What is User-Generated Content?
User-generated content, or UGC for short, is any content that is created and shared by your customers or fans. This can take many forms, from social media posts and photos to product reviews and even blog articles.
UGC is a powerful tool for brands because it allows you to tap into the creativity and passion of your audience and create a more authentic and engaging brand image.
For example, let's say you're a coffee shop, and one of your customers posts a photo on Instagram of their latte art. That photo is UGC!
It shows off your delicious coffee and beautiful presentation, and it's likely to inspire other customers to come in and try it for themselves.
Or, imagine that a happy customer leaves a glowing review of your product on your website. That review is UGC too! It adds credibility to your brand and helps other potential customers make a decision.
The best thing about UGC is that it's often more engaging and effective than traditional advertising.
That's because it comes from real people who have had a positive experience with your brand rather than from a company trying to sell something.
And because UGC is often shared on social media, it has the potential to reach a wider audience and create a buzz around your brand.
Types of User-Generated Content
Let’s see the different types of user-generated content with some examples and great tips!
1. Social Media
There is no denying that social media is one of the most popular channels for user-generated content. The UGC on social media could be:
- Posts: These are the most common type of social media content. Your customers might post about their experiences with your brand, share photos of your products, or tag you in a post to get your attention.
- Photos: Instagram and Pinterest are particularly popular for user-generated photos. Customers might share photos of themselves using your product or share photos of your products in creative ways.
- Videos: From YouTube to TikTok, a video is powerful user-generated content. It is possible that customers create product reviews, unboxing videos, or even creative skits featuring your brand.
- Stories: Instagram and Snapchat stories are a great way for customers to share more casual, behind-the-scenes content. This could include sneak peeks of new products or a day in the life of a customer using your brand.
Now let's take a look at some examples of successful user-generated social media campaigns:
➣ Starbucks' Red Cup Contest: Starbucks released a limited number of plain red holiday cups and asked customers to use the cups as a canvas to create their own unique designs.
Then, take a photo, and share it through Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RedCupArt.
The winning photos were featured on Starbucks' website and social media accounts, creating a buzz around the brand during the holiday season.
➣ GoPro's Million Dollar Challenge: GoPro launched a contest encouraging customers to share their best GoPro videos for a chance to win a share of one million dollars.
The contest generated over 25,000 submissions, and the winning videos were shared on GoPro's social media channels.
➣ Coca-Cola's Share a Coke Campaign: Coca-Cola replaced its logo with some of the nation’s most popular names, which were then printed on Coca‑Cola labels.
People were also able to personalize their own bottles at Share a Coke tour and were encouraged to share photos of their bottles on social media with the hashtag #ShareACoke.
The campaign was a huge success, generating over 500,000 photos on Instagram alone and boosting sales for the brand.
These are just a few examples of the many successful user-generated social media campaigns out there to get inspired for your own!
2. Product Reviews and Rating
Studies have shown that product reviews and ratings are incredibly important to consumers when making purchasing decisions.
In fact, a survey by BrightLocal found that 76% of consumers “regularly” read online reviews when browsing for local businesses.
That means that having positive reviews and ratings can be a major factor in driving sales for your business.
4 Ways to Encourage Users to Leave Product Reviews and Ratings
So, how can you encourage your customers to leave reviews and ratings for your products? Here are a few tips:
➣ Make it easy: Provide clear instructions for leaving a review or rating, and make the process as simple as possible. Consider sending a follow-up e-mail after a purchase with a link to the review page.
➣ Offer incentives: Consider offering a small discount or other incentives for leaving a review. Just be sure to follow any applicable laws and guidelines for incentivizing reviews.
➣ Respond to reviews: Show your customers that you value their feedback by responding to reviews, both positive and negative. This can encourage more customers to leave reviews and can also help you address any issues that arise.
➣ Use social proof: Display reviews and ratings prominently on your website and social media channels. Seeing positive reviews from other customers can be a powerful motivator for potential buyers.
For all these methods, you can simply take advantage of a popup builder. Popups allow you to collect feedback on your website effortlessly by being incorporated into your website design seamlessly.
