In the world of digital marketing, two content types are making waves: Customer Content and Influencer Content. But what’s the difference, and which one should your brand focus on?
Vidlo has recognized that while some individuals use the term “UGC” to refer to content made by their customers, other individuals use it to reference sponsored or influencer created content.
We wanted to go into detail on the difference between the two types of content that are both referred to as “UGC” and how you can implement it depending on your strategy.
What Exactly is User Generated Content?
Sponsored content, and content made by your customers, are both effective ways to get the word out about your brand. Both of these content types lead to more exposure, which equals more sales. Both content types allow your brand to get social proof, as well as create an overall positive brand image.
Let’s take a closer look at each content type:
Customer Content
With the rise of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube anybody can create content and post it for everyone to see. Some of this content is made by customers about your product or service. Your customers will post about a snack they love, or a cool museum they went to, which convinces their peers to check them out. This content is authentic, making it convincing to people.
A good way to ensure you boost sales is to allow your customers and audience to become your brand’s voice. One way to do this is to allow customers to create videos with your product or service. Videos are a great way to help potential customers understand the experience someone has with your product or service and the emotions they feel with the product or service.
This approach combines elements of both testimonials and reviews, offering a dynamic visual format that can be even more impactful than traditional written feedback (for more on the distinctions and uses of testimonials versus reviews, see our article on “Testimonials vs Reviews“). Video content made by customers is convincing and engaging to potential customers.
Using videos that your consumers create comes off as more believable to potential customers. These videos are a great way to show how different people enjoy and use your product in their everyday lives. When your brand uses authentic content in their marketing strategy, it leads to more sales, and allows your brand to have an increase in revenue.
Influencer Content
Many people follow influencers they feel connected to. These influencers make content that engages their fans and convinces them that they can trust whatever they post or say. This content requires the influencer to be either sponsored or gifted products from your brand. When influencers post about a specific brand, their fans will look up the product to learn more, and some will even buy from your brand just because their favorite influencer uses your products or services.
The most impactful type of influencer content is video testimonials. When influencers are able to talk about a product, it convinces their followers to look into the product. The more positive things they say about your product or service, the more people are willing to purchase from your brand.
Comparing & Contrasting Both Types of UGC
Authenticity & Trust:
- Customer Content: One of the best parts about collecting and using customer content is that the content is full of authenticity. Your customers create and post the content because they want to share their thoughts on your brand. They are not obligated to do this, and they also are able to speak freely about what they like or dislike about your brand. Also, potential customers will trust their peers more. According to Nosto, “60% of consumers say content from friends or family influences their purchase decisions”.
- Influencer Content: It can be a bit difficult to maintain authenticity in sponsored posts. A good way to get convincing influencer content is to let the influencer say what they want. If you give them a script, it might come off as “ad talk” or artificial to their followers. When influencers talk about your brand, they should be allowed to say things their own way to ensure it comes off as natural to their followers. This will lead to more convincing content, which is better for your brand.
Reach & Engagement:
- Customer Content: The reach of customer content posts can potentially be pretty high! Since your customers often post videos on their personal social media, their peers are able to learn about your brand. A good way to increase the reach of the content they create is by encouraging them to use hashtags. Additionally, people are more likely to interact with their peers’ posts. So, engagement will be high with customer posts.
- Influencer Content: With influencer content, the reach will be guaranteed. Since your influencers can report their follower count and average engagement, your brand will be able to get a better understanding of the reach of your campaign. Influencers also typically get a lot of engagement on their posts since their followers will interact with their content regularly.
Cost-Effectiveness:
- Customer Content: Customer content is often free! Your customers post about your brand because they love your brand. They do not expect anything in return. Although, it leaves a good impression if you do include an incentive when requesting customer content. This can be a free trial of an upcoming product, a discount on their next purchase, or anything else that would show your appreciation.
- Influencer Content: Influencer content campaigns can be quite pricey. In return for creating and posting content, influencers require compensation. For big influencers, this amount can be high. Also, your brand can choose to gift your product or service to an influencer, which is also an expense. This campaign type might be too expensive for smaller brands, but the ROI is high.
Content Creation Process:
- Customer Content: Your brand can encourage customers to create content in a few ways. You can ask them to create content about their latest purchase. This can be done through email, text, or messages on social media apps. Also, your brand can run contests. You can instruct customers to create content with your products and use a hashtag when they post the content. Then, your brand can pick a winner, and give them a prize! This encourages content creation, and allows your brand to interact with your customers more.
