When it comes to digital marketing and global brand content strategies, user-generated content (UGC) is the most important tool that marketers can use to promote their brand strategically.
Such is the popularity of user-generated content that has increasingly become the top choice of marketers for their branding campaigns, as it has a massive influence on how people like to engage with a brand.
With over 86% of companies today using user-generated content as a marketing strategy, the final impact of UGC is seen on the growth and revenue of the business.
In this post, we will explore more about travel UGC on Instagram, its importance and benefits, how to encourage people to create user-generated content (UGC) on Instagram, how to find UGC, and how to legally share it. Read on!
What Is User-Generated Content?
Before getting into the details of how to take advantage of UGC on Instagram to showcase your travel stories, let’s quickly break down what it is exactly.
User-generated content (UGC) refers to original content created by users/customers and published on social media or other channels. UGC comes in a variety of different forms, including images, videos, testimonials, reviews, podcasts, and more.
Brands use this type of content in their marketing campaigns after obtaining permission from the owner. This is also known as consumer-generated marketing. Recent times have seen UGC at an all-time high due to the rise in the number of digital forums, comment sections on blogs, and the ability to publish content for free.
If leveraged properly, UGC can be a huge asset to content marketers. Data also suggests that over 90% of consumers trust user-generated content more than they trust other channels for traditional advertising.
Good UGC content for your Instagram travel brand is when the content matches the tone, style, and colors of your brand and when the content highlights the advantages of your product or the positive aspects of your brand.
Importance of User-Generated Content for Instagram
The real value and importance of travel UGC lies in its authenticity, and there are several data points to support this. For instance, a recent report on UGC reflects that as high as 93% of marketers agree that people trust content created by customers more as compared to content created by brands.
Likewise, another piece of report found that almost 79% of people agree that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions and consumers find UGC a whopping 9.8 times more impactful as compared to influencer content when making a buying decision.
This is also the reason why an increasing number of travel companies are leveraging UGC for their marketing campaigns and benefit from visual UGC.
Benefits of User-Generated Content for Instagram
Here are some of the ways travel Instagram UGC can offer you a range of benefits-
1. Raises Credibility Levels
One of the key benefits of user-generated content is trust and credibility. Customers always find it easy to relate to people similar to them. Likewise, a prospect or a shopper resonates more with a happy and satisfied customer rather than a brand.
For travel Instagram specifically, the brands can streamline their bookings with shoppable UGC. This means that users can simply click on a user’s photo of an accommodation they stayed in and go on the website to make a quick booking.
There are some brands that also prefer adding “book now” buttons within the images to make users engage based on seeing travel UGC on Instagram from other travelers.
2. Offers SEO Benefits
There are multiple ways UGC can help your SEO efforts. As per the statistics, almost 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 brands are links to user-generated content. Likewise, here are some of the other ways Instagram UGC for travel can be good for your SEO efforts-
- Good and positive customer reviews can help you raise your SEO ranking.
- If your users are publishing content on their own blogs, backlinks to your website can help you improve its SEO ranking.
- Analyzing the most frequently used words and phrases your audience uses can also help you improve your keyword optimization research.
3. Enhances Personalization
Personalization is another very important advantage of UGC. One of the best ways to get your target audience to notice and engage with your content is to understand what resonates with them. Research also shows that over 70% of consumers today prefer personalized ads.
The key here is to discover what makes your audience excited to create content and engage with your brand, and accordingly, use the same knowledge to include personalization into your marketing initiatives.
This will, in turn, help you develop an online community that strengthens the brand/customer relationship.
4. Integrating UGC within the Customer Journey
An increasing number of travel brands today have started sharing visual UGC on their social media platforms, including Instagram.
These days, companies are going even a step further and integrating UGC throughout the customer journey using authentic and aesthetically pleasing visuals in almost everything from email newsletters to digital and social ads.
This way, travel brands are seamlessly weaving user-generated content (UGC) into the fabric of the customer journey, creating a cohesive and engaging experience.
5. Offers Better Leads
Consumers today have a variety of reasons to check out a product when they see it on social media platforms. However, numbers tell an interesting story of the impact UGC has on them. For instance, UGC is almost 85% better at increasing conversion rates than any studio content. This highlights the significant benefits of incorporating user-generated content (UGC) for travel Instagram.
How Can Brands Acquire and Use UGC?
In most cases, UGC can be sourced online by simply searching hashtags or uncovering content in which your brand is mentioned or tagged.
Alternatively, you can invite consumers/users to submit their own content by launching exciting contests, giveaways, or campaigns with branded hashtags that encourage user participation.
Yet another strategy here could be to pose questions in the captions of your brand’s posts to prompt engagement from followers.
When it comes to using UGC, here are some of the best practices to follow-
- A brand should secure permission before reposting or using content from others. This can either be done in the form of a direct email or message with the original creator verifying that they give your brand permission to repost their content.
- Brands also need to operate from a place of integrity to ensure that limits are not crossed when obtaining content created by consumers.
- After securing the content and following the practices, brands can use UGC either online or in their stores.
- You can also choose to display UGC on checkout or product pages to incentivize buyers. Besides, it can also be leveraged for email marketing to endorse a specific product or service through the recommendation of others.
Does Reusing User-Generated Content Require Permission?
When it comes to the legality of using UGC, it is important to keep in mind that this is a content type that is created by the users in their comfort zones.
However, there are times when brands do not take into account the privacy of the users and reuse their generated content for their own benefit or promotional activities, leading to legal complications.
It is, therefore, essential for companies to adhere to specific terms and conditions to use user-generated content legally. The need here is to respect the privacy concerns of the users and acquire their permission before using the created content.
Travel brands can also use several UGC rights management tools available in the market that can help them acquire legal rights from the users for reposting their content. This not only ensures compliance with legal standards but also demonstrates a commitment to ethical content usage.
Conclusion
When it comes to engaging and relevant content creation, it can quickly get overwhelming and time-consuming, especially on visual platforms like Instagram. UGC helps you navigate this challenge as the most powerful content online.
If you are looking to boost up your Instagram marketing game by leveraging UGC for the travel industry, use the above-discussed tips and suggestions to improve your conversion rates like never before.
However, if you still find it difficult to maintain active and interesting Instagram travel UGC accounts, Predis.ai can help. This tool makes it easier to stay on top of your travel Instagram game, which curates customized content that your followers will adore.
Contact us to know more!
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