Authenticity has become a gold standard for digital marketing, with more and more consumers craving it.
In this context, user-generated content (UGC) is the go-to solution, making brands look more trustworthy and relatable in the eyes of the audience.
Still, constantly sourcing high-quality content can be difficult without some help.
That’s why you should partner with one of the best UGC platforms.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about these platforms and show you how to choose the right one for your brand.
What Is a UGC Platform?
A UGC platform is an online platform that helps brands obtain high-quality user-generated content for their digital marketing campaigns.
In other words, these platforms connect brands with influencers and professional UGC creators who create authentic and engaging content.
User-generated content can include everything from blog posts to social media posts as long as they’re created by consumers instead of brands.
Of course, the best UGC platforms are more versatile, offering additional features and functionalities, as we’ll explain later.
How Do UGC Platforms Work?
User-generated content platforms work with brands to simplify the process of obtaining and using UGC for the best marketing outcomes.
They usually focus on the following activities.
1. UGC Creator Discovery
UGC platforms have large databases of vetted creators specializing in various industries.
Our very own Insense gives you access to over 20K micro-influencers and UGC creators skilled in:
Beauty and care
Fashion and style
Food and drinks
Health and wellness
Travel, etc.
Using special briefs and advanced search features, these platforms can match you with UGC creators who best fit your brand and needs.
2. UGC Sourcing
The main role of these platforms is to help you acquire UGC for diverse use cases.
Whether you want to launch a social media or email campaign or improve your SEO strategy, the right UGC platform will find appropriate content for you.
You just need to provide some campaign details and creative asset requirements, and the platform takes care of the rest.
For instance, in our Creative Brief, you can fill out information about:
The campaign type and platform (e.g., TikTok UGC campaign)
The content type (e.g., video UGC)
Product details (e.g., product photo and description)
3. Content Distribution
The best UGC platforms offer various platform integrations that simplify content distribution and campaign management.
For example, you can connect your Shopify store to Insense in just a few clicks.
Then, you can create and manage multiple orders for influencer campaigns without leaving the Insense platform.
Moreover, you can always repurpose the content you receive for other campaigns.
An e-commerce brand can use UGC for organic posting and paid ads.
4. Performance Tracking
A good UGC platform also tracks campaign performance.
This data helps you determine if your marketing campaigns are effective and if you’re properly allocating your resources.
For instance, our Performance feature tracks your campaign numbers, post performance, and platform spend.
On top of that, the intuitive data visualization dashboard makes it easier to understand and analyze this complex data.
Coming up next, we’ll list some of the benefits of working with UGC platforms.
Why Are UGC Platforms Important for Brands?
This is a no-brainer.
UGC platforms are important for brands because they help collect high-quality user-generated content.
The acquired UGC will then enable brands to achieve great things. For instance, according to multiple statistics, you can:
Create more brand and product exposure
Build brand authenticity and consumer trust
Increase engagement rates
Influence customer purchasing decisions and drive sales
Still, partnering with a UGC platform has some additional advantages.
Here are three of them:
Save time through automation. Manually gathering UGC from your customers, employees, or social media followers is time-consuming.
However, UGC platforms use automated features to match you with the right creators and deliver creative assets in no time.
Build long-term partnerships. Once you find a UGC creator who aligns perfectly with your brand, you shouldn’t let them go.
UGC platforms often allow you to keep in touch with creators and work with the same people over and over again.
Simplify all legal and financial aspects. If you search for UGC creators on your own, you need to negotiate and manage agreements and payments for each collaboration.
UGC platforms give you full digital usage rights for all gathered content and automate creator payments.
Now, let us give you some tips on how to choose the right platform for your brand.