The shake became a trend, with people buying and creating videos of their post-drinking experiences
Imagine posting a video of yourself jamming out to your favorite artist. The video gets a ton of views, and the artist comments on it! You then receive a message from the artist inviting you to their sold-out show!
Fan engagement is all about making your fans feel unique and noticed! Engaging with fans ensures their happiness, cultivating a positive outlook on your brand. An inviting brand persona encourages interaction, enticing people to consider purchasing products or services, leading to increased sales.
Integrating UGC in marketing showcases fans, boosts exposure, and enhances brand engagement, ultimately driving increased sales. Let’s look at some examples of fan engagement in the music, sports, automobile, and food industries!
A great way for music artists to engage with fans is to share videos their fans make with their songs! One great example is Vietnamese-American artist Thuy. Thuy always interacts with her fans, and she even made a post sharing her fans’ videos of her song “Girls like me don’t cry” (click the link to check out the post!). She also encourages her fans to make their own videos and tag her in them so she can see them, causing more people to use her song in their videos. By engaging with her fans, her music has been successful and became the #2 trending song (at the time) on TikTok.
Sports
Sports fans are very devoted to their favorite team. One family, the Aguilars, went viral on TikTok because the daughter, Natalie, posted videos about how her dad is a huge fan of an NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers. When the team noticed that the family was going viral, they sent gifts to the family and invited them to watch their games (check out the link). The family consistently supported the 49ers in every game, gaining admiration for both their loyalty and the team itself. Fan engagement built a positive, relatable image for the 49ers, and the Aguilars’ videos warmed people’s hearts. Engaging with fans and interacting with UGC, the 49ers gained positive recognition, even among non-football enthusiasts, for a good reason. And for current fans, it caused them to feel more connected to the team.
Foodies (people who love a specific restaurant chain)
In June of 2023, Mcdonald’s released a Grimace shake. The shake became a trend, with people buying and creating videos of their post-drinking experiences. While McDonald’s did not prompt the trend, they did engage with it by posting a video of Grimace covering his eyes as if he didn’t see the trend (tap here to see example). By doing this, more people posted videos about the shake and Grimace’s birthday, basically promoting the drink for Mcdonald’s. This is an excellent example of how engaging with your fans’ UGC will benefit your brand and increase profit.
Now, how can your brand engage with your fans through their UGC? First, your brand should research if there is any content or trends made by your fans already. If there is, make content that highlights this! When fans see that you acknowledge them, they will feel appreciated.
If more UGC is needed, think of ways your fans can create content for you. A great way to set up a UGC campaign is through Vidlo! Vidlo allows your fans to make fun branded videos, and your brand can access all the content in your Vidlo dashboard. Let’s imagine you have a candle business. You ask your fans to make a fun video showing how pretty your candle is, and then they post it on their Instagram. Your brand can share their post, and comment on their video, showing that your brand appreciates them for buying a candle! This will encourage potential customers to buy a candle to support your brand, increasing profit.
The most essential part of fan engagement is interacting with the content they make. It is very discouraging to your fans if they post content and you don’t interact with it. To ensure they keep creating content, repost their content or comment on it! As a bonus, when your customers post their own UGC, it brings more awareness to your brand, which is highly beneficial. When potential customers see that your brand is friendly and values its fans, they will be more likley to check out your brand and make a purchase.
Interacting with your fans’ UGC is extremely important for fan engagement. One great way to do a UGC campaign is through Vidlo! Vidlo allows you to create a branded UGC campaign quickly; all your customers have to do is click a link, record a video, and share directly to social media. It is a great way to incorporate UGC into your marketing, and it only takes a few minutes to set up. To learn more, tap here!
