Information in this blog post was obtained from SEMrush.
Being in an academic environment where your expectations are met is a factor that enhances career development and fosters individual growth. As a student, the choices I make related to my academic path are important for my success and performance. From my academic experience, I am more productive and efficient when the learning environment is safe and friendly and when there is a sense of belonging and there are available resources for the course of study. This blog post aims to share what I have experienced as a student in a higher learning institution regarding user-generated content.
Benefits of Student-Generated Content
Student-generated content is a way of showcasing the level of satisfaction they have achieved for their educational institutions. This content which is not solicited by the brand may be in the form of photos, videos, reviews, and blog posts that relate to their institutions. Students sharing the content on social media platforms in study groups or attending on-campus activities are also forms of user-generated content. By hashtagging the institutions in their social media post with a positive caption or review, these institutions are promoted on their social media platform to their followers which helps them (educational institutions) to get a form of exposure or reach to others. Student-generated content is an authentic real-life user that gains customer trust and acts as evidence of social proof. According to a recent Local Consumer Review Survey 2024, 46% of consumers trust online reviews and personal recommendations from their friends and family.
Aside from brand awareness that is associated with User-Generated Content (UGC), other benefits that are linked to this real-life situation are as follows:
Cost-Effectiveness
As discussed earlier in this blog post, these contents are willingly created by the brand users based on their educational satisfaction. When UCG is embedded as a marketing strategy by the brand, it saves or reduces the cost of paid content production. This helps the brand to allocate more resources to other promotional activities like online advertising and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which require more financial input. It was reported by WebFX that the pay-per-click (PPC) for online ad campaigns can range from $300 to $100 million per month which excludes the labor cost when outsourcing to an agency.
Go Viral
User-generated content has more chances of going viral. Potential customers trust others' experiences and review more than traditional content created by the brand for promotional purposes. It is important to note that not all user-generated content goes viral. However, it has the chance to reach people beyond your followers or those who have encountered your brand which brings about awareness. For example, Warner Bros’ and Photo Room’s Barbie Selfie is a known UCG type. The company editing photos allows its users to turn themselves into characters and share these photos on media platforms. This interactive tool has been used more than 13 million times with the help of artificial intelligence.
Brand Loyalty
The power of storytelling in user-generated content especially when it is created by students for students or some other aiming to develop their digital marketing skills. This allows students to have a sense of belonging and can increase the rate of online engagement with the brand. This process also helps the brand to enjoy profit-boosting advocacy and increase the rate of student acquisition. According to a survey of PwC’s on Customer Loyalty, 52% of their respondents said that they express their brand loyalty by recommending or encouraging others to the band. Customers are more likely to recommend others when they have a good experience with a brand or if their experience is satisfactory. Food brand Huel has been able to foster a sense of community with the help of its followers through user-generated content. They share customers’ stories online which gives them a firm sense of identity and belonging to the brand. The brand has also created a positive relationship with its customers by identifying them with a unique name (Hueligans) which resonates with the brand.
Social Proof
Social media offers its users the opportunity to share their experiences. These experiences may be a form of positive feedback from the customer after they are satisfied with the product or service offered by the brand. This social proof may influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers or first-time buyers. These social proofs can be testimonials that review the product or services offered by the company. These testimonies are evaluations of the brand which helps them understand what their persona’s value is. An example of G2.com is a technology review website where users describe their experience using the project and work management tool Asana. This rating streamlines the credibility of the software and helps the company to gain a reputation
Authenticity
Content in the form of UCG provides a form of authentication that a firsthand sales and paid marketing campaign cannot offer. According to an e-commerce personalized platform, Nosto people are three times more likely to consider and refer to user-generated content than branded content. The survey also shows that 88% of people said that they consider authenticity when deciding about brand selection. The benefit of authenticity helps potential customers to review the product or service performance that the brand offers for sale. For instance, bad product reviews cannot be found on the company’s website because they aim to promote what they are offering for sale, but this can be found on a third-party website about users’ challenges with brands. This third-party website helps users to express their experience of a specific product or service as in the case of Asana which may include the features they like and dislike about the project management tool.
Best User-Generated Content for Effective Marketing
As you have seen the benefits of user-generated content, you should also bear in mind that it is related to external factors and the educational institution does not have control over the result. However, here are some tips and tactics that brands can use to guide content and maximize their returns.
Prioritize Relevant Content Channels
Higher educational institutions should be able to identify and prioritize the social media channels that their students are active users. This may be done with the help of a survey to better understand the right social media platforms to spark valuable engagement. To achieve this milestone, higher educational institutions should not forget to target demographic and social media metrics including follower counts, clicks, comments, and shares relating to their brand.
Set SMART Goals
It is ideal for the educational institution to set realistic goals that will guide them, and their strategy and evaluate the outcomes. These goals must be attainable within a specific period to gauge the effectiveness of their online performance. Examples of SMART goals are to increase brand awareness, build an engaged community, boost engagement among existing followers, and drive more traffic to their website. If their goal is to drive traffic, they can encourage their students to share their take on certain topics. For example, during spring break, Fort Hays State University posted a story on its Instagram page encouraging students to share their spring break destination to be featured in their post. They influenced a lot of students to share a photo of themselves on their Instagram having fun during the break with #tigersonspringbreak or #fhsu. These photos were reposted by the university on their Instagram page which was a smart choice.
Low Barriers to Entry
When the barrier of entry is low, it encourages the brand to have a pull of multiple content from different perspectives and backgrounds. This social expression helps the customers to be creative in creating authentic content that is useful for the brand while saving you the cost of paid content. According to a survey report by Ontario College of Art & Design University, people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s (approximately 73%) believe that for them to live a healthy and happier life they need to self-express themselves. Similarly, 68% of another study conducted by the New York Times reveals that social media users share content to give people a sense of who they are and what they care about.
Tie User-Generated Content Campaigns to Your Brand Story
Learning institutions should encourage user-generated content that reflects their brand, product, and industry. This content will resonate well with their target audience with chances to keep them engaged in their marketing campaign. The Fort Hays State University spring break post can also be considered as a campaign to their brand story and may add value of interest for potential new customers.
Get Permission
Publishing user-generated content can be crucial and appropriate steps should be followed by the brand. Customers with positive posts or reviews are the original content holders despite mentioning your brand name, and product. They should be consented to and acknowledged before reposting them or their contents. This process helps the brand to create a good trustworthy relationship with the customer or follower, avoid copyright infringement, and create an opportunity for further contribution.
Track Brand Mentions to Find Opportunities
Online activity is an ongoing process and brands can keep an eye on different platforms to monitor comments, hashtags, and questions and address any concern that relates to their brand. This engagement process can be done with the help of monitoring tools that notify them when and where they have been mentioned. A media monitoring tool from SEMrush AppCenter is one of the available tools designed to track the institution’s reputation in web media, blogs, news articles, and more.
In a nutshell, this blog post is a research work that aims to measure customer experience and satisfaction in the form of user-generated content. Educational institutions can evaluate their level of impact on their persona which measures the rate of satisfaction they derived from the brand. If rightly used, these contents showcase the level of trust that exists between the brand and its customers which helps the business to be sustainable in the long run.
If you want to learn more about developing engaging and sharable social media posts, read Morgan's post here
Resources
Semrush Team (Dec 08, 2023). The Beginner's Guide to User-Generated Content (Definition, Examples and Tips). Semrush Blog. https://www.semrush.com/blog/user-generated-content/
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