list in terms of more desirable traits.
Data analytics firm Hearts & Science spoke to this need in their own discussion of user-generated content:
“UGC brings an element of authenticity and diversity to creative campaigns. By incorporating content from real consumers and everyday creators, marketers can reflect a broader range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. Where it may be near impossible to cast more than one or two archetypes in a traditional campaign, the ability to represent a plentitude of consumers and points of view can generate creative that is more relatable to a variety of audiences and fosters a sense of connection.”
2. It Feels Natural, Not Forced
Pushy advertisers and salespeople have long been cast as less than desirable in popular culture, and given its very nature, user-generated ads should strive to avoid these accusations wherever possible. Esposito pointed to reality stars JWOWW (of “Jersey Shore” fame) and Kim Kardashian as having violated this precept, drawing the ire of their audience in the process.
“Rather than showing herself [JWOWW] eating the food, she showed a staged image of the meal, which is used for traditional marketing for Fit Fuel Prep. She didn’t address the issue: When a follower called her out, indicating that if she was going to promote products ‘at least be real,’ she ignored it and continued to post images. The first thing she should’ve done was answer the follower and promise to show more ‘day in the life’ shots moving forward.”
If something comes off as fake, or forced, to your audience, you’ve lost the plot in terms of what user-generated content means.
3. It’s Accurate to a Fault
A very genuine ad means nothing if it’s inaccurate. If the product you are selling is nothing like as-advertised, you may find that the benefits of user-generated ads (virality, authenticity, social proof) are turned against you — as quickly as the audience turns.
4. It Targets the Proper Demographic
Ad spends can be expensive, whether they take the form of more traditional avenues or investment in a user-generated content campaign. Wasted marketing dollars can severely impact your bottom line, and so it’s also important to ensure you are targeting the precise demographic you aim to capture as a customer. As Greenfly detailed, giving the example of a casual sportswear campaign:
“… If you’re targeting the casual gym user who wants to get into fitness, only sharing photos of bodybuilders and professional athletes will not inspire your target audience to buy your products.”
5. It’s Fun and Memorable
Some of the most popular and effective user-generated ad campaigns invested heavily in making things both entertaining and memorable.
As a few examples, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign, where the company printed 150 common names on labels and encouraged buyers to gift them (and take pictures of the labels to share online); National Geographic’s “Wanderlust” campaign, which asked followers to submit their best nature shots under a branded hashtag — a weeklong photo excursion in Yosemite Park with a professional photographer for guidance as the prize; and the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” campaign, wherein chip-lovers were asked to submit ideas for a new flavor of chip. The latter campaign became a perennial pop-culture favorite, proving its effectiveness.
User-Generated Content Ads: The Bottom Line
Of course, the only way to tell if your campaign will work is by launching it, either full-force or in a limited rollout with A/B testing to an extremely targeted audience. Lessons can be learned through iteration, but if you see your consumer base responding positively, virality (and profit) could be around the corner.