User-generated content is any content — photos, videos, reviews, testimonials — created by your customers or audience that features or mentions your brand, rather than content produced by your marketing team..
Definition
User-generated content is any content — photos, videos, reviews, testimonials — created by your customers or audience that features or mentions your brand, rather than content produced by your marketing team.
UGC is the most trusted form of marketing content. Consumers trust peer recommendations 92% more than traditional advertising. UGC also saves production costs, increases engagement rates by 28% on average, and provides authentic social proof that you can't manufacture.
A skincare brand encourages customers to share before-and-after photos with a branded hashtag. They collect 500+ UGC posts in a month, repurpose the best ones on their main feed (with permission), and see a 35% increase in engagement compared to their branded studio shots.
Key Takeaway: UGC outperforms branded content because audiences trust real people over polished marketing — and it costs you nothing to produce.
Always get permission before reposting UGC — a simple comment asking or a terms page works.
Create a branded hashtag to easily collect and find UGC from your community.
UGC-style ads (looking like organic user content) consistently outperform polished branded ads in CTR and conversion.
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Category
13 terms in this category
Social Proof
Social proof is the psychological phenomenon where people look to others' actions to determine correct behavior.
Branded Hashtag
A branded hashtag is a unique hashtag created by your brand to collect user-generated content, build community, and track conversations around your campaigns.
Content Repurposing
Content repurposing is the practice of adapting existing content into different formats for use across multiple platforms.
Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is the percentage of your audience that interacts with your content through likes, comments, shares, saves, and clicks.
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