UGC can be way more than tagged posts and stories. Learn with examples →
Mayank Sehgal
We’re all familiar with user-generated content — when your brand is tagged in posts or stories by users, and then you re-share them on your own story or on your feed.
But because they’re directly there on Instagram and they’re easy to share at the tap of a button, it’s too easy to think that posts and stories are the only forms of UGC there are.
In this issue let’s look at UGC that goes beyond posts and stories, and how they can be equally and if not more powerful if leveraged correctly.
These can be incredibly powerful, especially when you have detailed, in-depth reviews that are beyond just an “awesome” or “great product” or “loved it”.
Some of the best reviews are at least 500 words long, and include a story or a personal reference of some kind — how your product truly impacted their life. And these kinds of reviews exist, you just have to look for them!
If you have a database of all your reviews, I would recommend sorting through the database for the longest reviews and cherry-picking the best ones from there to add to a database.
From there, you can use them as graphic posts on your social channels, or you can do what this brand did and make long-form YouTube videos where you read out the best ones.
Brand founders reading out brand product reviews. This is the kind of content that is as authentic as can be.
Another source of your customer reviews can also be in your DMs. If you’re receiving messages like this one below that Malucette received in their DMs, you know you’re doing something right. And you should share about it.
Bonus points if it’s a voice message 👇🏼
Do you meet people that use your product? At your store, at events, or even friends and family that use your products? What about your DMs?
What are they saying about your products?
Sometimes the greatest quotes come out when you’re not even looking for them. They just happen. At Ubu, once one of our customers told us during a conversation that our tool helps her “not work on the weekend” — and this became a customer quote that we started using.
I love this post shared by Malucette on their Instagram — they received DMs with feedback on their latest collection, and they shared them as a post in this way that makes it look like a photo. Great example of content that fits in the feed without looking too “graphical”.
Another place to find these is on Twitter. Especially when people don’t specifically tag your brand. Curology found this gem and reposted it on their Instagram 👇
By the way, did you know we’re on Twitter? 😉
Here’s another gold mine, especially if you’re a brand that receives a lot of engaged comments on your posts. I really love how Malucette shared their comments as a post on their feed — you can consider doing the same on your story too.
When you’re getting comments like this, it’s just more content that you can leverage to grow your brand, your trust, your social proof, and your business even more.
Even if your brand isn’t present on YouTube, you should still track YouTube for all the videos that are about you. You’d be surprised with you might find.
For example, Reagan from Vaer told me that he once found a 23 minute long YouTube review of one of his watches… in South Korean. His brand is based in LA. This is crazy.
This kicked off an entire playlist on YouTube of 3rd party reviews, which now contains 64 videos.
If you’re selling high-ticket items that require a bit of research before purchase, having a curated playlist of 3rd party YouTube reviews is going to be key to assure your potential customers of your quality and trust.
While posts and stories are the most obvious forms of UGC especially on Instagram, they don’t have to be the only ones. I hope this issue gave you something to think about this week! Let me know what you thought by writing to me at mayank at getubu dot com ✨
