Over the past five years, user-generated content (UGC) has become a mainstay of marketing budgets for small and large brands alike, thanks to its authentic, credible nature. According to GrandVire Research, the global user-generated content market is currently worth $5.36 billion, and will grow to $32.6 billion by 2030. But what exactly is UGC and how can you use it to increase app installs? That’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this post.
What is User-generated content (UGC)
User-generated content falls into one of two camps
- Video or other content created by a consumer or user of a product simply because they want to express how much they like it
- Video or other content created by an influencer or creator, at the request of the brand, in exchange for payment. This constitutes the vast majority of UGC and offers the greatest potential for app marketers.
The importance of UGC for digital marketing and app promotion
UGC has become a crucial part of digital marketing and app promotion, because it enables brands and app marketers to engage with consumers authentically via influencers and creators that people know, and whose recommendations they trust.
Research from Entribe reveals that 84% of people are more likely to trust a brand if they use UGC in their marketing campaigns, and that 77% of people’s purchasing decisions are influenced if a brand uses UGC.
User-generated content is great for both engagement and reach, beyond what can be achieved with traditional advertising campaigns. Influencers don’t just present products and tell people they should buy them. They create compelling content, which resonates with their followers, who admire their values and life choices, and seek to enjoy the same things.
How authentic content is transforming influencer marketing
In the early days of influencer marketing, brands would typically turn to influencers – often celebrities – with millions of followers. While this was great for reach, these celebrities came to have a relationship for endorsing anything, as long as they were being paid. It was also obvious to their followers that they were being paid (and handsomely!) for these endorsements, so over time, their credibility and authenticity waned.
Over the past few years, the focus has shifted away from influencers towards creators. They perform the same role, in that they offer brands a trusted channel to reach their followers. The key differences are that they create great-looking content, rather than just putting their name to something; and they tend to focus on a specific area, such as fashion, DIY or parenting.
Because of these two factors, they have much more credibility, and their endorsement seems more real and more credible. It’s less obvious that they are being paid to say good things about the products they endorse. They may not have the reach of the early celebrity influencers, but they more than compensate for that in terms of engagement. The reach issue can also be addressed in a couple of ways.
Firstly, by using several creators on the same campaign. And secondly, by using the content they create in your paid social ad campaigns to amplify the message.And creator marketing works. In a study carried out by Stackla (since acquired by Nosto), 79% of people said user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.
The benefits of user-generated content for app installs
There are three ways in which UGC benefits app install campaigns:
- Enhancing brand credibility and trust
- Peer recommendations
- Word-of-mouth marketing
Let’s take a look at each in turn.
Enhancing brand credibility and trust
Working with lesser-known but more trusted creators has a natural positive impact on brand credibility. It sends out a message that the brand has chosen to work with this creator because they align with the creator’s own values – values that the creator’s followers no doubt respect and admire. They are more likely to feel confident that the creator uses and likes the app they are recommending, and may even be inspired to share the app within their own networks if they enjoy using it.
Peer recommendations
Peer recommendations occur naturally from people who use your app and like it enough to say positive things about it, without being asked to or being rewarded for it. You will find peer recommendations in the app stores and on review sites, and you can then seek the user’s permission to use them in your marketing campaigns.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is a natural by-product of UGC. As a creator’s followers see them endorsing your app, a proportion of them will be convinced to download it and use it themselves and, if they like it, share their experiences with their friends. It’s a virtuous circle which the creator marketing activity helps to kick-start.
Strategies to leverage UGC to increase app installs
There are four principal ways to do this:
- Encourage UGC among existing users
- Use UGC in marketing campaigns
- Partner with UGC creators
- Use UGC in paid ads
Let’s take a closer look at each.
1. Encourage UGC among existing users
One tried-and-tested, and relatively easy, way to encourage UGC is to create some sort of challenge or repeatable video. To do this, commission a creator to produce a video that their followers can then make their own versions of. A good example of this is the photo editing app, Airbrush. They commissioned an influencer, @cringecarter, to produce a video showing them using the app.