You can check out Popupsmart’s ready-to-use popup templates for making the process easy for customers, offering incentives, and using social proof to encourage customers to leave reviews.
3. Forums and Discussion Boards
Forums and discussion boards provide a platform for your customers to connect with each other and share their experiences and opinions.
Some examples of user-generated content that might come from forums and discussion boards include:
- Questions and answers about your products/services
- Feedback and suggestions for improvement
- Discussions and debates about topics related to your brand/industry
- User-generated guides or tutorials
Best Practices for Managing Forums and Discussion Boards
If you decide to create a forum or discussion board for your brand, it's important to follow some best practices for managing it. You should:
- Set clear guidelines for posting and participating in your forum or discussion board. This can help ensure that the content remains relevant and respectful.
- Monitor the content to ensure that it remains on-topic and respectful. Consider appointing moderators to help with this.
- Encourage participation by asking questions, responding to posts, and highlighting valuable contributions.
- Reward contributions by offering rewards or recognition for users who make valuable contributions. This can encourage more participation.
Just be sure to follow best practices for managing your forum or discussion board to ensure that it remains a positive and valuable space for your customers.
4. Blogs and Guest Posts
Having user-generated blog content can provide several benefits for your brand.
User-generated content can provide fresh perspectives and insights into your industry or products that you may not have considered.
Also, you can increase engagement with your audience and encourage them to share their own thoughts and experiences.
How to Attract and Curate User-Generated Blog Content
If you want to start featuring user-generated content on your blog, there are a few things to pay attention to.
Firstly, you can reach out to influencers or customers in your industry and invite them to contribute a guest post to your blog.
Secondly, you can run a contest or promotion that encourages your audience to submit blog posts or other content for a chance to be featured on your blog.
Also, don’t forget to monitor social media channels for relevant user-generated content that you can curate and feature on your blog.
And lastly, it’s important to provide clear guidelines for submitting guest posts or other user-generated content to your blog. This can help ensure that the content meets your standards and is relevant to your audience.
5. Crowdsourcing and Contests
One example of a successful crowdsourcing campaign is from Lay’s.
For their “Do Us a Flavor” campaign, Lay's invited customers to submit their own chip flavor ideas for a chance to win a prize.
This contest generated over 14 million entries and resulted in three new chip flavors being added to Lay's product line.
As seen in Lay’s example, crowdsourcing and contests can provide several benefits for your brand, including:
- Increased engagement: By hosting a contest or crowdsourcing campaign, you can encourage your audience to engage with your brand and create content that's relevant to your products or services.
- Creativity: Contests and crowdsourcing campaigns can also encourage creativity among your audience, leading to unique and innovative user-generated content.
- Brand awareness: By featuring user-generated content created through a contest or crowdsourcing campaign, you can increase your brand's visibility and reach a wider audience.
UGC vs. Brand/Influencer-Generated Content
UGC is created by users and customers, while brand/influencer-generated content is created by brands and influencers on behalf of a brand.
UGC is typically more authentic and relatable to audiences, as it's created by real people who are using the product or service in their everyday lives.
Brand/influencer-generated content, on the other hand, can be more polished and professional but may not have the same level of authenticity.
Pros and Cons of UGC vs. Brand/Influencer-Generated Content
Pros of User-Generated Content:
➣ Authenticity: UGC is typically more authentic and relatable to audiences.
➣ Cost-effective: It is often free or low-cost, as it's created by users and customers.
➣ Increased engagement: UGC can lead to increased engagement and loyalty among your audience, as they feel more connected to your brand.
Cons of User-Generated Content:
➣ Lack of control: UGC can be unpredictable and may not always align with your brand's values or messaging.
➣ Quality control: UGC may not always be high-quality or visually appealing.
Pros of Brand/Influencer Generated Content:
➣ Professional quality: Brand/influencer-generated content is often professionally produced and visually appealing.
➣ Control: Brands have more control over the messaging and content when they create it themselves.
Cons Brand/Influencer Generated Content:
➣ Lack of authenticity: Brand/influencer-generated content may not have the same level of authenticity or relatability as UGC.
