Boost Engagement & Authenticity: The Power of User-Generated Content in Experiential Marketing Campaigns
(6-minute read)Article summary: Exploring the benefits, reach, and impact when embracing user generated content (UGC) for experiential marketing activations. Also, offering an important list of action items for UGC producers to keep in mind when running these activations.
- Brands love UGC in experiential marketing because it feels real (think: trust boost!), gets people talking (hello, reach!), saves them money (lower production costs!), and shows the brand from all angles (diverse and authentic storytelling!). Plus, valuable data, organic social proof, and deeper connections? UGC is a marketing win-win.
- Co-creation Labs | Allow users to directly contribute to the experience itself. This could involve collaborative art installations, product customization workshops, or even user-generated storylines for interactive games in-person, online, and on social media. Empowering users with creative control build deeper brand connections and fosters a sense of ownership.
- What brands would this be good for? For starts, any brand product or service that embraces individuality and personalization should embrace this. It brings this portion of the brand to life and celebrates consumer uniqueness. For example, a clothing brand can host a "design your own hoodie" workshop where users can personalize their own hoodies with prints and messages. The most popular designs could be incorporated into future collections.
- The experience becomes dynamic and constantly evolving, driven by user participation. This encourages repeat visits and sharing among friends.
- Remix My Creation Contest | Launch a campaign with a central creative piece, like a song, video, or artwork, and invite users to remix it in their own style. This could involve adding lyrics, creating new visuals, or even re-interpreting the concept. Showcase the best entries on your website or social media, crediting the creators, and offer prizes to encourage participation. This fosters user creativity, taps into existing trends like remix culture, and generates diverse UGC that reflects your brand's essence.
- AR/VR UGC Integration | Utilize augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) to create interactive experiences where users can generate and share their own content within the virtual environment.
- AR/VR adds a layer of immersion and gamification, making UGC creation more engaging and unique. Users can share their AR/VR creations on social media, further amplifying the campaign reach and virality.
- For example, a furniture brand can create an AR app where users can virtually place furniture in their homes and share photos with friends. This can drive product discovery and purchase decisions.
- Live Galleries Spaces | Designed to celebrate and encourage participation, create a dedicated space (physical, virtual, or phygital) within your experience where user-generated content is displayed live. This could be a digital wall, a physical gallery, or even a live feed on social media that is linked to one easy #hashtag or channel. This approach fosters a sense of community and encourages real-time engagement. Users become active participants, not just passive observers.
- Do you have social media influencers in the mix? Great! Have them be the judges!
- Run contests or challenges within the experience that encourage UGC creation with specific themes or hashtags. Showcase the best entries live, increasing competition and excitement. The best entries could win backstage passes or merchandise.
- Interactive Livestream and/or Social Media Challenges | Host a live event with an influencer or brand representative, but with a twist! Throughout the “You be the Judge” stream, propose challenges related to your product or service that viewers can participate in at home. Encourage them to share their attempts (successful or funny!) using your hashtag, creating a sense of community and real-time engagement.
- AR Second Screen Moments | We’ve seen things like this at amusement parks to entertain and engage people while in long queues. Design a series of AR photo ops in areas where long lines are inevitable (ex. food and beverage and bus queue areas at conferences and festivals) where participants use their phones to interact with virtual elements in real-world locations. At each checkpoint, they are prompted by signage, QR codes, or app notifications to capture photos or videos of themselves completing challenges or capturing the moment, incorporating the AR elements into their content. Encourage them to share their experiences using the campaign hashtag, creating a dynamic map of user-generated moments across different locations. This approach leverages UGC to amplify reach and document the collective journey of the participants.
- Important things to remember to keep the following in mind when incorporating UGC into your campaign:
- Brand Engagement: Plan on having somebody representing the brand(s) actively responding to every online mention. Having done this for brands in the past, you may need to write the playbook (*literally) for brand ambassadors. Part of this is to agree on appropriate responses for the good, bad, and otherwise that inevitably happens online. This is a big (wonderful) opportunity for brands to connect with consumers, celebrate the moment, celebrate their uniqueness and creativity, have fun, be authentic, and be seen. Make sure social media influencers have been briefed separately, they are de facto brand ambassadors in the moment, too.
- Clear Guidelines and Incentives: Provide clear instructions and encourage participation with exciting prizes or rewards. Being seen on a live jumbotron at a music festival may be reward enough!
- Moderate Content: Ensure your brand's image is protected by having a moderation process in place. As mentioned, engagement is the goal. Interact with everybody and celebrate the moment. And yes, you will need to weed through entries to make sure they’re on-brand.
- Showcase and Amplify: Feature user-generated content prominently and credit creators to show appreciation and encourage further participation. Take advantage of your #hashtag strategy across various social media channels
- Track and Analyze: Monitor the campaign's performance and analyze the UGC to gain insights and improve future strategies.to encourage and track behaviors and brand interactions. I find this can also become a great (quick) way to gather sentiment reports in the moment.
By incorporating UGC strategically, you can leverage the power of user creativity, authenticity, and community engagement to take your experiential marketing campaigns to the next level.
About the Author
David is a U.S.-based creative marketing executive that defines and delivers DM & XM experiences that capture the moment, breathes life into the brand, connects people, and bridges technology, data, and behavioral economics to go well beyond "If you build it, they will come." He has created live brand experiences for Microsoft, Cisco, T-Mobile, Whirlpool, and the NHL.