9 min read UGC

Unlock the Power of UGC: Your Ultimate Guide to User-Generated Creatives That Convert

Unlock the Power of UGC: Your Ultimate Guide to User-Generated Creatives That Convert

Hi everyone! In this article, we’re diving deep into how to craft killer UGC-style creatives for your ad campaigns. But first, let’s get on the same page: what exactly is User-Generated Content (UGC)?

What is UGC? The Secret Sauce of Authentic Marketing

UGC (User-Generated Content) is any content created by users themselves. What makes UGC marketing stand out? It’s all about real people and genuine emotions. Think sketches, reviews of favorite products, recommendations, or even a dance to a trending song. The mechanics are simple yet incredibly effective, making it a go-to UGC strategy for small businesses, medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations alike.

UGC creatives mimic genuine user posts, which is why this type of advertising is often met with a warmer reception – people trust real people. This social proof is invaluable for building brand trust.

Moreover, customer-generated content is a massive growth driver for social media platforms. The way we consume content is changing: native, short, and vibrant videos on social media are becoming strong competitors to traditional (static or animated) ads. Leveraging UGC for SEO also means tapping into a stream of authentic content that search engines love.

Before you jump into creating UGC creatives, it’s crucial to study the platform you’re targeting and the kind of content its users are already publishing. Understanding trends and developing a keen eye for what resonates will help you connect with potential customers and improve user engagement.

Here’s a little story from our agency life. Once, while browsing job openings at other agencies, we saw a peculiar requirement for one position: “You must spend at least three hours a day on social media studying memes and trends.” Funny as it sounds, there’s solid logic there: you need to have your finger on the pulse of what your audience finds interesting. The beauty of UGC in advertising is that it doesn’t need to be expensive or overly complicated; authenticity is key. Let’s look at some examples to see this in action.

Key UGC Creative Mechanics: Your Toolkit for Engaging Content

Here are some core mechanics to inspire your next UGC campaign:

Screencast: Show, Don’t Just Tell

The mechanic: Someone records their actions within an app, showcasing the entire user journey, usually with a voiceover. The goal is to highlight the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of your product or service.

Handheld: The Native Touch

This is a more native version of a screencast. Instead of just the app interface, we also see the person (e.g., their hand interacting with the device). Handheld shots are often combined with other mechanics for a more dynamic feel. This type of visual UGC feels very personal.

This involves adapting current trends: challenges, dances, memes, music (always respect copyrights!), and working with trending topics on social media. This is a great way to create engaging UGC content.

Here’s an example of adapting a fashion trend:

Let us share an interesting case study. Our client was a major reseller of home improvement and construction materials – a sector you wouldn’t typically associate with viral creativity. However, a couple of years ago, a dance to the sound of a hammer was trending on social media. We proposed creating UGC creatives featuring this viral dance. Initially, the client was hesitant due to their conservative audience. But it turned out to be a hit! Users left enthusiastic reviews, saying the ad was fun and stylish. This shows the power of well-executed UGC examples.

Newsjacking: Stay Relevant, Stay Seen

This technique involves leveraging interesting facts and current trending topics. It’s about making your brand advocacy timely.

Storytelling: Weaving Narratives That Connect

A mechanic based on stories. It follows the classic structure: setup, climax, resolution. The focus is on users’ desires and pain points. Customer stories are powerful.

Personal Experience: The Most Versatile Mechanic

This is the broadest mechanic, encompassing formats like: * Unboxings * Dialogues or debates * Expert opinions * App reviews * Life hacks

Essentially, it’s anything related to a user’s personal experience. This is a goldmine for long-tail keywords from UGC.

Example of a dialogue:

Example of a life hack:

Now that we’re familiar with the mechanics, let’s figure out which ones are the best fit for your business and how they contribute to conversion optimization with UGC.

Matching UGC Mechanics to Your Business Vertical

Over our years at AdChampagne, we’ve identified some effective pairings of mechanics and business verticals:

  • UGC for E-commerce: Unboxings, trends, and life hacks work wonders.
  • UGC for Foodtech: Life hacks combined with screencasts or handheld shots are very effective.
  • Lotteries: Storytelling paired with handheld footage captures attention.
  • UGC for Fintech: Screencasts and trends tend to perform well.

Time for some practical advice on how to use UGC effectively.

