New marketing trends pop up every constantly. Marketers really have to be on top of their game to spot every single novelty that could impact the performance and success of their campaigns.
A few years ago, some marketers thought that user-generated content wouldn’t leave a significant mark.
Today, user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful weapon that every marketer needs to have in their arsenal. Let’s take a look at these amazing user-generated content statistics to see why you’ll want to take advantage of UGC.
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Key UGC Stats to Remember
- Ads based on user-generated content receive 4 times higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click compared to average ads.
- More than half of consumers (50%) wish that brands would tell them what type of content to create and share.
- As few as 16% of brands have a strategy regarding user-generated content.
- More than 86% of companies today use user-generated content as part of their marketing strategy.
- When users create and share content on social media channels, they get 28% higher engagement compared to standard company posts.
Inbound Marketing and UGC
- One-quarter of search results (25%) for the world’s biggest brands are links to user-generated content.
- Websites with featured user content saw a 20% increase in return visitors. Additionally, these websites recorded a whopping 90% increase in time spent on-site.
- Almost half of customers (48%) claim that user-generated content is a great method for them to discover new products and this can be accelerated with product sampling.
- It is estimated that companies can receive a traffic increase of 26% when they share customer reviews on Twitter.
- Almost half of marketing professionals (48%) think that content created by customers helps humanize their marketing.
- 34% of TINT users and 45% of marketers agree that user-generated content helps improve social media campaigns.
- 41% of marketers rank content engagement as their top KPI.
- On average, UGC can save brands the expense of a dedicated content producer ($72,000).
- For 43% of TINT users and 42% of non-TINT users, UGC is an essential component of their marketing strategy.
- User-generated content drives a 73% increase in email click-through-rates.
User-generated Content and Buying Decisions Stats
User-generated content is proven to help drive conversions and sales.
- There has been an increase of 29% in web conversions when websites featured user-generated content.
- A whopping 84% of millennial consumers claim that user-generated content on company websites has influenced the way they do online shopping to some extent.
- A significant 70% of consumers will consider UGC reviews or ratings before making a purchasing decision. At least 41% of them will read four to seven UGC reviews to gain important insights on a product.
- On-site consumer reviews can increase conversions by 74%.
- A significant 64% of consumers will not only strongly consider online reviews, but they will also actively seek them out before making a final purchasing decision.
- 71% of consumers state that online reviews are important when considering buying electronics, appliances, home décor, and others.
- A staggering 93% of customers believe user-generated content is very helpful when making a purchasing decision.
- User-generated content is 20% more influential than any other kind of media when it comes to millennial buyers.
- Brands saw over a 50% conversion rate for visitors to pages featuring UGC. **
- **(“VMLY&R used TINT as part of a campaign to drive engagement for beIN SPORTS. Through their use of Experience Builder, they ran a contest to give away GOALden tickets. 5 trips during the season to watch beloved soccer teams in Europe. To date, the campaign has seen an almost 50% conversion rate for all visitors to the experience builder page.)
B2B Marketing and UGC
- Brand messages are re-shared up to 24 times more when distributed by your employees instead of a brand.
- Employee-shared content gets 8 times more engagement than content shared by brands.
- An employee advocacy program with 1,000 participants can generate up to $1,900,000 in advertising value, according to a study.
- Employees may get up to 10 times more followers than a brand’s corporate account, as well as get more organic social engagement.
UGC doesn’t only work in the B2C industry. On the contrary, B2B companies can also make great use of this type of content.
Stats on Customer Trust and User-generated Content
- A whopping 70% of consumers trust online peer reviews and recommendations more than professional content and copy.
- Almost half of the millennial consumers (44%) trust experienced consumers over family and friends when it comes to making a purchasing decision.
- A staggering 87% of brands take advantage of user-generated content with the aim to share more authentic content, and 72% believe that it helps them engage their audience better.
- Finally, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from other people, even if it’s people they don’t know.
- 75% of respondents claim that UGC makes content more authentic.
Gen Z and UGC
- 35% of Gen Z believes that in the next 3-5 years, user-generated content will have more credibility than content created by a company or independent source.
- In the near future (3-5 years), smartphone usage will lead to an increase in the number of consumers who prefer to watch UGC on mobile phones by 12%.
- 84% of this generation are more likely to trust a company if it uses actual customers in its ads.
- Gen Z’s attention is most effectively attracted by brand influencers who post authentic UGC.
Millennial Consumers and Content Generation
- Millennial consumers (25+ years of age) are considered to be the biggest content drivers. They contribute to over 70% of all UGC for ambassador marketing.
- Millennial consumers spend 18 hours a day engaged in various types of media. 30% of that time is spent watching user-generated media.
- Millennial consumers believe that user-generated content is 35% more memorable than other media.
- This may come as a surprise, but only 1% of millennial consumers claim that a compelling advertisement would make them trust a brand more.
User-generated Content and Video Marketing
- Almost half of the people (45%) watch over an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos on a weekly basis.
- Engagement increases by 28% when consumers can view a mixture of user-generated product videos and official brand-authored content.
Case Studies on User-generated Content
- A UGC-centered campaign from Burberry saw a 50% increase in eCommerce sales year-over-year.
- Tourism Queensland ran a campaign encouraging users to apply for the “best job in the world” and be a caretaker for a tropical island, with the aim to increase social activity and exposure. More than 35,000 people created video applications, resulting in $368 million worth of media coverage, 8.4 million unique website visits, and 55 million page views.
- Using social media channels as their main voting platforms in a campaign focused on UGC, Lays got more than 22 million visits a week to the campaign’s competition Facebook page during the voting phase. Sales increased by 12% for that year.
Wrapping Up
There is no denying that user-generated content converts far more effectively than branded content alone. From an employee selfie at work to a full IG video, display on websites, in social, in ads, or social walls UGC drives trust and boosts sales.
Essential for driving awareness, consideration, and sales, UGC is your most powerful content marketing tool.
Schedule time with our UGC experts today to learn how TINT can help support your marketing goals.
