What Is the Definition of Consumer-Generated Content

These communities help create positive user-generated content about the brand in their networks, which increases traffic, user engagement, brand exposure, attractiveness, brand conversion opportunities, and brand promotion. Keep in mind that the goal of any UGC campaign is to generate content that your customers actually use to make their purchasing decisions. You want more than pretty photos uploaded to Instagram. A study on YouTube analyzing one of the video-on-demand systems was conducted in 2007. The length of the video had doubled compared to non-UGC content, but they saw a rapid production rate. User behavior is what perpetuates UGC. The act of P2P (peer-to-peer) has been studied and has seen great benefits for the system. They also looked at the impact of content aliasing, multiple copy sharing, and illegal downloads. [72] The ability of services to accept user-generated content raises a number of legal concerns, ranging from broad to specific local laws. In general, it is difficult to know who committed the online crime because many use pseudonyms or remain anonymous. Sometimes it can be traced. But in the case of a public coffee shop, they have no way of determining the exact user.

There is also a problem with problems associated with extremely harmful, but not legal, acts. For example, posting content that incites a person`s suicide. It is a criminal offence if there is evidence „beyond a reasonable doubt” but different situations may lead to different results. [66] Depending on the country, some laws are associated with Web 2.0. In the United States, the exceptions in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act state that „no provider or user of an interactive computing service shall be treated as a publisher or speaker of information provided by another provider of informational content.” This clause effectively provides blanket immunity for websites that host user-generated content that is defamatory, misleading or otherwise harmful, even if the operator knows that the third-party content is harmful and refuses to remove it. An exception to this general rule may exist if a website promises to remove the content and does not. [67] User-generated content can go beyond showcasing your product or service in action or highlighting a great review. If your goal is to be more authentic to your audience, don`t be afraid to let your employees participate in the creation of UGC. After all, no one knows the product better than the people who work directly with it every day. In this article, you`ll learn more about the benefits of user-generated content for brands and how to communicate with your audience through UGC. It`s worth noting that user-generated content and sponsored posts are very different things.

Sponsorship implies that there has been a transaction and usually must be clearly disclosed. You may have seen these Instagram posts with a hashtag that says the creator is an affiliate or simply „Paid Partnership” at the top. These are usually sponsored financially or by brands that send them products to show on their platforms. An example of user-generated content by Calvin Klein. There are many cases of user-generated content in action. For example, according to Vox, Maybelline, The Pink Stuff and Aerie have something in common other than their status as consumer goods — one of their products went viral thanks to a user video on TikTok. These brands have reported that they have sold at one time or another thanks to their virality, and these efforts are replicated on multiple platforms. The following examples are great case studies of brands that have benefited from user-generated content. It`s pretty easy to see why consumer-generated content is so effective: because it doesn`t come from us – marketers and advertisers liars, photoshopping, kid`s day ruiners.

Providing adequate credit is an important way to recognize the work of content creators and ensure they are passionate about using and publishing your brand. However, collecting on social media with a branded hashtag can be a bit more difficult, as ownership of photos and posts is a bit harder to acquire. By collecting UGC through an app or portal, companies can be sure that what they collect can be used in official advertising campaigns without legal problems. The term „user-generated content” has been criticized. Previous criticisms have focused on issues of fairness, quality[59], privacy[60], sustainable availability of creative work and efforts in legal issues, in particular those related to intellectual property rights such as copyright, etc. In marketing, user-generated content (also known as consumer-generated content or UGC) refers to content related to your brand and created by someone who is not an official representative of your business. It can be a social media update, review, video, podcast, or a number of other types. If it`s your brand and none of your employees or partners created it, it`s user-generated content. Plus, content management is simple and straightforward because rights to user content are managed and reused for your branded campaigns. There are several UGC tools and platforms you can use to manage content rights and robust curation. However, the lines between influencer-created content and paid user-generated content are blurred. The main differentiators are usually the size of the audience and where the messages are posted.

The wave of creators focusing solely on creating content for brands` social platforms also shows the value and development of user-generated content. Hashtag contests can motivate followers to contribute to a brand`s hashtag. Followers can use a specific hashtag to share content such as photos and videos on a social media platform and win prizes. These contests are a great option for brands looking to popularize their hashtags, as they can contribute to brand awareness and increase sales. The real value of user-generated content lies in its authenticity, and the statistics match. In particular, two reports highlight the importance of user-generated content for forward-looking brands. Not bad for content that GoPro costs nothing to produce. Jill Byron is Vice President of Marketing at Mode Media.

In an article for Advertising Age, she offers some tips for brands that want to be more „authentic,” which is also valuable for businesses looking to ask for user-generated content. It`s not always easy to create content for marketing campaigns, as it requires large investments. Nevertheless, UGC facilitates the preservation of the best and most valuable content of digital platforms. The UGC strategy goes beyond understanding the types of content you need from your customers. You also need to align your UGC campaign with broader social media goals. Employee-generated content (EGC) shows the value and story of your brand. For example, photos of employees packing or placing orders, or a video where your team explains why they love working for your company. This behind-the-scenes content helps establish brand identity and works on social media and ads to demonstrate authenticity.

User-generated content has an incredible impact on the final stages of the buyer`s journey, where you want to convert your audience and entice them to buy. The restaurant industry has also been transformed by a rating system that places more emphasis on online reviews and peer content than on traditional media reviews. In 2011, Yelp included 70% of reviews for restaurants in the Seattle area, compared to less than 5% for Food & Wine magazine. [36] Consumer Generated Media (CGM) refers to any written, audio or video content created by end-users using simple or semi-professional tools. CGM can include one-consumer-to-many applications such as photo sharing, blog publishing, podcasting, social media video blogging, etc., as well as „auteur filmmakers” who want to share their content with an audience. On social media, when fans or followers feature your brand in their personal social media posts, promoting your product or service in any way is user-generated content. These can be online reviews, product photos, customer reviews, product videos, custom hashtags, and more. User-generated content (also known as UGC or consumer-generated content) is original branded content created by customers and published on social media or other channels.

UGC comes in many forms, including images, videos, reviews, a testimonial, or even a podcast. Running a consumer-generated content campaign is anything but easy from a legal perspective. The rules for gifts are often complicated depending on your location and collection medium, as are your rights to user-generated content.