How do you evaluate and test creative strategies using user-generated content and social media?
Creative strategies are the ways you communicate your brand's value proposition, personality, and message to your target audience. User-generated content (UGC) and social media are powerful tools to amplify your creative strategies, but how do you know if they are working? In this article, you will learn how to evaluate and test your creative strategies using UGC and social media metrics, feedback, and experiments.
UGC is any content created by your customers or fans, such as reviews, photos, videos, or testimonials. Social media is any platform where you can share your content and interact with your audience, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. UGC and social media matter because they can boost your brand awareness, trust, loyalty, and conversions. They can also help you understand your audience's needs, preferences, and pain points, and inspire you to create more relevant and engaging content.
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UGC, as long as it is not sponsored and full of flowery words, can actually help elevate a brand's image/products. The challenge I see with some influencers is that they are sometimes obliged to put all the good and none of the bad as they are getting paid to do it. This is why some of them gets bashed for always saying only the good things and you might never hear them talk about the negative. In short, when used right, UGC really has the power to convince.
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User generated content is not intended to be an action-by-default - it should be leveraged purposefully and with adequate audience contextualisation. Consumers are looking for authenticity in the brands they engage with and the most successful UGC campaigns are ones that tap into user motivations and barriers and allow them to tell the brand's story from their lens.
To measure the performance of your UGC and social media campaigns, you need to define your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might use KPIs such as reach, impressions, followers, or mentions. If your goal is to generate leads or sales, you might use KPIs such as click-through rate, conversion rate, or revenue. You also need to choose the tools and methods to collect and analyze your data, such as Google Analytics, social media analytics, or UGC platforms.
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Vanity metrics like reach and follower count have no bearing on the success of any campaign; let alone a UGC campaign. User generated content is intended to be authentic social proof that your product / service is worthy of being recommended - so I'd say 1. how many UGCs does your brand catalyse (organically or prompted) in a specific time period and 2. how does that impact your business goals over a longer time period.
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Enough with the so-called vanity metrics! All those likes and comments might stroke your ego for a minute, but they don’t really measure anything meaningful. You need to understand how your community takes action. What do they do after engaging? Sign up? Buy? Refer friends? Click where you want them to go? Tune into the ripples in the pond through trackable links and special landing pages. Watch the dominoes fall. Measure what matters most—the real impact on your business. And don’t ignore the qualitative clues. Check comments and shares to see how people really react. Does your content spark passion or leave them cold? Get a feel behind the numbers. Get specific. Get deep. The metrics that count go beyond the surface smoke and mirrors.
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I think influencers who use the "hide" function for the public to see how many likes their posts got somewhat shows that they too are worried that their voice might sometimes not be enough. I personally think that likes on posts do not always convert to something beneficial to a brand being sponsored. I would much rather read the comments, which at times can still be questionable if they are seeded or not, but writing a comment takes more effort that simply clicking a like button. How much a post gets shared is also another way to gauge if an influencer's followers indeed believe and have actually tried a sponsored product for them to actually "recommend" it to their crowd as well.
Feedback is essential to evaluate and improve your creative strategies. To get feedback from UGC and social media, you can read and respond to comments, reviews, ratings, or messages from your audience. This can help you understand what they like, dislike, want, or need from your brand and content. Additionally, surveys, polls, quizzes, or contests can be used to ask your audience specific questions or opinions about your brand and content. This can give you more quantitative and qualitative data and insights. Furthermore, user-generated content campaigns can be used to invite your audience to create and share their own content related to your brand and content. This can help you generate more authentic and diverse content and testimonials.
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Ask pointed questions when promoting content: Was it helpful? Entertaining? On brand? Open-ended works best. Make it easy for people to tell you how they really feel—anonymously if needed. You want the unfiltered truth. Co-create and collaborate directly with your community. Guide their creative contributions with prompts and guardrails, then step back. People are surprised when you let their talents shine. Keep iterating based on reactions. Turn feedback into fuel for the next round of ideation. It's not easy putting yourself out there creatively. But candid reactions from real people are the best teachers. So tune in, hear them out, filter the haters, and let quality feedback lift your work to the next level.
Experimentation is a great way to test various creative strategies and compare their results. A/B testing, for example, involves creating two versions of the same content with one variable changed, such as the headline, image, or call to action. Multivariate testing takes it a step further by creating multiple versions of the same content with multiple variables changed, such as the layout, color, or tone. Lastly, split testing involves creating two different content types or formats, such as a blog post or a video. Through all these methods, you can show the different versions to different segments of your audience and measure which one performs better.
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1. Define Your Goals: Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or foster community engagement? 2. Identify Your Target Audience: Know your audience's preferences, interests, and behaviors to tailor your UGC strategy to their needs. 3. Choose the Platforms: Select platforms where your audience is most active. 4. Set Guidelines and Rules: Clearly define the rules and guidelines for participating in your UGC campaign. Be transparent about what's expected and any rewards or recognition participants might receive. 5. Measure and Analyze: Track key performance metrics such as engagement, reach, and conversion rates.
Optimization is a way to refine and enhance your creative strategies based on your evaluation and testing results. You can optimize your UGC and social media strategy by personalizing your content and messages to your audience, segmenting them into smaller groups, and automating tasks with tools or software. This can increase relevance and engagement, target content more effectively, and save time and resources.
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