What is UGC?
During BFCM, every brand is promoting something. So the question is: What makes your brand stand out? The answer is not always in your brand’s voice, but your customers’. If you ever bought a product because a friend recommended it, you’re not alone: you responded to social proof, evidence that people you trust found value in a product or service offered by a business.
Your customers are just as easily persuaded by social proof. Every review, testimonial, and social media post proves that real people are finding value from your brand.
Examples of UGC that you can use to incentivize customers to shop are:
- Product reviews
- Blog posts or vlogs
- Testimonials
- Social media content
Learn more in the video below.
Before BFCM: How to collect UGC
Now that you know what UGC is and why it’s beneficial, let’s dive into how you should encourage customers to create and share this content about your business for BFCM. Stand out in a crowded promotional landscape by effectively encouraging and leveraging UGC throughout the season.
Before publicly re-sharing UGC, you should reach out to the customer to ask for their consent to use it for marketing purposes.
Run a UGC campaign on social media
Why:
Leading up to BFCM, you’re focused on audience growth. UGC helps you cast a wider net, reaching those who haven’t visited your site and don’t follow you on social media, but do follow your customers.
How:
1. Set up a social media contest with clear rules and terms and conditions (e.g., Most creative unboxing video? Photo of your product in the WEIRDEST place? Have fun with it.)
2. Set up a branded hashtag that creators can use to tag their content.
3. Shout about it everywhere you can think of: on your social accounts, in campaigns (especially text and other mobile channels), on your website, etc.
Automate requests for reviews
Why:
Reviews include useful information that consumers seek out before placing an order. For instance, someone may search for details around a product's size, quality, fit, color, etc. that another customer can provide.
How:
1. Enable and set up Klaviyo reviews.
2. Set up a review request flow.
3. Add custom questions to your review request forms to collect relevant information about someone, such as their size, gender, product preferences, etc. Learn more about how to use custom questions.
Collect testimonials through forms
Why:
Use forms to target your VIPs. In doing so, you can ask for content directly or link off to another site to share feedback, testimonials, reviews, etc.
How:
1. Create a flyout form with a CTA button that sends users to a dedicated landing page where they can leave a testimonial.
2. Include an explicit consent checkbox, so you can use these testimonials in your marketing materials.
3. Target the form to your VIPs using your form's targeting and behavior settings.
4. Send an email campaign to your VIPs that sends them to the same landing page.
Set up social auto-replies
Why:
Use social auto-replies to encourage Instagram users to subscribe to your other marketing channels, like email and text. This creates more unified customer profiles and allows you to reach them via the channels you fully control throughout BFCM.
How:
1. Prompt customers to reply with a keyword to trigger social auto-replies in Instagram DMs.
2. Use auto-replies to collect phone numbers and emails to create a unified customer profile.
3. Build relevant segments and flows with collected data.
Learn more about how to use social auto-replies here.
During BFCM: How to use UGC to inspire and convert
During BFCM, you’ll compete with many brands as they increase their messaging. Let's look at some ways you can stand out during competitive peaks by using UGC effectively to convert new and returning shoppers.
Reshare your followers’ posts and stories on social
Why it works:
Social media posts build “social proof,” as consumers are influenced by the behavior of people in their social circle. A new shopper is more likely to trust a friend’s shared content than a generic ad from a brand.
With Klaviyo Social Marketing, you unlock a Social Content Library to visualize trends in UGC and easily find media to re-share.
Best practices:
- Filter the Social Content Library by follower count, likes, comments, and more to identify high-engagement users.
- Collect explicit consent from top users and reshare your favorites to build hype during BFCM. With explicit consent, turn compelling UGC into sponsored content that inspires conversions as part of your social ads strategy.
- Create standout campaigns by personalizing flows and targeting segments using social data, including follower counts, comments, DMs, and more.
- Ask Composer within the Social Content Library for insights about your customers’ UGC, such as posts created by your most active creators.
Publish reviews in email campaigns
Why it works:
Reviews are honest feedback. A five-star review may be just what a prospective customer needs to gain trust in your brand and prove that this product is worth the purchase.
Best practices:
- Use the ‘Reviews’ block in the template editor to feature product-specific reviews in your campaigns.
- Target your gift shopper or window shopper segments with campaigns centered around your highest-rated products.
- Add a product feed to your welcome series that spotlights your highest-rated products.
Use testimonials as part of your acquisition strategy
Why it works:
Remember those testimonials you collected from your VIPs? These transparently show why shoppers continue to choose and love your brand. Seeing another happy customer share that openly can convince a shopper that they want that same positive experience.
Best practices:
- Choose quotes that reference how your brand or products have helped to solve your customers’ pain points, whether it’s saving them time or giving them confidence.
- Create lookalike audiences of your VIPs and use these inspiring testimonials as part of your ad creative.
Display a UGC feed on your website
The most successful brands are the ones that sell a lifestyle, not just a product. A UGC feed on your site inspires shoppers with curated examples of how your product would fit into their home or life.
Best practices:
- Integrate with a UGC provider like Nosto that allows you to embed a feed of Instagram content on your site.
- Select your favorite entries from your contest or other images that tag your brand and display the gallery on your homepage to entice BFCM shoppers.