The Power of UGC for a Successful Product Launch
So, you’re gearing up to launch a new product? Inevitably social is part of your channel mix. So how do you create content, awareness and conversation around your product within it, and how do you do so at any scale? The answer is User-Generated Content (UGC).
In this blog post, we'll explore what UGC is, how it can elevate your product launch strategy and how to leverage it for maximum impact.
What is UGC and Why is it Important?
UGC, or User-Generated Content, refers to any content created by your customers, fans, or followers, rather than your brand. This includes photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, and social media posts. UGC is a powerful asset for your product launch due to its genuine and authentic nature. Here’s why UGC matters:
Authenticity:
UGC is inherently authentic because it represents real customer experiences. Unlike brand-created content, UGC offers an honest perspective, which builds trust and credibility for your new product.
Social Proof:
UGC acts as social proof. When potential customers see others using and endorsing your product, they are more likely to trust its quality and value. UGC can significantly influence purchasing decisions by showcasing real user experiences.
Cost-Efficiency:
Utilising UGC is cost-effective. After distributing your product, customers and fans will create content on their own, saving you money on more traditional content production and marketing techniques.
Engagement:
UGC fosters engagement by encouraging customers to participate in content creation. Featuring this content can enhance community feeling and loyalty, and amplifying word-of-mouth marketing.
Product Gifting
Product gifting is one of the ways to generate UGC around a product launch. When your product is gifted, recipients often share their experiences on social media. Here’s why gifting can be beneficial:
Builds Anticipation
Product gifting helps build excitement for your new product. By sending your product to influencers, loyal customers, or early adopters, you create buzz and anticipation.
Generates Authentic Reviews and Testimonials:
Gifting your product encourages genuine UGC in the form of reviews and testimonials. Recipients are likely to provide honest feedback, which can help potential buyers make informed decisions.
For Only Organic, we gifted 100 creators their new soups. Following the completion of the campaign, we gathered feedback from all recipients about the soup and their experience. In addition to their social posts, over half completed the questionairre, discussing everything from the quality of the ingredients, the packaging and even our mailers. These 3 posts showcase this:
Provides you with UGC at scale
When your product is gifted to genuinely interested and relevant creators you can be confident of content as a result. To increase chances of an output, make sure your product is presented in a way made for social sharing alongside a request to include a simple CTA e.g. leave a review. Also, always remember to include tagging requirements including the correct disclosure for gifted items - #gifted.
We recently teamed up with Dyson to launch the brand new Airstrait into the Australian market. We gifted 25 influencers the product. From this we were able to see a massive 164 pieces of UGC. This gave Dyson a bank of content to share, as well as an additional 3.5 million video views.
Generates Diverse Content Types:
Product gifting can lead to various types of UGC, such as demonstrative content, unboxing videos and lifestyle photos. Collaborate with recipients to ensure the content aligns with your brand’s messaging and showcases your product effectively.
Rider Lite is a new to market beer with a specific target audience. We worked with them to get their products into the hands of the right people, which in turn resulted in some great content that is highly aligned with the brand.
Overcoming Challenges with UGC
While UGC is a powerful tool for product launches, managing it can present challenges. Considerations include finding the right recipients, handling logistics, and tracking UGC performance.
That’s where we come in. At Ernie, we understand the value of UGC and how it can enhance your product launch. We specialise in getting your brands products in the hands of the right people to generate effective UGC at scale.
Ready to harness the power of UGC for your product launch? Contact us to discover how we can help you achieve a successful launch with UGC!