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With user-generated content (UGC) 35% more memorable than other media, it’s no wonder UGC campaigns have proven to be a popular marketing tool in recent years.
Facebook ads with UGC have a 300% higher click-through rate (CTR), 50% lower cost per acquisition (CPA) and 50% lower cost per click (CPC).
These campaigns are extremely profitable, and adding UGC on product pages can help boost sales.
Here are 7 best user-generated content campaigns that might just inspire you to integrate your customers into your marketing strategy.
#1 Old Spice- Video Responses
Old Spice created a user-generated campaign kept on giving when they launched Isaiah Mustafa, also known as “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.”
The campaign gained traction with a series of creative commercials and was based exclusively around Mustafa.
The campaign allowed fans to send tweets and Facebook comments in real time, and it featured video responses from Mustafa.
Old Spice made sure to keep the turnaround time for these responses suitable, which resulted in massive social media growth following in a short period of time.
Key Takeaways
Don’t be afraid to execute a new plan, away from your original plan. Create ways for users to research deeper into the parts of your brand they find exciting, and keep the connection alive by keeping responses fast and personalized.
#2 Coca-Cola: Share a coke
Coca-Cola created the “Share a Coke” campaign featured personalized bottles with customers’ names and encouraged them to upload their photos with the hashtag #shareacoke on social media platforms.
The campaign even allowed users to create personal messages on the bottles, such as birthday wishes and wedding proposals.
Coke was already a big name, but the campaign helped the company to revitalize and solidify their customer connection and engagement.
Key Takeaways
Simple campaigns with a positive message can carry colossal influence. Create a platform for your products to be utilized in a way to make someone smile or laugh and connect with those organically.
#3 Starbucks- White Cup Contest
Starbucks asked people to decorate one of its cups with customized art and submit pictures of it to Twitter under the hashtag #WhiteCupContest.
Customer response was amazing. People decorated their cups, took pictures, and uploaded them.
The contest attracted nearly 4,000 entries in three weeks, and the winning design was featured as a new limited edition Starbucks cup.
Starbucks showed that it values customer feedback and earned great publicity as a result.
Starbucks Announces the Winner of its #WhiteCupContest http://t.co/1lN5g95T8T Congrats Brita! pic.twitter.com/6i2CE1D8w0
— Starbucks News (@Starbucksnews) June 19, 2014
Key Takeaways
This campaign shows how you don’t need a huge budget to have a big impact on social media. Find a way to make a profit from user-generated content, by turning it into something that you can sell or repurpose at the end of the campaign.
#4 Lay’s – Do us a Flavor
Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” campaign allowed the company to crowdsource product ideas by engaging customers to design their own flavors, with the winner to get $1 million.
The social media responses and the use of video allowed the campaign to really take off and they received 3.8 million suggestions and sales increased by 12%.
Not only did the contest allow customers to showcase their creativity, it also augmented customers’ engagement with the Lay’s brand.
Key Takeaways
Start a conversation and engage with your audience. And, get resourceful with how you do that. For example, instead of replying to a Tweet with a Tweet, you could respond with a video, like Lay’s did.
#5 National Geographic: Wanderlust Contest
National Geographic began their “Wanderlust Contest” in 2015, which inspired users to post photos with the hashtag #WanderlustContest, for a chance to win the National Geographic photo trip to Yosemite National Park.
Supporting the contest and prize with follower’s interests, National Geographic engaged travel-loving fans and generated a means of shareable content.
The hashtag #WanderlustContest generated a whopping 57,705 posts to date.
Key Takeaways
Don’t limit user-generated content to just social media channels. Expand to other networks. Capitalize on the fact that visitors will spend 90% more time on a website if that site has UGC content, and use your site as another network to showcase the work of your users.
#6 Loews Hotels: Travel For Real
The Loews hotel group started the process by looking through Instagram photos that their guests had already shared related hashtags, and location tags to narrow the results.
The guest-fueled inspiration turned into the #TravelForReal campaign. Real travelers shared shots of different Loews properties to capture the core of each hotel.
The photos got collected and used by Loews on their own website, Facebook Page and other social media platforms with the framework, “Nobody tells our story better than you.”
Loews ended up with a more authentic and complete view of their hotels from a traveler’s perspective while keeping costs low.
Key Takeaways
Find out what your customers are sharing, and influence the power of its social proof. Get your community involved in your marketing campaign by sharing their own content and honoring the stories.
#7 Muji- Muji Pen Art
Japanese retailer, MUJI, as a way of promoting MUJI pens, encouraged creativeness amongst social users by launching a pen art photo contest across Instagram and Twitter with hashtag #MujiPenArt.
The UGC product marketing campaign quickly generated 3000 submissions, generating social reach and authentic brand content for MUJI marketing.
What really made #MujiPenArt stand apart from other UGC campaigns; was the high level of artwork submitted as a result of this campaign. The contestants’ artwork weren’t just run-of-the-mill pen creations.
Key Takeaways
#MujiPenArt wasn’t just about pens. It was about what was possible for ambitious artists to achieve with a single pen, and it sparked creativeness in campaign followers. Give your followers a reason to put passion into the product you’re selling, and encourage them by showing them what’s possible.
Conclusion
Marketing is all about experimenting and when it comes to your UGC campaign, think outside the box. If done right, a great user generated content marketing effort can increase traffic, create engagement, and ultimately help boost conversions.
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