➣ Cost: Brand/influencer-generated content can be expensive to produce, especially if working with high-profile influencers.
Understanding the differences between UGC and brand/influencer-generated content can help you determine which type of content is best for your brand and your audience.
In many cases, a combination of both types of content can be effective in reaching and engaging your target audience.
How to Encourage User-Generated Content Creation
Encouraging users to create more UGC can be a challenge, but it's an important aspect of building a strong brand presence.
Firstly, it’s important to create a positive and engaging brand image, as consumers are more likely to engage with brands that they feel a connection with.
Make sure your brand's messaging and values align with your target audience and create a positive and engaging image that encourages users to interact with your brand.
Secondly, you can incentivize UGC creation. Contests or giveaways, for example, can be a powerful motivator for users to create content. This can help drive engagement and create a sense of community around your brand.
Also, social media platforms are a great way to encourage UGC creation, as they provide a convenient and accessible platform for users to share their content.
Consider creating branded hashtags or running social media campaigns to encourage users to create and share UGC.
Lastly, providing users with clear guidelines on what types of UGC you're looking for can help ensure that the content they create aligns with your brand's messaging and values.
This can also help improve the overall quality of the content.
Bonus: Engaging with your audience and showing appreciation for their UGC can help foster a sense of community and encourage further content creation.
Responding to comments and sharing user-generated content can also help increase engagement and inspire others to create UGC for your brand.
Benefits of User-Generated Content
UGC is the secret sauce that can take your brand's marketing game to the next level. Let’s discover why!
First up, authenticity. It's created by your customers, so it's a genuine reflection of their thoughts and experiences. This builds trust and credibility with your audience, and who doesn't want that?
Next up cost-effectiveness. UGC is like a gift from the marketing gods - it's often free or low-cost!
But wait, there's more! UGC can also supercharge engagement and loyalty.
When customers see their own content featured on your channels, it makes them feel connected to your brand and part of a community. This is a huge motivator for continued engagement.
Plus, UGC brings a diversity of perspectives to the table. Your customers are all unique, so their content will be too.
This can help you understand and cater to the needs of different audiences, leading to better customer experiences.
And last but not least, UGC can help skyrocket your brand's reach and awareness. When customers share their content with their own networks, it's like free advertising for your brand.
This can introduce you to new audiences and help grow your customer base.
Before You Leave…
Now that you've learned all about the different types of user-generated content, it's time to start harnessing the power of your audience and creating some amazing UGC campaigns!
By engaging with your customers and encouraging them to create and share content, you can build a community of passionate fans who will help you grow your brand.
So what are you waiting for? Start inspiring your customers today, and watch as your brand grows and thrives with the power of UGC!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is UGC in TikTok?
UGC stands for User Generated Content in TikTok, which means any video content created and uploaded by TikTok users.
It can be anything from dancing and lip-syncing to tutorials and DIY & life hack videos.
Brands can take advantage of user-generated content on TikTok by collaborating with influencers, creating branded challenges, and engaging with user-generated content.
Overall, brands can take advantage of TikTok's popularity to create a strong brand presence and increase engagement with their audience.
2. Is UGC the Same as Influencer?
UGC and influencer marketing are two different things. UGC is content created and shared by users, while influencer marketing is a strategy that involves partnering with influential people on social media to promote products or services.
Influencer marketing can create UGC, but they are not the same thing. Moreover, this difference is the main reason for brands in some cases to collaborate with user-generated content agencies to harness influencer marketing that creates UGC.
3. What are UGC Hashtags?
UGC hashtags are specific hashtags used by brands to encourage users to create and share their own content on social media.
They can be used to generate UGC and increase brand awareness.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 7 types of social media?
Social media is often grouped into seven broad types based on how people use the platforms: social networking (building relationships and communities, like Facebook and LinkedIn), microblogging (short, fast updates, like X), media sharing (photo/video-first platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest), messaging and chat apps (private or group communication like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Telegram), forums and community discussion sites (topic-based conversations like Reddit and Quora), blogging and publishing platforms (long-form content like Medium and WordPress), and social bookmarking/review platforms (saving, discovering, and rating content or places, like Pinterest for bookmarking and Yelp/Tripadvisor for reviews). In practice, many platforms overlap categories—for example, Instagram is both social networking and media sharing—so the “types” are best understood as user behaviors rather than strict labels.