They went through every filter and every tool on the app, turning the effect dial from the absolute minimum to the absolute maximum for each one, in order to create a funny photograph of themself. The post did really well organically and encouraged new users to download the app, and existing users to open it up again and try the challenge for themselves, and share their own results on TikTok, extending the reach of the campaign further.
2. Use UGC in marketing campaigns
Once you have your User-Generated Content, you need to leverage it, and put it to work in your paid advertising campaigns. The best channels to deploy UGC are those specialising in short-form, vertical video content, principally, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Most content creators will naturally produce videos in the vertical format, but it’s easy enough to reformat video content to work in landscape format if you need that for a specific channel. Using your UGC in paid campaigns will massively increase its reach, driving more downloads for your app.
3. Partner with UGC creators
The first step in partnering with UGC creators is to find the right ones to work with. If you have the budget and can employ an agency to help with the process, that’s great, just be sure to be very precise in your brief to them about the type of creators and content you are looking for.
If you’re willing and able to dedicate the time and effort to it yourself, there are communities on platforms such as Reddit and freelancer sites like Fiverr and Upwork where you can discover some great UGC creators.
Another way to unearth good creators is to look at trending pieces of content on Tiktok and Instagram, and at who is creating it. To get the best return on your investment, you should be looking to work with micro influencers with 100,000 or less followers on TikTok, 10,000 and under on Instagram, because they are lesser expensive than creators with larger followings, but can still produce great-quality work, so long as they are well briefed.
Once you find the right creators for your brand there are two important things you need to think of.
Nail the brief
Whichever creators you choose to work with, the most important part of the process is the brief. You should be very specific about the deliverables, including what you want the content to look like, how it should be filmed, and delivery dates. There is an argument that if you have hired a creator because you like their style, then you should give them some degree of creative freedom to express themselves.
Especially if you are producing something like a comedy skit video, where there is more room for creativity. Remember to make it clear from the outset how much freedom your chosen creator can have, and specify the points they must stick to and the elements that must be included.
Remember though, that some creators prefer to work within strict guidelines rather than having to put their own creative interpretation on the brief. And if you want videos to be filmed in a particular way, for example with the brand’s logo appearing in the first two seconds, and you have the data from A/B testing to back this up, then you have every right to specify this in the brief, and to reject the work if the request is ignored.
Specify payment terms
The brief should also specify how the creator will be paid. In the early days of influencer marketing, gifting was the norm, whereby the influencer would get to keep the product they were recommending. Performance-related payments were also a thing for a time, in which the creator’s fee would be tied to the number of app installs their content was responsible for generating. But post-Apple’s introduction of App Tracking Transparency with iOS 14.5, which created the difficulties in accurately tracking the source of installs, most relationships with creators are now on a flat-fee basis, where a set fee is agreed for a given amount of content.
Other considerations from a payment perspective are the usage rights. This covers the amount of time in which you can use the content, from a few weeks or months to in perpetuity. It also covers the use you can make of the content. Will it only run on the creator’s feed, or do you have permission to reuse it for your paid advertising to amplify the message? Our recommendation is that you should always obtain the rights to use the content in your paid campaigns.
4. Use UGC in paid ads
Once you have your lovely User-Generated Content – use it far and wide. Your creator may be a TikTok specialist who only works on TikTok, but that’s no reason why you can’t use the content on SnapChat, Instagram, YouTube, your own online properties – anywhere you can amplify the message and drive more downloads.
To retain the authentic feel of the content, you can also leverage Spark ads on TikTok or Collaborations on Instagram, whereby the creator posts the ad on their own page through their profile, and gives the advertiser a link to put spend behind it. So rather than being seen on the advertiser’s page, the ad appears on the creator’s page, adding to the authenticity.
Examples of UGC campaigns driving app installs
There’s no better way to understand how UGC can drive downloads than to look at some real-world examples so here are a few to to inspire you.
Dice Dreams (game)
This ad for the Dice Dreams game on TikTok features @hakimcollins in another skit ad, worrying about how much time his mom is spending playing the game, before he runs through the features and then asks himself: “How come I’m not playing Dice Dreams?” before he exits left to ask his mom for the download link. The ad received around 650,000 views.
