Get Your Business Booming on TikTok with User-Generated Content

29 March 2023 — Merr Fe Painagan TikTok is the hub of internet trends, featuring dance challenges that get everyone grooving and viral songs that are widely used in videos. The platform boasts a massive user base of 1 billion monthly active users who watch 167 million videos per internet minute, making it easy for trends to spread like wildfire and take over other social networks. This makes TikTok an incredibly potent marketing platform for businesses, provided they know how to leverage its potential fully. To achieve virality for your brand and products on TikTok, tapping into the platform’s most valuable asset, its users, is crucial. User-generated content is the driving force behind the rapid dissemination of trends on TikTok, inspiring other users and creating a chain reaction. In this article, we delve into the nuances of user-generated content on TikTok, exploring its powerful impact and how it can be harnessed for your TikTok UGC campaign. Join us as we take a closer look at how to make the most of TikTok’s vast user base and fuel your brand’s success on the platform. What Is User-Generated Content on TikTok? User-generated content (UGC) on TikTok refers to the videos created by TikTok users and content creators that showcase your brand in some form or another. This could involve using your product in the video and reviewing it or demonstrating to their followers how to use it. It may also include participation in a TikTok challenge initiated by your brand, be it a dance or unique task. Alternatively, content creators may create a video using your branded hashtag as a prompt. Moreover, you may come across UGC where people utilize features like Duet and Stitch. For instance, they may Duet or Stitch with your video to create unique, engaging content for their followers. Many brands reshare these videos with their audience (with the consent of the original content creator). You can even amplify the impact of your TikTok UGC by using them in your ads. TikTok UGC comprises content created by users and content creators that features your brand, from product reviews to challenge participation, to hashtag usage, and beyond. By utilizing UGC, brands can effectively leverage the creativity and enthusiasm of their followers to build brand awareness, trust, and engagement. Why Focus on User-Generated Content for TikTok? Focusing on user-generated content (UGC) for TikTok can be highly beneficial for your brand. Consumers tend to trust content created by other consumers, as it appears more authentic to them. According to a Stackla study, almost 80% of respondents believed that consumer-created content influences their purchasing decisions, making UGC a valuable asset for businesses. Furthermore, UGC videos tend to perform well on TikTok due to their relatability and authenticity. According to a study by the Real Eyes video testing platform, UGC videos on TikTok outperformed brand videos, receiving a 22% higher score. Additionally, UGC videos captured and held viewers’ attention for longer than TikTok brand videos and Facebook video ads. The emotional impact of UGC videos on TikTok was also significantly higher than that of brand videos. UGC videos were found to encode emotion 22% better than brand videos, with their encoding score being 4.7x higher than Facebook ads and 10x higher than conventional ads. These findings emphasize the power of user-generated content on TikTok to engage your audience emotionally, making it a crucial tool for businesses. Best Practices for TikTok UGC Campaigns You may be ready to launch your own campaign now that you understand how TikTok user-generated content may benefit your company. Before you begin, ensure that you are following the recommended practices outlined below to guide your campaign. 1: Determine the Best User-Generated Content for Your Campaign Choosing the right type of user-generated content (UGC) is crucial to the success of your marketing campaign in the Philippines. Your UGC must align with your campaign goals and objectives. TikTok offers various types of UGC, including: Challenges – Encourage your audience to showcase your products by performing specific tasks based on your prompt. For instance, if you want to promote your new eyeshadow palette, you can challenge your audience to create a unique makeup look using your product. Coca-Cola, for example, challenged people to #ShareTheMagic by connecting with their loved ones over a Coca-Cola. Contests – Give your audience a chance to win something valuable, such as a gift card or a new product, to increase participation. Reviews – Partner with reputable content creators who can provide authentic reviews of your products. This helps to build trust with your target audience and can influence their purchasing decisions. Instructional Videos – Create UGC that provides tips and instructions on how to use your products. This is an effective way to inform and inspire your audience to make a purchase. Selecting the right type of UGC will help you achieve your marketing goals and engage your audience in the Philippines. 