UGC: About Fans, Fads, and Facts - An Opinionator's Take

Hey there, fellow marketers! A few weeks back, Blas sent me this article about User Generated Content (UGC), asking for my thoughts. I think he did it because he knows I'm an "opinionated" person, to put it mildly. Well, I had so much to say about it that he invited me to put it into writing and share it here. So, welcome to this "Opinionator" Guest Column!

Let's dive right in, shall we?

For starters, I completely agree with the statement about UGC not being new at all. But here's where I may ruffle some feathers - the author circumscribes it to the internet and, believe it or not, when the internet didn't exist (yes, I am that old!) UGC already existed under a different acronym: WOM (Word of Mouth).

Because what is UGC really? It's users talking about a brand, be it a product or a service that they like --or dislike. For now, we'll focus on the ones praising your brand. In those cases, what UGC represents, at its core, is common users doing the marketing/advertising for the brand.

Basically, it's still WOM but now reaching far beyond their families and friends because instead of just talking about the brand in social settings, they're now leaving reviews, creating videos and challenges in your name, and posting those on social media, sometimes reaching millions of others.

Essentially, they're your fans. They love what you sell or do so much that they want to talk about it and show it to the world. Any brand should be happy to have proactive fans who want to talk about them.

But... like other things in the digital world, UGC has also become a bit of a fad, and sadly the concept of it as "any content that is created by fans/contributors vs. professional journalists or publishers" is slowly becoming untrue.

There's now a niche for what's called 'UGC creators' so the once "real and authentic perspective about a topic or brand" can be bought, and the one talking about the brand may not even be a user of such brand. This "professionalization" of what used to be a spontaneous desire to share an opinion may end up doing more damage than good in the long term. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the future, Google and other search engines move away from bringing those results so high on the "all results" page to move them as a separate item, like news, movies, or shopping appear now. In fact, in October last year, the FTC already updated its rules for Customer Reviews and Testimonials to address possible liabilities for fake or false testimonials, but as it tends to happen with things like this, those rules are not so easy to enforce.  

So I do disagree with the idea of UGC being any kind of revolution or a "critical part of the digital landscape". Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that UGC will disappear as Google+ did, but it is definitely another tool in the toolbox, and not necessarily a wave that EVERY BRAND out there should ride or be focusing on.

This takes us to some facts.

It's a fact that not every company has the same needs when it comes to their digital presence. Reaching its audience is generally quite a different journey for a B2B, a B2C, a D2C, or a P2P. And the needs are not the same if you're a new kid on the block versus an established brand.

Being aware of all that you can do to reach prospects and customers is important, but chances are you can't focus on ALL of them, at least not properly and at the same time. And even if you can, it's probably not worth investing time and money on ALL of them.

It's also a fact that the starting point for a steady online presence is a user-friendly site with all the information that someone may need being easy to find, with good, solid, content - in any shape or form - that shows the brand differentiation or the brand expertise in the matter. Of course, the website is not the only thing to do, but it's the base over which you can build a solid SEO strategy, and present the brand on social media for more than a fleeting second.

Brands' tactics to amplify or consolidate their online presence are expanding every day. We went from "you need to have a website" to "Are you doing email marketing/content marketing/social media marketing/SEO/UGC/PPC/Voice search optimization/AI Optimization?"

Nevertheless, your website comes first and should be the base of your online strategy. All the rest are tactics that any brand should be aware of and use when they are useful and can align with their strategy, but making sure they are useful for the brand and that the ROI expected is worth the effort.

So there you have it, my unfiltered thoughts on UGC. It's not the be-all and end-all of digital marketing, but of course, it's not useless either. Like any tool, its value depends on how and when you use it. Just remember, in the ever-changing world of digital marketing, your website is still your anchor, one of the main pillars of your communication strategy. Everything else, including UGC, should be a strategic addition, not a replacement.

Agree? Disagree? Have a different take altogether? Let us know what you think!