Leveraging User-Generated Content in B2B Social Media Campaigns

User-generated content is social media gold. In fact, 70% of consumers say they consider UGC reviews before making a purchasing decision. But what exactly is user-generated content? It's any type of content that unpaid fans and followers of your brand create and share organically on social media. This includes reviews, social shares, tagged photos, reposts, and more.

For B2B companies, leveraging user-generated content on your social channels can take your marketing to the next level. UGC comes straight from your happy customers, so it brings authenticity that branded content just can't match. It also expands your reach and acts as social proof when potential customers see real-life examples of your product or service in action.

In this post, we'll dive into why UGC is so powerful for B2B marketing and share best practices for featuring it in your social media campaigns. You'll also get ideas for creative ways to use customer content to showcase your brand. Let's get started!

Why UGC is Effective for B2B Brands

When it comes to making your B2B marketing content stand out, you can't beat the power of user-generated content. If content is still king, UGC would have to be its queen. UGC brings some major benefits that can greatly boost your social media game.

For starters, UGC comes straight from real, passionate customers who love your brand. So, it brings authenticity and relatability that branded content from your company just can't match. People trust recommendations from their peers far more than promotional material from brands. UGC also acts as social proof and shows your product or service in action, which provides major credibility. And when delighted customers share their UGC on their own channels, it expands your brand's reach and awareness immensely.

The peer power of UGC gives it higher engagement rates, too. In fact, user-generated content garners 6.9x more engagement than branded content alone. As if that weren’t enough, consumers consider UGC to be 2.4x more authentic than the regular content brands share. Those are some pretty compelling stats!

If you’re part of a B2B social media marketing team, user-generated content should absolutely be a core part of your strategy. Leveraging UGC can help you grab attention, establish trust, and ultimately reach and convert more of your target audience.

UGC Inspo: Campaign Ideas for B2B and Beyond 

User-generated content campaigns allow you to tap into the creativity of your audience. There are so many possibilities when you engage your B2B customers and followers to share their perspectives. Here are some inspiring ideas to generate authentic UGC. 

Bring Customer Success to Life Through Case Studies

Identify some of your most successful and happiest customers and ask if they'd be open to providing an in-depth case study. Get the full story on their challenges, how your product helped, and the tangible results seen. Then, take these compelling narratives and transform them into beautifully designed case study write-ups, engaging videos, or even customer testimonial reels to share widely across your social channels. Real-life customer stories build trust and credibility.

Let Customers Recap Your Events Through UGC

Events like trade shows present a prime opportunity to generate authentic user-generated content. Prompt attendees to share photos, videos, feedback, and reactions from interacting with your booth, product demo, or sponsored event activation. Reshare these UGC gems across your own recap posts, campaigns, and summaries. Letting customers tell the story of their first-hand event experience is invaluable.

Repurpose Testimonials into Social Graphics

Look for positive client testimonials and pull out the best quotes that capture meaningful sentiments and impressions. Then, get creative and reformat these into eye-catching social graphics, compilation reels, or snackable videos to share as social proof. The authenticity of happy customers raving about you in their own words packs a serious punch. UGC can be turned into just about any kind of social post. For inspo, here are 27 fresh ideas for social media posts that pair perfectly with UGC. 

Showcase Your Product's Versatility Through UGC

Ask your audience to share unique photos or videos of them using your product in unconventional, creative or clever ways. These real-world examples of diverse use cases organically showcase your product's flexibility and range. Curate the most interesting examples into blog posts, social spotlights or even a "how they use it" campaign. User content demonstrates authentic versatility.

Amplify Customer Achievements and Wins

Your audience loves sharing their awards, media features, certifications and other achievements across social media. Keep an eye out for relevant customer wins in your niche and consider resharing their exciting news when appropriate. Amplifying user accomplishments shows you support their success and builds affinity.

Foster Community Through Industry Discussions

Post open-ended questions to spark insightful industry conversations within your audience and niche community. Customer perspectives, advice and discussions on your specialty field provide inherent value. Regular back-and-forths also foster connections, humanizing your brand and building community.