How to Create UGC Creatives: Your Step-by-Step Playbook

The Universal Formula for Winning UGC

Just like a good movie, a compelling UGC creative has a beginning, a development, and an end. Here’s our go-to plan for content marketing with UGC:

Step 1: Grab Attention. Hook users by highlighting the benefit they’ll receive.

Step 2: Build Intrigue. Explain how and where you got this benefit. A simple example: “I ordered sneakers and got them the same day!” The goal here is to pique their interest.

Step 3: Showcase the Journey. Demonstrate the entire in-app path, from installation to completing the target action.

Step 4: Deliver the Punchline. Show the result and reinforce the positive effect.

We’ve developed a checklist that we use internally when preparing creatives, and we’re happy to share it with you.

Your Ultimate Checklist for Creating UGC Gold

  • Deep dive into the brief and brand. Understand how the company communicates with users and its brand identity. At this stage, it’s also crucial to:
    • Define the creative boundaries and understand limitations.
    • Brainstorm how to create something that resonates with both the brand and its audience.
  • Define your target audience. A basic starting point is segmenting by gender and age.
  • Test everything yourself. This means downloading the app and exploring it thoroughly. Note down any cool features and interesting aspects. This is also when you test the entire funnel. Ensure everything works smoothly – from downloading via the link to achieving the desired outcome.
  • Study platform formats and trends. For instance, we keep a close eye on updates from VK and VK Ads. If you have questions about formats or promotion in general, don’t hesitate to reach out to platform support – the VK team is always helpful.
  • Formulate hypotheses and define USPs. Aim for 3-4 hypotheses to start.
  • Develop an approach for each hypothesis. Initially, 1-2 approaches per hypothesis will suffice.
  • Create a technical brief and produce the creatives. This covers the entire creative and technical process: filming, voiceover, editing. Constantly refer back to the brief; if something isn’t right, redo it. This is where UGC best practices come into play.
  • Launch test ad campaigns. Start with one campaign and create several ad groups within it, each with a different creative. This will quickly show you which UGC creative is most effective and viral.
  • Analyze the launch. We’ll cover how to evaluate creative effectiveness in detail shortly.
  • Scale successful hypotheses and approaches. Remember that creatives can experience “burnout” over time – users get tired of them. This leads to the next step.
  • Develop and test new hypotheses. Our recommendation: use 70% proven creatives that are currently performing well and 30% new creatives for testing. This is your space to experiment: reshoot old creatives, combine new approaches. This strategy maximizes the lifespan of your ad campaign.

Powerful Tools for Your UGC Arsenal

  • Creative parsers

Useful for analytics – see what competitors are doing and identify potential approaches. However, use them cautiously for inspiration: if a creative is in a parser, it’s likely already reached a large audience and might be burnt out. There’s no point in creating secondary content.

  • Memes

This is highly situational content; catching the trend is crucial. It’s great if you have team members (like creative managers) who are meme-savvy.

  • Artificial intelligence

Everyone heard about it in 2023, and many have experimented. AI can be used in numerous ways: rewriting scripts, brainstorming calls to action, and more.

Once your creative is ready, it’s time for review. And yes, we have another checklist for that!

The Essential Checklist for Reviewing Your Finished UGC Creative

1\ Accuracy and Detail

For example, if you’re talking about an Android app, the screencast should also be of the Android app. If there’s a female voiceover, the video should feature a woman.

2\ Shooting Quality

UGC creatives are inherently native, usually shot on a smartphone. However, remember these simple tips for quality video:

    • No background noise in the shot or voiceover.
    • The video should be free of distracting elements, so users focus on the advertised product or service.
    • Pro Tip: When targeting other countries (e.g., CIS countries), choose a voiceover artist with a native accent for maximum authenticity.

3\ Editing

The entire video should be dynamic. You only have 20-30 seconds to capture the user’s attention.

4\ The First Three Seconds

These must be incredibly engaging. That’s why our universal formula prioritizes grabbing attention and highlighting benefits upfront. Make those clickable headlines UGC style!

5\ Clarity

Your call to action must be crystal clear. The video should explicitly show what users need to do to get the result.

6\ Creative Cohesion

This ties in with the first point. It’s simple:

    • Background and clothing should be season-appropriate. If the script implies summer, there shouldn’t be a Christmas tree in the background.
    • Set realistic expectations. Nobody will believe you can win a billion in a second, so use real-life stories.
    • Filters and heavy editing make creatives less native and can reduce conversion, so it’s best to avoid them.

7\ Content Universality

Many people use smartphones in silent mode, so add subtitles to your video, not just a voiceover.