Pros:
- Successfully showcases and introduces the app, including footage from it, while having a more natural and smoother segue to the app.
- Hooks in the viewers in the first three seconds by creating an engaging storyline “My mom is addicted to playing Dice Dreams”
Cons:
- Video is slightly too long. Ideally, you’d want your TikTok ad content to be between 20 – 30 seconds, ideally 25 seconds. To ensure more people watch more of the video
- The voiceover is a bit too slow and low-energy. It needs to be a bit more energetic and enthusiastic to encourage users to try the game out
Betternet UGC – TikTok
This TikTok ad for the Betternet VPN (Virtual Private Network) ad features @breon_is_extraordinary catching his brother watching a TV show on a tablet. When he asks what he’s watching, his brother explains that he’s watching a show from Switzerland, thanks to the Betternet VPN app, and then goes on to explain how the app enables him to connect to the internet as if he’s in any country “and watch anything”. The ad received around 502,000 views.
Pros:
- Eye-level and easy to read text catches the viewers’ attention
- This text hook already sells an idea/benefit you could get from finishing the video (Knowing how to watch “ANY movie”)
- Strong visual comedy/absurdity within the first two seconds (spotting his “bro” looking at some bizarre pictures/content through the crack of a door, enjoying his private time)
- Provides a funny yet relatable segue to talking about the benefits of the app
Cons:
- The app explanation is a bit poor and up for interpretation on how to get access to “ANY movie”
- Although this was to account for platform guidelines, it would have been good to test an iteration where more guidance on how to use a VPN in conjunction with a streaming service e.g. Netflix, could remove any room for interpretation.
Making great user-generated content
By definition, user-generated content is generated by someone else, but there are still rules you can follow to get the best UGC produced for you.
- Length – For user-generated content, the sweet spot in terms of length is 25-30 seconds. The shorter the video, the more likely more people are to watch it all the way through. Longer-form content can work, but it has to have very strong entertainment or storytelling value to justify it.
- Testing – the most popular format for UGC is a straight recommendation: “I use this and I love it, you should use it too.” While it will deliver results, you are ignoring a lot of other creative formats that might work even better. The comedy skit is one format that has proved its worth and its effectiveness across pretty much all verticals in the app space. People love humour so as long as it’s done well, comedy can work for your app. Testing is the only way to find out. Whatever format your content takes, you should A/B test all elements of it to see what works best. Text or no text? Bold or not? Highlighted or not? Capitals or not? Sometimes a strong audio element at the start of the video can help catch people’s attention. Test all these elements against each other to see what works best for your content.
- Emotional appeal – Content should always aim to trigger an emotion within the viewer to really make a connection with them. And it doesn’t always have to be a wholesome emotion. If you’re promoting an app you want people to want, envy and greed are perfectly reasonable emotions to appeal to.
- Remember to entertain – The home of user-generated content is social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. These are places people go primarily for entertainment. Brands sometimes forget this. In their desire to sell the app, they focus too much on the product and they forget to entertain. Any UGC ad should be Ad-tertainment (Ad entertainment). Get the viewer hooked with entertaining content at the start of the video before getting into promoting the app, otherwise you run the risk of viewers swiping or clicking away.
- Small is beautiful – In the UGC world, you don’t need to chase the creators with the biggest number of followers. Smaller creators are more cost-effective, easier to test things with, and often easier to work with in general.
Driving app installs with UGC
User-generated content is a great way to drive app installs. It’s versatile, authentic and can be produced for a fraction of the cost of a mainstream advertising campaign, and with much less wastage. Working with smaller creators will create maximum engagement with your content, as these people have a real bond with their followers. And what they lack in reach you can make up for by using their content in your paid ad campaigns to amplify the message.
But however well your UGC is working, keep testing and keep evolving. What’s hot on TikTok this week probably won’t be next week. The good news is, working with creators who know their platform and their audience, it’s just as much in their interests as yours to stay ahead of the game and the trends, which is great news for your UGC campaigns.