Solicit Predictions, Lessons, and Tips

Proactively prompt your audience for their forward-looking predictions, the lessons they've learned or tips and advice they can offer others. Ask thought-provoking questions and encourage customers to weigh in via social posts using your branded hashtags. People enjoy sharing their opinions when brands show active listening.

The possibilities are endless when engaging your audience to generate authentic user-generated content. As we've seen, you can turn customer stories into case studies, recap events with UGC, transform testimonials into graphics, and more. 

Now that we've covered inspiring UGC campaign ideas, we'll explore some best practices for integrating it into your social media marketing. Applying these tips will help you execute UGC campaigns seamlessly and drive results.

Best Practices for Leveraging UGC

Now that we've covered why UGC is so valuable for B2B social media marketing let's get into some actionable tips for leveraging it. Here are some best practices for integrating user-generated content into your strategy:

• Make it easy for users to tag and mention you on social media by having a branded hashtag and handles in your profile bios. Respond and engage with UGC authors.
• Routinely share and re-share relevant user-generated posts, reviews, images, etc. Ask permission if needed. This shows customers you listen and care.
• Run UGC contests and challenges, like asking for written testimonials or product photos. Highlight select entries on your social channels.
• Repurpose great UGC into social media ads. The authenticity can help your paid efforts stand out in the feed.
• Compile top UGC-like customer videos, testimonials, and case studies into easily shareable assets and graphics.
• Interact with UGC creators by liking, commenting, and thanking them. This encourages more participation over time.
• Monitor branded hashtags and conversations and jump in to engage where appropriate. This shows you're listening and attentive.

Leveraging UGC should be an integral part of your social media strategy. Encourage customers to tag you, highlight their content, repurpose it when possible, and, most importantly—engage and thank them for their contributions. Doing so will help foster brand advocates.

Measuring UGC Campaign Success

Once you have a solid UGC strategy and campaigns in place, the next crucial step is to track performance and measure results. Monitoring key metrics will reveal what's working and where there's room for improvement. Here are some helpful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)  to monitor:

• Track engagement on UGC posts like likes, shares, and comments. Compare engagement on UGC versus your own branded content to see if it's resonating more.
• Monitor brand mentions and tags to gauge the volume of UGC created and the sentiment behind the content. This shows how aware people are of your branded hashtags.
• Use unique promo codes in UGC posts to directly track leads and sales generated from that content. This proves the ROI of UGC.
• Survey customers before and after UGC campaigns on metrics like brand awareness, consideration, and favorability. See how perceptions improved.
• Conduct periodic brand lift studies through surveys to measure how UGC influences key brand health metrics over time.
• Set benchmarks for the amount of UGC content and engagement you want to achieve on a monthly or quarterly basis—track improvement over time.

By regularly assessing UGC KPIs, you can see what content and campaigns resonate best. This allows you to double down on what works and try new approaches where needed. UGC is a powerful tool, but only if you monitor its impact and continually optimize.

Final Thoughts

If there's one thing we hope you take away from this post, it's how powerful user-generated content can be for your marketing efforts. Whether you're a B2B or B2C brand, the authenticity, credibility, and reach delivered by UGC simply can't be matched.

So be creative with your campaigns, interact and thank your UGC creators, and don't be afraid to showcase the content your community organically produces consistently. It not only shows you listen but helps build affinity and trust in your brand.

Most importantly, measure the impact of your UGC efforts and keep optimizing. Track metrics like engagement, reach, conversions, and brand lift over time. Double down on what resonates while trying new approaches where needed.

UGC represents the genuine voices of the people you serve. By sharing and repurposing it across your social channels and marketing, you allow those voices to be heard far and wide. You give your brand story authenticity that branded content just can't provide.

There's so much opportunity to captivate audiences if you actively encourage and highlight UGC. We hope these tips have sparked some ideas for your own UGC campaigns. Just remember - the most powerful stories are often best told by others.

Ryan Gould

Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services

​​From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan Gould brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. As the Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services at Elevation Marketing, he skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs. He strongly believes in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively align sales and marketing teams within organizations.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rygould/