8\ Platform Moderation Compliance

Your creative must adhere to the advertising platform’s rules and capabilities.

Now, let’s talk about segmenting the audience for your creatives.

Key Audience Segments

One basic segmentation is by age:

  1. Youth (Under 18, 18-24): Younger audiences prefer trends,

wow-products, and a more dynamic, almost “choppy” editing style. You can also involve popular bloggers they follow. The voiceover should resonate with this age group and sound youthful. This is prime territory for interactive content and community content.

2. Older Audiences (25-34, 35+): This demographic generally prefers screencasts, life hacks, expert advice, dynamic editing (but perhaps less frantic), and a mature, calm voiceover. They appreciate clear value and testimonials.

Pro Tips for Working with Diverse Audiences: Maximize Your Reach

  1. Adapt your content: Tailor your UGC creatives to the specific audience segment and their experiences. What works for Gen Z might not click with Gen X.
  2. Trust the algorithms: Leverage the power of platform algorithms (like VK’s) to reach the right people. Their targeting capabilities are designed to help your digital advertising with UGC succeed.
  3. Don’t over-segment for mass-market products: If your product or service has broad appeal, avoid narrowing your audience too much initially. Cast a wider net and let the data guide further refinements.

Once your user-created content is ready and targeted, it’s crucial to understand how to measure its effectiveness. After all, what gets measured gets managed!

Measuring UGC Creative Effectiveness: Know Your Numbers, Grow Your Impact

Let’s talk metrics – the language of performance marketing UGC.

Key Metrics for Evaluating Your UGC Creatives: The KPIs That Matter

  • CPM (Cost Per Mille/Thousand Impressions): This helps assess the virality of your creative and how cost-effective it is for the platform to show it. Lower CPM often indicates higher relevance and engagement.
  • CTR (Click-Through Rate): The ratio of clicks to impressions. This shows how many users actually clicked on your creative after seeing it. A key indicator of how compelling your UGC creative is.
  • CTI (Click-To-Install Rate): The ratio of installs to clicks. Particularly important for app promotion campaigns.
  • CPI (Cost Per Install): The cost of acquiring one new app user.
  • CPA (Cost Per Action): The cost associated with a specific desired action (e.g., a purchase, sign-up, or lead).
  • CR (Conversion Rate): The percentage of users who complete a desired action after clicking/interacting. Essential for understanding conversion optimization with UGC.

What to Focus On: From Testing to Scaling Your UGC Success

  1. Testing Phase: Focus on CTR and CPM to identify the most effective and engaging creatives. These early indicators will tell you what’s resonating before you invest heavily.
  2. Scaling Phase: When you’re ready to scale up, evaluate reach, CTR, CPI, and CPA to ensure your campaign is delivering results efficiently.

If you notice a drop in conversion rates or if your metrics aren’t improving, it’s vital to check for technical glitches in your website or app tracker. Common culprits include broken links or non-functional registration forms. Don’t let a technicality derail your awesome UGC campaign!

Testing UGC Creatives: The Engine of Continuous Improvement

In performance marketing, creatives can experience “burnout” relatively quickly. That’s why it’s essential to constantly brainstorm new ideas and test hypotheses. Experiment with different formats – vertical, horizontal, and square creatives – to maximize your reach across various placements from the get-go. This is a core part of a robust UGC strategy.

Minimum Budget for Testing UGC Creatives: Smart Spending for Big Wins

This really depends on your campaign goals. Here’s how we at AdChampagne approach it:

  • If your goal is clicks: Focus on your CPC (Cost Per Click). For a confident test, aim for 5,000-10,000 clicks. Your test budget = CPC x Number of Clicks.
  • If you’re tracking installs: If you’re further down the funnel, aim for 50-100 installs for a solid test. Test budget = CPI x Number of Installs. You’ll typically get an idea of your CPI within a few hours of launching.
  • If you’re focusing on in-app events: You have two main options:
    • Option 1: Look at the cost of a single target action (CPA) and then multiply it by 50-100 events. Test budget = CPA x (50-100 events).
    • Option 2: Allocate a set budget (e.g., 50,000 - 100,000 RUB, or your currency equivalent) and observe the compatibility of your creatives, product/service, and the advertising platform over time.

We hope our experience and these UGC best practices prove valuable to you, and that this article empowers you to create your own successful UGC creatives. Go forth and let your users champion your brand!

Get in touch with us to discuss crafting your own powerful UGC creatives — sales@adchampagne.com