User-generated content ads: Your unique brand story

At present, video content material is king. Over 65% of individuals consult with video content material as their primary supply of knowledge. Do you wish to know whether or not your subsequent vacation vacation spot is as cool as they write about? You go and examine a YouTube video by a content material creator speaking about that place. Are you looking for essentially the most fascinating inventory to purchase? You examine a chunk of user-generated content material on one of many many video platforms about inventory funding.

You identify it, there’s somebody on the market speaking about it, and probably selling some manufacturers.

Video has at all times been there. Earlier than on TV, yesterday in your laptop computer, right now in your fingers with 75% of all of the video content material consumed on a cellular gadget. What’s completely different right now is that manufacturers are in customers’ fingers (or we must always perhaps say voice).

What’s user-generated content material?

Consumer-generated content material (UGC) is content material (not solely video) created and printed organically by particular person customers moderately than manufacturers or well-known influencers. In its origin, UGC was, and nonetheless is to a sure extent, authentic and sincere content material that customers would submit online for the general public. For the reason the explosion of video-based social networks, nonetheless, entrepreneurs have acknowledged the facility of this sort of format and the so-called user-generated content material adverts or UGC social media promoting has elevated in recognition.

Why is user-generated content material valuable for (app) advertising?

There are a number of explanations why UGC adverts have rapidly grown to be an integral part of the media combined for a lot of manufacturers.

It’s, to begin with, cheap in comparison with conventional video manufacturing. It’s not essential to work with style (and really costly) influencers, as a matter of reality, micro-influencers and content material creators are sufficient. Furthermore, single content material can be utilized throughout completely different platforms, lowering manufacturing prices much more. It’s additionally extra reliable in comparison with regular adverts, in spite of everything our model is being endorsed. It may be extra informative and, at the identical time, humorous or participating, in comparison with different advert codecs.

Tips on how to create UGC adverts that work

Opposite to what one would possibly assume, user-generated content material used for social media promotion wants planning and testing. Loads of testing, truly. UGC may be tough to handle, particularly for conventional manufacturers with quite a lot of restrictions or tight branding pointers.

To efficiently create a successful user-generated content material adverts technique, entrepreneurs want to go away the proper area for creators to assume, create, and ship ideas that align with their types and the social media platform used.

A standard strategy received work for UGC. The important thing to the profitable user-generated content material for promotional functions is to be hands-off and don’t attempt to impress the viewers along with your advertising tips. TikTok says it very clearly “Make TikToks, Not Advertisements”.

Scaling app development by user-generated content material adverts

Opposite style perception, UGC promotion shouldn’t be just for branding functions. Consumer-generated content material adverts, if used appropriately, may be the important thing to scaling effectively on an efficient foundation. At REPLUG, we’ve identified this for a while and have seen the facility of this sort of format for a few of our companions. In 2020, we managed to scale massively and in an economical means, past the normal acquisition channels, because of a tailored UGC adverts technique on TikTok.

Though within the early stage, UGC adverts have been primarily used on video-focused social networks, with time, entrepreneurs have been experimenting with this format, additionally on different, extra conventional SNS, resembling Fb.

At present, greater than ever, info is consumed quickly and customers are searching for truthful sources for app discovery, and that’s why user-generated content material ought to take a particular place in cellular entrepreneurs’ inventive technique.

Value effectivity additionally for restricted geographical areas

Relying on the expansion stage or serviced areas, some cellular apps may need the necessity to promote solely to restricted areas. Promoting by conventional inventive codecs, resembling banners, carousels, and even movies may end up moderately costly when limiting the geographical attain of a marketing campaign. That is much more true when taking a look at video-first promoting platforms, resembling TikTok, the place the inventive strategy turns into essential for achievement.

When working in these circumstances, entrepreneurs should rethink how they strategy their media combine and punctiliously take into account their CAC. At REPLUG, we’ve been working for the previous few months with a newly launched courting app within the German market, particularly Berlin, known as ODXClub.

The courting area is extremely aggressive, with many established gamers utilizing a variety of actions and channels to achieve customers. The target is one and solely: to be the primarily related selection to search out the right date.

ODXClub launched simply at an excellent time, a couple of months earlier than the Summer season. This gave us sufficient time to organize from communication and inventive viewpoint, and ideal, over time, our strategy. As our Paid Consumer Acquisition consultants began their actions, they determined to check a couple of completely different approaches to then slim all the way down to the best-performing channels and ideas.

The primary channels the place creatives performed a major position have been TikTok and Fb (with Instagram included). The strategy examined have been:

• Basic static creatives (banners and carousel portraying options, and advantages of the app)
• Basic video adverts (specializing in the expertise that the app would supply)
• Consumer-generated content material (having the creators produce movies that might probably be used additionally on their natural web page)

ODXClub adverts

“From the very starting, the REPLUG crew insisted on making the most of user-generated content material, as of their expertise this might have introduced nice outcomes. Because of a coordinated effort between the groups, we achieved the “inconceivable”, bringing a wholesome ratio of male-female within the app from the very starting at extremely low prices, contemplating the restricted geographical radius.”

Phillip Schacht – Head of Advertising and marketing at ODXClub

As we began scaling spending throughout completely different promoting platforms, we saw that Consumer-Generated Content material was performing significantly higher than conventional creatives. When wanting on the outcomes achieved, we noticed that UGC adverts performed additionally a major position in lowering the price of acquisition on non-video social networks, resembling Fb.

Extra particularly, on Fb and Instagram, the price per set up (CPI) was 38.46% decrease than the static format, and eight.2% than a standard video format. At the identical time, when taking a look at down-the-funnel metrics, UGC adverts additionally introduced higher customers, with a lower CPA of 41.38% in comparison with static adverts, and 16% to video.

When taking a look at TikTok, we saw the identical development. Consumer-generated content material was (and nonetheless is) outperforming video adverts on the Chinese language Social Community, with a median enhancement of CPI of 44.3% and CPA of 49.2%.

With marketing campaign information in our fingers, we have been capable of affirming our information, seen additionally with different companions, that UGC adverts carry out significantly better than regular movies on TikTok. Nevertheless, most apparently, we saw that this sort of content material when used on Fb additionally created a constructive uplift in performance-based actions with clear enhancements in value per acquisition.

Video Advert (2)

Inform your story in a novel means

In relation to user-generated content material, manufacturers and entrepreneurs must have a unique strategy to conventional inventive belongings creation. Creators have to be free to provide content material in their very own means and magnificence. Right here, we collected a couple of recommendations based mostly on our expertise and outcomes seen with a few of our companions:

• Undertake a “devoted” strategy to user-generated content material. Entrepreneurs mustn’t information or limit content material creators an excessive amount.
• Overlook conventional advertising and communication methods. UGC adverts want to talk a unique language.
• Refresh content material repeatedly. Entrepreneurs must have a large pool of content material to check and select from because the advert fatigue is increased than in different codecs.
• Check. Analyze. Scale. Repeat.