Want Better Marketing Material? Here’s Where to Get It.

Creating attention-grabbing content is a huge challenge for brands today. Consumers have made it clear they don’t want pushy ads, but meaningful content that adds value to their lives.

In response, many brands now effectively function as publishers. Nearly three-quarters of marketers say they produce significantly more content than they did a year ago, with 60 percent creating at least one new piece each day!

Constantly churning out blogs, videos, and other visuals in hopes of rising above the millions of other posts designed to do the same can be a daunting task. Sure, you can throw money at the problem by hiring agencies, purchasing stock photography, and expanding in-house teams. But the key to successful marketing isn’t just proliferation.

That’s because consumers aren’t looking for more content. They’re looking for the right content.

Fortunately, finding the good stuff has never been easier.

But First…What Makes Content Effective?

 “If you want more leads and customers, it’s not a question of where to find them,” online marketer Neil Patel writes. “They’re everywhere, from social media platforms to just down the street. The real question is, how do you create the right content that will inspire them to click on your site link, visit your site and subscribe to your list?”

LinkedIn explored the question in 2014, and marketing research came back loud and clear. To be impactful, respondents said content must be relevant to the audience (58%) and tell the brand story in such an engaging way (57%) that people are inspired to take action (54%).

Buyers cared less about “originality” and production value than stories that resonate. That means you may be better off not creating your own material. Especially if authenticity can be found elsewhere. (Case in point, data analytics firm Beckon found one consumer brand generated 29,000 pieces of original content – more than triple the previous year – yet engagement  still fell flat!)

Rather than feverishly pumping out what you think people want to see, there is a smarter way to get the job done.

Creating Content With Consumers

Audiences crave connection, and nothing is more relational than actual conversations. Thanks to the rise of the Internet, smartphones, and a digitally-savvy generation, brands can easily tap into what Forbes calls a “treasure trove of unique, self-replenishing and freely available” user-generated content (UGC). That’s right. As it turns out, the world’s greatest content creators are not marketers, but everyday people who are “capturing and sharing their unvarnished brand experiences in real time.”

The goal is to bring that UGC home – to take thousands of tiny conversations on social media and consolidate the most influential into a dynamic content library. Resources may include fan photos, testimonials, video tutorials, hashtag contest entries, or something else unique to your brand. Best of all, these visuals cost nothing to create and carry far more weight than anything you could create.

When UGC like user photos or customer reviews are deployed on a company website, we’ve found shopper confidence increases by 73 percent and brands experience a rise in overall receptiveness, click-through rates, and time spent on websites.  Why? Because people trust people more than promotional content, and the customers that know and love your brand can tell your story best.

Related Read: “Why Nobody Believes Your Ads”

The first step in leveraging UGC, though, is to get the UGC. With a social media aggregation engine, content marketers are able to legally scan networks for desired hashtags or feeds and then route that UGC into customized dashboards. Compiled together, each library provides brands with an incredible, time-saving opportunity to show prospective customers just how awesome products look in the context of real life.

Regrettably, 44% of marketers say content production is the biggest challenge they face, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Thanks to the influx of social media, chances are high that the content you need already exists. Take a peek with a free trial and complimentary demo of TwineSocial’s UGC aggregation and display platform today.

For more ideas on how to promote shared enthusiasm around an idea, product, or community, check out our solutions gallery. Then, kick off your own success story with a free 7-day trial of TwineSocial. Let us know how we can help!

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