How many types of UGC are there?
There isn’t one universal number of UGC types because marketers categorize it in different ways, but the most common high-level breakdown is three core formats: text, images, and videos. Text UGC includes product reviews, testimonials, Q&A answers, comments, forum posts, blog posts, and social captions; image UGC includes customer photos, selfies with products, before-and-after shots, screenshots, and memes; and video UGC includes unboxings, tutorials, “day in the life” clips, product demos, reactions, livestreams, and short-form TikTok/Reels content. Many brands also add “audio” (podcast mentions, voice notes) or “hybrid” formats (carousel posts, Stories with stickers, or review posts that combine text + photo/video), but for planning and measurement, starting with text/images/videos covers nearly all UGC you’ll collect and repurpose.
What are the 4 types of digital marketing?
A common way to summarize the four main types of digital marketing is: search engine optimization (SEO), which improves your visibility in organic search results through content and technical improvements; pay-per-click advertising (PPC) or search/display ads, where you pay for clicks or impressions on platforms like Google Ads and social networks; social media marketing, which includes both organic community building and paid social campaigns; and email marketing, which nurtures leads and customers with newsletters, promotions, and automated sequences. Depending on the framework, some people swap in content marketing or affiliate/influencer marketing as a “type,” but these typically sit within or support the four categories above—for example, UGC-powered content can boost SEO, strengthen social campaigns, and improve email click-through rates by adding authenticity.
What are UGC content examples?
User-generated content examples include any brand-related content created by real customers, fans, or advocates rather than the brand itself, such as product reviews and star ratings on an ecommerce site, testimonial quotes, customer photos using a product (like a coffee shop customer posting latte art on Instagram), unboxing videos on TikTok or YouTube, “how to use it” tutorials filmed at home, before-and-after images (common in beauty and fitness), Q&A responses in community forums, social posts tagging the brand, Stories mentioning the brand, user-made memes featuring a product, and blog posts or Reddit threads describing a personal experience with a service. Brands often repurpose these examples into marketing assets—like adding reviews to product pages, featuring customer photos in a gallery, or turning a great tutorial into an ad—so long as they follow permission and usage-rights best practices.
What do experts say about types of user-generated content?
Experts generally describe user-generated content as a spectrum of formats that fall into written, visual, and video-based categories, and they emphasize that the “best” type depends on the customer journey stage and the platform. Written UGC—reviews, testimonials, comments, blog posts, and community Q&A—is frequently highlighted as high-impact for trust and conversion because it answers objections in the customer’s own words; visual UGC—photos, screenshots, and creative images—tends to perform strongly for discovery and social proof because it’s quick to consume and easy to share; and video UGC—unboxings, tutorials, product demos, reactions, and livestreams—often drives the deepest engagement because it shows real-world use and emotion. Best-practice guidance typically includes: make it easy to create (clear prompts, branded hashtags, simple submission flows), incentivize ethically (contests, features, loyalty points without pressuring positive reviews), curate for quality and brand safety, request permission and credit creators, and measure performance by goal (engagement for awareness, saves/shares for consideration, click-through and conversion lift for purchase).
What is Types of user generated content examples?
Types of user-generated content examples can be understood by grouping UGC into practical buckets and attaching real-world examples to each: social media posts (customers tagging your brand in a photo or caption), customer photos (selfies with a product, travel shots at your location, or before-and-after images), customer videos (unboxings, tutorials, “first impressions,” and TikTok/Reels demos), reviews and ratings (written feedback and star scores on your site, Google, or marketplaces), testimonials and case studies (longer stories about results, sometimes collected via surveys), community conversations (comments, forum threads, Discord discussions, and Q&A responses), and creative remixes (memes, duets/stitches, fan art, and user-made templates). For example, a skincare brand might use review text on product pages, feature customer selfies in Instagram carousels, and run a hashtag campaign that collects short routine videos—each is a different UGC type serving a different marketing purpose, from credibility to reach to education.
