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Industry-wide studies on consumer behavior from the Cohley Insights team.
User-generated content (UGC) is among the most powerful tools for attracting, engaging, and converting online customers. It's so potent that 53% of shoppers believe UGC strongly influences their online purchase decisions.
Despite the potency of UGC, many businesses still struggle with leveraging the tactic to boost their brand awareness and engagement. Most of these businesses struggle because they have trouble gathering relevant user-generated content and executing successful UGC strategies.
Are you experiencing similar troubles? If so, your luck just changed, because we're about to introduce you to the best UGC platforms that simplify leveraging and amplifying user-generated content. Before delving into our top UGC platforms, let’s clarify what UGC is and how it can benefit your business.
Table of Contents
Consumer or user-generated content is online content created by customers about your brand. Your customers may post UGC on their social media pages, your website, or other online platforms. The online content should create a positive impression about your brand and help increase your brand appeal, awareness, engagement, and sales.
Common examples of user-generated content include:
Besides customers, other individuals that can create valuable user-generated content include:
Like influencer marketing, UGC requires content from individuals outside your brand. UGC and influencer marketing can spike interest in your brand and products and convince prospects to do business with your company. Despite their many similarities, UGC and influencer marketing are not the same.
Data from Stackla shows that only 9% of consumers may buy a product because an influencer promoted it, often noting a lack of authenticity with influencer-produced content. On the contrary, 80% of the same respondents said they are more likely to buy products backed by UGC (such as testimonials).
Why is UGC a more potent marketing tool than influencer advertising? Below are some reasons:
Online reviews and other user-generated content are like digital word of mouth. Studies have shown that word of mouth is a consumer’s most trusted source of information before making a purchase decision. Word of mouth can generate five times more sales than paid marketing.
When more people know about your brand and the quality of what you have to offer, you can expect more online traffic. UGC allows your customers to create brand awareness on your behalf, leading prospects from user-generated content to your website.
Besides boosting your online traffic, UGC can help you engage, convert, and retain visitors. According to a PowerReviews analysis, conversions increase by 8.5% when consumers see UGC on a product page. Even better, conversions increase by 100% when those consumers actually interact with the UGC.
Show existing and prospective customers that you're the real deal by showcasing what their peers have said about your products and services. Sharing this evidence will help boost your customer-brand relationship, generating more UGC and leading to more prospects and sales.
With user-generated content, you can give prospective customers the final push they need to make a purchase. That’s because UGC will contain vital information that can convince prospects your products are the best choice for satisfying their needs.
Google prioritizes high-quality, original, and informative content in search results. If you don’t have the time to create such content, let your customers do it for you through user-generated content. Such content appearing on your comments, Google My Business page, and website testimonials page will positively contribute to your SEO score.
Customers talking about you on social media or review sites will improve your SEO even more if the content creator adds links to your site. Google will view the user-generated content as proof of your site’s authenticity and relevance, leading to a higher ranking in relevant search results.
Manually gathering relevant user-generated content from various sources can be stressful and time-consuming. You can simplify the process by using a UGC platform. However, since platforms vary in quality, you need to know the features to look for if you want the best UGC platform for your needs.
The right UGC platform will offer these features:
To help simplify your search for the best UGC platform for your business, we have compiled a list of some of the top UGC platforms currently on the market:
Cohley is one of the best choices if you want an affordable solution for getting high-quality user-generated content from multiple sources. The user-friendly platform has received several notable accolades for its performance and versatility.
If you want custom UGC, you can use Cohley to find creators that can match your brand tone and niche. Working with such creators will allow you to reach a wider audience, including potential customers already within the creator’s network.
Even better, Cohley comes with analytics tools for tracking and measuring your organic ROI. You can use the insights from the analytics feature to tweak your UGC campaign and get the best results.
Yotpo simplifies getting reviews and feedback from happy customers, giving you easy access to UGC. If you opt for Yotpo’s free plan, you can add UGC galleries to your site and curate galleries from hashtags on multiple social media platforms. However, you'll need a paid plan to unlock advanced features, such as AI-assisted tagging and analytics.
Pixlee is an influencer marketing and UGC platform for scaling online visibility and digital commerce. The platform is cost-effective and hassle-free, making it ideal for collecting quality content from your preferred sources. For example, you can automate content collection from your preferred influencers, customers, and employees and publish multi-channel campaigns.
Bazaarvoice enables you to use authentic and relatable content to engage and convert customers. With the UGC platform, you can influence the purchase decision of your target customers and scale your brand and sales. Even better, you can use the tool to build brand loyalty, leading to long-term customers that bring in consistent revenue.
With Billo, you can turn your customers into your personal influencer marketers. The process requires providing customers with a Billo link after purchasing a product.
The customers can then use Billo to create unboxing videos, reviews, and other content. Through Billo, you can also connect with professional content creators who can help create custom videos for your brand and products.
As we’ve established, you can get user-generated content from various sources. Some of our favorite platforms for sourcing UGC include:
Since your prospective customers know, trust, and use these platforms, they are more likely to believe comments and feedback provided by other users.
If you want customers to provide more UGC that promotes your brand on these platforms, consider incentivizing them with giveaways, shoutouts, and other rewards.
Cohley is one of the few UGC platforms that checks all the right boxes, especially if you need a robust, affordable, customizable, and user-friendly UGC tool. Don’t believe us? See for yourself by contacting Cohley for a free UGC campaign demo today.