2: Provide Clear Instructions When launching a user-generated content campaign on TikTok in the Philippines, it’s crucial to provide clear instructions for your audience. Let them know exactly what kind of content you’re looking for, how they should showcase your product, what elements to include, and which hashtags to use. Providing clear instructions is essential to avoid confusion and ensure that you receive high-quality content from your audience. It’s especially important for UGC campaigns involving contests since you need to establish clear rules to avoid submissions that don’t qualify. 3: Create a Unique Branded Hashtag Hashtags are important for collecting all user-generated content in one place. To create a unique hashtag that’s easily recognizable, keep these two things in mind: Keep it unique to your brand – Use your brand name, product name, or catchphrase to differentiate it from generic hashtags. Avoid generic hashtags that may attract irrelevant content to your campaign. For example, Laura Mercier’s #ReadySetGo challenge attracted irrelevant content not related to their brand. Keep it simple and easy to use – Ensure that people can read and spell the hashtag easily. A complex or confusing hashtag may lead to less content being submitted under your campaign. Make it easy to remember while remaining unique to your brand. Creating a unique and simple branded hashtag will help your campaign get more traction in the Philippines and ensure that your user-generated content is easily accessible and identifiable.” 4: Maximize Your Reach with Influencers To collect a lot of user-generated content for your TikTok campaign, it’s important to reach a large audience. One of the most effective ways to do this is by partnering with influential TikTok creators. Influencers on TikTok have massive reach and their content tends to catch on easily, whether it’s through dance challenges, product reviews, or life hacks. When you collaborate with them on your challenge or contest, their followers are likely to join in, amplifying your reach. When partnering with influencers, choose those who can reach your target audience and allow them to maintain their personal style even when it’s a sponsored video. This way, you’ll get unique, authentic, and engaging content that resonates with their followers. For instance, when e.l.f cosmetics launched their “Eyes. Lips. Face” campaign, influential creators like Brittany Tomlinson and Kira Kosarin amplified its reach. The #eyeslipsface hashtag garnered over 9.4 billion views and more than 1.4 million videos were created using the campaign song. 5: Encourage Collaboration with Duet and Stitch Features TikTok offers various features to support community engagement and collaboration within the platform. Utilizing features like Duet and Stitch can help brands encourage more user-generated content. You can create a video prompt and challenge your followers to Duet or Stitch with it. This way, you can collect valuable and creative user-generated content. Suppose you’re promoting a new clothing collection. You could create a video asking your audience to create a unique outfit using items from the collection. They could then Duet or Stitch a video of themselves following your prompt while wearing their outfit. These videos may inspire others to shop from the collection and create their own outfits. When Urban Decay collaborated with Prince 4 Ever on the UD x Prince makeup collection, they used the Stitch feature to preview the collection. Influential creators used the collection to create unique makeup looks and artwork, showcasing what viewers could expect from the collection. 6: Utilize User-Generated Content to Keep Your TikTok Page Active Creating TikTok content may seem easy, but maintaining creativity can be challenging. Don’t worry; you can leverage user-generated content to fill your page with engaging content. Share authentic reviews and tutorials from influential creators and regular users to fill your page with positive content that can earn the trust of potential customers. Additionally, using the Stitch and Duet features, you can create videos inspired by content from your audience, answer questions, and respond to comments. For example, Fabletics regularly shares user-generated content from customers to showcase the real people who wear their clothes, which establishes trust with potential customers. 7: Repurpose User-Generated Content in TikTok Ads Your user-generated content doesn’t have to stay on your TikTok page; it can be repurposed into powerful ads. With permission from the original creators, combine multiple review and tutorial videos into informative ads that can compel viewers to make a purchase. To increase the impact of your ads, involve influential TikTok creators in your user-generated content ad campaign. Collect videos created by influencers for your brand and incorporate them into ads. This way, you can capture the attention of an audience that’s already familiar with those influencers, raising awareness about your brand. Final PopStar Tip: TikTok’s viral success is dependent on user-generated content. Yet, you must be smart in your approach so that your efforts do not go to waste. Use the suggestions and best practices we’ve provided above to maximize the potential of UGC on TikTok. Send us a message or contact our Team at contact@pop-star.me for more information on how PopStar can help you in your TikTok influencer marketing here in the Philippines.