
How B2B businesses can harness user-generated content
For small and medium sized B2B businesses, user generated content is a way of tapping into the real-life experiences of employees, customers, and industry peers to make your brand more visible and trusted. Here’s how to do it and why it’s worth the effort.
What is user-generated content?
User-generated content (UGC) in marketing refers to any content – such as reviews, images, videos, or social media posts – created by customers, employees, or fans, rather than the brand itself. UGC shows the authentic experience of using a product or service, with ‘real life’ content generated by people not being paid to promote the brand.
Why is user-generated content increasingly relevant?
Customers are becoming more sceptical of influencer marketing, paid partnerships and sponsored content – and UCG is a refreshing antidote to this. It helps customers decipher between brands that look the part and those that people genuinely rate.
Sharing third party content, often in the form of customer testimonials, product reviews, or social updates, builds trust. It shows the real-life impact of using a product or service, or the experience of interacting with your business more generally.
How does user generated content apply to b2b marketing?
In B2B marketing, user-generated content (UGC) can be found in content created by your employees, customers, and industry peers. The purpose is the same – to build trust through sharing the real-life experiences of those who work with and within your business.
UGC resonates in B2B because buyers often rely on recommendations and real-world use cases when researching products and services. By integrating UGC into regular marketing activity plans, B2B marketers can give people the reassurance they need to make a decision.
Now we’ve established what UGC is, let’s explore some of the potential opportunities for businesses to use it within their marketing activity.
1. Employee advocacy – your team as brand ambassadors
Who knows what makes your business tick better than your team? Employee advocacy is all about empowering your team to be your biggest ambassadors on social media.
You can tap into UGC on social media by encouraging employees to share behind-the-scenes content, insights, and thought leadership posts. Their authentic voices help to humanise your brand and increase reach organically.
Think about it this way. Your employees are the experts on what you do. What better way to show prospects that you can help them than your employees demonstrating their expertise – and sharing it with their networks and your audience.
Of course, there should be some guidance and support in place. Train your team on what kind of content performs and incentivise them to get into the habit of posting. Make participation easy by creating templates and guides – and be sure to recognise their contributions!
2. Create shareable moments at industry events
Attending or hosting industry events is an opportunity to encourage your audience to create content tagging or mentioning your brand. Create an experience attendees want to get involved with and share online. Whether it’s branded giveaways, demos, talks, games, or Instagram-worthy photo backdrops, the goal is to generate buzz.
Some tips for creating sharable moments at events:
- Use interactive elements: set up participation-based activities, such as live demos or gamified experiences.
- Make it photo-worthy: create a space that’s branded and aesthetically pleasing, with photo-friendly backdrops.
- Social-first design: display social handles or QR codes that encourage instant posting.
- Start the conversation: use your events to start online discussions – before, during, and after – that guests can join in.
When encouraged, user generated content at events can result in memorable content –positioning you as the expert – that is organically shared by your audience.
Here’s a great example from our client Brand Juice:
3. Answering genuine questions with user generated FAQs
Every B2B business gets recurring customer questions and the answers to these are valuable to other customers and prospects. Pay attention to forums, LinkedIn posts, and direct enquiries. Encourage customers or industry peers to share their experiences, tips, or answers.
For example, you could ask your current customers to share how they use your product to solve specific challenges and share the responses externally in a how to article or social post series. Not only does this create a dynamic bank of resources for future customers, but it also positions your customers as expert users, building trust in your product or service.
4. Video testimonials to let happy customers do the talking
There’s nothing quite like a glowing review from a satisfied customer to reassure others and promote trust in your brand. Authentic video testimonials are a powerful way to show the value of your product or services externally.
Hearing real stories from people who have already used a product or service helps to provide context for someone considering the same purchase. Sharing third party validation builds trust and helps to verify the claims made in your marketing materials.
Share testimonials on social media, your website, and sales presentations. Keep them short and natural for best results, as overproduced videos can feel staged, and prioritise sincerity over slick editing.
Here’s one we made earlier:
5. Highlight third-party reviews
Potential customers often look to trusted review platforms, such as Google or Trustpilot, to guide their purchasing decisions. Positive reviews on these platforms act as powerful endorsements, showcasing the satisfaction and success of your existing customers.
To use these reviews to their full potential, select the most glowing ones to share across your marketing channels. Use them on social media platforms and embed them on your website to add credibility to key decision-making pages, such as product or service descriptions.
Equally important is how you engage with these reviews. Respond publicly to both positive and negative feedback to show that your business values customer input and is committed to continuous improvement.
6. Encourage customers to share their experiences
If you want your customers to post about your brand, give them a reason to. One way to encourage sharing is through incentives or providing a simple shoutout on your social media channels. These small gestures can motivate customers to share their authentic experiences.
By featuring the content that they create – such as photos, videos, or testimonials – on your own platforms, you start to build a sense of community around your brand. People love seeing their views acknowledged and celebrated by the businesses they engage with. This approach helps your brand gain visibility and gives customers a platform to be heard.
7. Lead by example
Want your customers, partners, employees and peers to engage with your brand online? Start with your own activity. By setting a precedent with an active, consistent social media presence, other brands and people in your network may be encouraged to get involved.
By being active and authentic, you set the tone for the kind of content you’d love to see from your audience. Fill your schedule with behind-the-scenes glimpses, day-to-day goings on, and meaningful stories from within your business.
Use any opportunity you can to tag and engage with others. It’s a bit like the “give to get” philosophy—reach out to others, and they’ll be more likely to engage with you.
Could UGC work for your B2B business?
Ultimately, you don’t know until you try. B2C brands have seen huge success with UGC, even if it is trickier to establish and manage than brand-owned content. But, for business-facing brands that want to try something new and have the time and resource to put into their organic social media activity, it’s a useful tactic to have as part of your strategy.
Here’s a reminder of some of the reasons to give it a go:
- Build trust: UGC is a genuine look into the value of your products or service, as told by the end user, making it relatable and trustworthy.
- Promote creativity: the range of voices and perspectives keeps your content fresh and interesting.
- Learn something: by listening to and tapping into the experiences of customers, you might learn how to better reach them.
- Grow your reach: by collaborating with customers and industry voices, your brand becomes part of a broader conversation.
- Tell better stories: real-life customer stories bring your brand to life in ways polished ads never can.
User-generated content might be a current buzzword, but it’s worth investigating. It’s an authentic way for B2B businesses to humanise their brand and expand their reach and networks. By getting your team, customers, and peers involved, you can create a stream of stories and conversations that resonate beyond your typical marketing messages.
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