❗️It is essential to ask your customers if they give you permission to repost, or use, their content in your marketing!
- Influencer Content: The collaboration process for influencers can be complicated. This type of content creation takes more effort from your brand. After finding which influencers your brand wants to collaborate with, you need to brief them on what they need to do. This can include what needs to be covered in their video, what the caption should say, what they need to show in the video, etc. After they create the content, your brand needs to review and approve it. Next, your brand should discuss when the post should go out, and monitor the response to the post. This would include views, likes, comments, shares, and how many customers came from their video. This process can be long, but it is very impactful for your brand.
Sales Impact:
Both content types have the ability to impact sales for your brand. The more content potential customers see about your brand, the more likely they are to consider your brand against competitors.
Adidas did an influencer campaign where they collaborated with influencers to introduce a contest. The contest led to an increase in followers and engagement with the brand. According to GRIN, “their sales increased by 24.2%, and at the same time, Nike’s sales dropped by 9.1%”. So, influencer campaigns can impact your sales dramatically, and lead to an increase in overall engagement.
BM Collagen did a TikTok campaign, where they asked their followers to create videos opening and using their product. They used the same video format in their ads, causing a clear connection between their customers and their own content. As a result, their sales grew by 200%! Customer campaigns have the ability to greatly influence your brand, and make your marketing more relatable.
Challenges & Limitations:
Both content types have their own challenges.
Customer Content:
- It can be time consuming to collect customer content (to simplify this process, check out the section below! 🤭)
- Your brand might think it is best to ask all of your customers for content, which can take a lot of effort, and not yield high responses. Your brand should pick your top customers, or ones that interact with your brand often, to create content for your brand.
- Since your customers are free to say anything in the content they post about your brand, this does require your brand to monitor the content closely. It’s always a good idea to look for posts about your brand, and address any negative feedback in a respectful manner.
- Customers may not want to be seen on your brand’s social media. This can cause your brand to not have access to as much content as you would like.
Influencer Content
- Sometimes, your customers may dislike an influencer that your brand has partnered with. Seeing that your brand partnered with them can cause them to also dislike your brand, or stop purchasing from your brand.
- For some brands, the compensation that influencers want for a collaboration might be too much.
- If an influencer gets canceled, there is a chance that your brand can be negatively impacted. Even if their actions were not directly related to your brand, it can make people think negatively of your brand.
- Finding influencers to partner with might be a long process. You might find an influencer that seems like the perfect fit, but after a few steps in the process, they decide to not go through with the collaboration.
Using Vidlo for Your UGC Campaign
Vidlo is a great tool for your brand to use to collect customer and influencer content! It makes UGC campaigns easy to set up and manage.
Vidlo for Customer Content
Vidlo makes it easy to collect testimonials from your customers, while also collecting data from them. This is a great way to understand your customers better, while also creating an engaging marketing campaign. Vidlo also adds your company’s branding to every video made, and you can also use our filters! After your customers make their videos, you can ask them questions to better understand them, such as what their favorite product is, what state they live in, their age, and more. Also, all the videos created, and the data collected, are stored in your Vidlo dashboard, so your marketing team doesn’t have to go searching for the content being posted about your brand. This makes it easy to share the content they create on your company’s socials. Your customers can also download the videos after they create them, and post it on their own social media, which increases reach.
Vidlo for Influencer Content
Vidlo is a good way to streamline all of the content from your influencers. There is no need for going back and forth with emails to capture content, you can just send your influencer your Vidlo link. Then, the video they create will sync directly to your Vidlo dashboard.
This will save you a lot of time, and streamline your marketing campaign. Plus, all of your videos will be branded with your logo. This ensures that when an influencer posts their video, it is clear that it is for your brand. Another benefit of Vidlo is the filters we have. These filters enhance the videos and make them exciting!
The Impact of UGC Campaigns
Both influencer content, and content made by your customers, allows for your brand to increase visibility. They are both great ways to convince potential customers to check out your brand. After all, positive content that is out there on social media will lead to a positive brand perception, and an increase in sales.
If your brand needs help starting a video content campaign, check out Vidlo! Vidlo is the turnkey solution for branded video campaigns.
To get started today, check out our free trial at https://vidlo.video.
