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In recent years, user-generated content (UGC) has emerged as a game-changer, revolutionizing how companies engage with their customers.
While predominantly associated with B2C, UGC is now creating a powerful channel for B2B businesses to showcase their authenticity, build trust, and drive success in a competitive marketplace.
In today’s article, we will provide you with strategies on how your marketing can tap into B2B user-generated content and make it a powerful conversion machine.
Let’s jump in.
What is User-Generated Content?
Did you know that 92% of people trust recommendations from people they know, according to Nielsen Global's trust report?
From the dawn of trade, peoples’ opinions were the most important form of marketing.
People like to talk about their experiences, sometimes, the events they attend are usually interactions about products or services.
What Are the Most Common Forms of UGC?
Most people create online content to express themselves, so everyone has their favorite media to tell their story.
Here are some common forms seen online today:
- Product Reviews - are the main source of information on new products’ performance. People turn to reviews to better understand products’ real-life value.
- Blog Posts - aimed to showcase certain lifestyles can contain information on new products creators have used.
- Social Media Images and Posts - social media give an opportunity to individuals to share their thoughts on any topic.
- Forum Comments - People visit online forums to consult opinions. These posts usually talk about users’ interaction with a product or company in general.
- Videos - How-to’s or unboxing videos can become UGC when the creator talks about a product without receiving payment.
- Live Streams - videos filmed and shared in real-time with no time for editing and are often seen on social media platforms or Twitch.
When people communicate, they leave lasting impressions on one another.
That’s why UGC is just a modern instance of word-of-mouth marketing.
Why Should You Include UGC Into Your Marketing Strategy
Before we get into how you can utilize user-generated content to help your marketing, let’s discuss why you should use it.
Here are the benefits you can experience having proper UGC management:
1. Increase the Number of People You Can Reach
Not all people exposed to UGC mentioning your company follow your business or even know it exists.
But a lot of them can get interested in it.
You can anticipate a greater conversion rate from new followers through UGC content since they will likely have the same pain points and interests as your current users.
2. Cut on Content Creation Costs
Most content creators ask for a fee for any posts needed by company management, and some even charge each post businesses make since the platform is looking at it as marketing.
Individuals are free to post whatever they like as much as they like.
The expenses we are talking about might not seem much, but for startups, they can make a difference.
3. Reduce the amount of time spent producing content
Using UGC content for your business can help your team minimize the work to do because there is more content for your schedule.
If you have a strong UGC strategy, it also means that you will spend less time in the content creation phase.
4. Gain People's Trust Through Social Proof
People trust other people.
This is especially true if they are familiar with them on a personal level.
Online content creators can establish connections by engaging with their audience through previous content.
When people display trust in your brand, and you share it on your platforms, you show that you are listening to what your users think about you.
People will see your business as a caring set of individuals, not as a cold, calculated machine.
Here you can discover how we grew SaaS AI writing tool from 0 to 60k of monthly organic traffic within competitive niche.
How To Get the Best Results with B2B User-Generated Content
Most people think that user-generated content is suited just for companies with B2C orientation, but they are wrong, and their businesses are missing out on these great opportunities.
Let's look at what practices you can use to grow your business faster.
1. Share Customer Testimonials
Any satisfied customer is a potential brand representative.
If you're running an online business, you can boost your customers' exposure by allowing them to share their message with a larger audience.
For instance, testimonials are the purest form of product promotion you can get to share on your web page.
Or anywhere on your social media or other channels.
People will make those kinds of promotion-like videos on their own, but what’s great is that you can encourage them to do it.
This type of interaction can benefit both:
✅ Companies' brand recognition and
✅ Other consumers.
To get them started, share some talking points they can use as a base for ideas both sides want to present in the video.
2. Share Pictures of Users With Your Product
Marketing campaigns use professional and highly edited pictures showing your product in the best light.
This is excellent, but kinda lacks personality.
On the other hand, people posting images using your product in real life is unique, and others can relate to it.
A perfect example is the Instagram profile of StickerMule, which is completely dedicated to users’ experience and how business uses products.
Images might have lower quality, but they add fresh air to your portfolio.
And if you educate users to create HQ photos of your product, it will help you even more.
Daniel Wellington, for example, is a great example of a business that used the power of micro-influencers and UGC to grow its business exponentially.
3. Support Your Community
Research shows that 71% of people want to purchase products from companies with the same values.
Your company focuses on selling software to other businesses. But those businesses have people as leaders.
There are some things money can't buy, and community support is one of them.
And, there is no need to spend large stacks of money to incentivize people to talk about your work with the community.
Showing them you care about more than just thinking about making money can go a long way.
4. Promote Third-Party Reviews
Customers are leaving reviews about your company on third-party websites like Trustpilot, Capterra, or G2, right?
Third-party review sites are a great source of generating leads.
For instance, Google Alerts allows you to monitor what others say about you online and receive alerts when something new comes up.
Compile and highlight the reviews you consider the most impactful, and embed them on your website to gain more authority and trustworthiness.
The next logical step would be to promote user-generated content across all of your social media networks.
However, you should always be cautious about asking for user permission before reposting any information.
5. Paint Human Face of Your Business
One of the ways your company can stand out from the crowd is by presenting the human side of your staff.
When your employees create content, it is not technically UGC, but it does help in the same manner, so we decided to include it in our list.
Sharing employees' posts like comments on received presents in secret Santa exchanges or a day in the life video of workers giving their best on the job.
In addition, you are presenting the culture on which the company builds upon.
A friendly work environment and close relations among employees fortify the image of a community-oriented business and shared values.
For some businesses, that might be a triggering factor to work with you.
6. Build Upon Customers’ Success
When your customer has success in the industry, it reflects on you, too.
Especially if your product plays a role in achieving their goals.
As a company that provides products and services to other businesses, your good work is best shown through your customers' success.
You can do that by creating case studies or success stories that you will share with your audience.
The result of this kind of content is creating closer relations with existing partners and reaching other leads in the industry, which can lead to increased conversions.
When sharing information about your customer, aim to present it as identical as possible to the original to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding.
7. Create FAQs to Showcase Expertise
Keep in mind that B2B consumers are typically independent researchers who are authorized to make buy judgments by locating the solutions to their own inquiries and seeking them out.
The likelihood is high that people will hunt for the answers they seek on your website before entering their information into your contact database.
Now is the ideal time to increase the level of trust with user-generated content!
The concept of having real users like influencers or third-party bloggers contribute answers to your FAQ page queries is great to showcase your expertise and that other individuals trust you.
To sum up
User-generated content is a great pool of opportunities, but achieving great results is no small feat for someone working on such a task for the first time.
Your marketing campaigns may benefit greatly from a holistic approach to organic growth from each of the three perspectives of marketing, design, and development.
For that, you need to build a team to help your business stand out and put all that into practice.
And we can help you on that path.
Book a 30-minute call to learn how you can put B2B user-generated content into practice and how we can help your business reach its full potential.
FAQ
What is user-generated content in B2B?
User-generated content (UGC) in the B2B context refers to content created by customers, partners, or industry experts within the business-to-business sector.
It includes reviews, testimonials, case studies, blog posts, videos, and other content produced by external stakeholders that endorse or discuss B2B products, services, or experiences.
UGC can be a valuable resource for building trust and credibility in B2B marketing.
What is B2B social media content?
B2B social media content refers to the content specifically created for and shared on social media platforms within the business-to-business sector.
This content is tailored to engage and inform a B2B audience, often focusing on industry insights, thought leadership, product/service updates, and solutions to business challenges.
Effective B2B social media content aims to establish a brand's authority, foster relationships, and generate leads within the B2B landscape.
