A popular saying goes, people trust people, not brands. It is a proven fact in the world of e-commerce where the competition is stiff and user-generated content is winning the race. If you are wondering what is user-generated content and why online sellers need to focus on user-generated content, then you have landed on the right webpage. Here you would get everything to know all about user-generated content, its importance at the moment and why it is the future not only for online sellers but all businesses.
Understanding User Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content, as the name should have given you some idea is the content that is generated by users or consumers who make use of a product or service. It can be in the form of online reviews, feedback, comments, or even likes on social media platforms. This content is not created by a brand or an online seller but is sought by every brand and online seller because it has many benefits. Some of them are listed right here.
Improves Trust
The biggest benefit of user-generated content is that it helps a business or online seller to gain the trust of the customers. If a brand is propagating that a product is good, the consumers will not believe it because they will know that the company wants to sell and earn a tidy profit.
In contrast, if an existing customer propagates that a product is good, people will believe him or her easily because the person will have no benefit from the sales and the likelihood is high that he or she is unbiased.
Cost Effective
It doesn’t matter whether you as a business or as an online seller use tactics like offer an incentive to customers to produce user-generated content like reviews or comments, this can be considered as a cost-effective option because the expense would be done once and a brand will use its benefits for years to come.
Reviews remain on an e-commerce platform for years and help new buyers make the right decision. Similarly, positive comments or likes for a product also remain on social media platforms for years and helps build trust (in most cases without spending a penny.)
Better Organic Presence
When a business or online seller has enough user-generated content, it helps them to get better search engine rankings and organic traffic to a website or seller page. This helps the SEO team to create better strategies and spend less on paid marketing ideas like pay per click.
As user-generated content is usually fresh, original and relevant, it can easily be added to the existing content created by a business or an online seller. The business also saves the cost usually paid to content writers to create quality content.
Acts as a Shield
It is also a fact that when businesses or online sellers focus on user-generated content, it can act as a shield in times of trouble. For instance, if your business made a mistake and sold a smartphone that was a fake, a user may criticize you on the internet. But if the reputation of your business is good enough, other customers will come to your defense and stand for you.
Helps You Know Your Customers
User-generated content can work as a tool for businesses and online sellers hoping for a peek in the minds of their customers. When you read what customers are saying about you, your brand and your products, you get the opportunity to change your products or services to meet their needs. You can also offer a lot of customization options so that the customers who want something specific can get it.
For instance, if you are an online seller of confectionaries, you can read which combination of chocolates are liked by the customers and make a package that suits their needs.
Enhanced Shareability
You must have seen this on social media platforms and it is true that user-generated content is more and widely shared as compared to content created by a brand or an online seller. This is because people like true stories about a product more than the never-ending details of how good a manufacturer thinks his or her product is.
Encourages Sales
Last but not least, user-generated content is also popular among brands and online sellers because it helps improve the sales figures. You can see it for yourself. Just compare any two online sellers over the internet, it is very likely that the online seller who has a lot of user-generated content will have better sales numbers and a competitive edge over the sellers who have less or no user-generated content.
Conclusion
All in all, it can be said that user-generated content acts as a boon for online marketplaces sites like eBay and TrueGether. Investing in it and prompting customers to create it by using strategies like competitions, incentives, etc. is the way to go if you want to promote your business, boost its reputation and generate sales for the long term. Once you learn to do it right, user-generated content will never disappoint you but will always enhance your reputation.