How to use User-Generated Content on Instagram?

User-generated content as we all know is the most genuine form of content on the internet. A few years ago people never even uttered the word UGC, not a marketer’s entire success depends on it. Brands have realized the importance of UGC and are constantly looking for ways to incorporate it into their marketing strategies.

UGC means content created by your existing users who have an idea of how your brand works. This is the most effective way to showcase why people should trust your brand and how you stand out from your competitors.

UGC is gathering a lot of attention these days and has become a necessity for people to develop trust in a small business. Apart from trust, UGC also helps develop a sense of credibility, engages large audiences, and builds a connection to boost conversion rates.

Wondering how to use UGC in your Instagram marketing strategies without interrupting Instagram’s terms? Then, this blog is for you. Let’s see how brands can generate more UGC and use it ethically and correctly.

Why use UGC on Instagram?

Before we fully understand how to utilize UGC to its full potential, it's important to understand why to use it in the first place. User-generated content is what your existing customer base thinks about you and how you have helped their needs.

You might be tagged or mentioned or directly messaged by people, all this is considered UGC. It also impacts your potential customers to make favorable decisions. Plus, this content is created by users, so you don't have to. How else can brands get the best of both worlds?

UGC is essential to understand how the brand works and what it stands for. People need an urge or a push before making a purchase decision and UGC is the perfect way to create the urge and encourage potential users to invest in the brand.

Now since we know a little bit about why UGC is important, let’s move on to the next step.

How to leverage UGC on Instagram?

Instagram being a visual platform, the principles are similar for almost every kind of product. You can use UGC in various ways and showcase brand trust easily. Here’s how.

Encourage your followers to share UGC

You need to encourage people to share user-generated content for you. Get them to use the brand hashtag or mention your account. There are many companies that have a separate hashtag for UGC. Make your hashtag visible in your bio and advice users to use the same.

Include your branded hashtag on the packaging and other promotional tactics to set a little reminder every time they see your product.

Leverage Instagram UGC on your website

Social media aggregator platforms like Taggbox offer you easy ways to embed Instagram UGC widgets on your website. You have the option to customize and moderate these widgets as per your requirements and display them your way.

With the analytics feature, you can track and analyze the widget’s performance and get detailed insights about user behavior, you can then make the necessary adjustments to keep your widget functional and improve traffic.

With aggregator platforms, you implement your imagination and leverage Instagram UGC in new and unique ways. With the responsive, result-driven layouts you can transform your website and make it more vibrant and visually appealing.

Select the right UGC for your Instagram

Once you have encourages enough audience to share UGC, it might get difficult to track every UGC after a while. You need to find it and then rightfully then leverage them in your marketing strategies. You can check the hashtag regularly and see what content has been added.

When your followers mention you, you get a notification making it easy for us to keep track. You can also use social listening tools that source your brand mentions, and hashtags across Instagram and find every piece of content created in your name.

Be selective when it comes to posting UGC. it is important to make sure the review is genuine, from an authentic account, and is highly relevant. Don't share posts that do not portray your brand or aren’t admissible.

Get UGC rights to share it ethically

Once you decide which UGC to use, you need to ask their permission first. Some people might not like their kid's image to be reposted, or someone might not like alcohol-related images to be posted outside their account. People are very sensitive and as a brand hurting anyone’s sentiments is just not what we wish.

Above mentioned social media aggregator platforms can help you get permission to repost easily. These platforms help you select all the posts you wish to get permission for, the platform itself posts an automated comment on these posts. The message needs to be extremely crisp and clear. If you get the permission well and good, if not you can move on to the next one.

Share UGC anywhere

You can leverage UGC on your website, however, UGC is a diverse type of content. You can use UGC on your Instagram feed, or stories. You can also categorize your highlights and make a separate highlight just for reviews and other UGC.

You can post UGC on various social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Conclusion

You can leverage Instagram UGC on many platforms other than Instagram itself. Once you get the permission you can repurpose IG User-generated content anywhere you want. Showcase success stories and build a community. Connect with your audience while building trust and most importantly see your conversion rates improve significantly.