Technology has revolutionized business, from management to marketing. In today’s world, marketing is more than just reaching your target demographic. It’s also about creating a great experience that users will want to engage with. One of the best ways to make your brand stand out from the crowd is with user-generated content. Content made by users can include images, videos, blogs, reviews, and testimonials.
The team at Harbortouch, the United States’ leading provider of point of sale (POS) systems, explains that consumers don’t want to be sold to anymore. Instead, they look to fellow end users as a trustworthy source of information when discovering and researching brands and making purchase decisions. Here are three reasons to use user-generated content for your business.
3 Reasons to Utilize User-Generated Content
1. It’s Cost-Effective
For the most part, user-generated content is free. Although you can’t control what people say or how they present your brand or products, the risk of negative attention shouldn’t deter you from taking advantage of all of the positive potential of user-generated content. Although negative attention can be costly to mitigate, it is cheaper to gather positive pieces of user-generated content than it is to create original marketing materials in-house. Rather than coming up with a campaign strategy, design, and distribution plan, all you have to do is ask permission to use the content and share away.
Because user-generated content is typically free, it provides a big bang for your buck. Regardless of how big or small your marketing budget may be, you can’t afford to not try using this approach.
2. Creates a Sense of Community
User-generated content can also help build a sense of community surrounding your brand or business. Consumers can share their experience on social media and connect with other consumers, building a sense of loyalty and camaraderie. Likewise, if you collaborate with users to share your product or brand with their followers on social media, you can ask them to utilize a unique hashtag that can build brand awareness and get more people on board.
3. Builds Credibility & Authority
Today’s consumers don’t put much stock in traditional advertising. Instead, they want to see what other users have to say. User-generated content is social proof to back up your brand’s claims. This is because people generally consider other users to be unbiased (or at least less biased) compared to a paid marketing team. The more backup you have from clients, the more credible you are in the public eye.
More About Harbortouch
In over 20 years of business, Harbortouch has served more than 400,000 small to mid-size businesses, providing first-class POS software and state-of-the-art POS hardware and earning numerous stellar Harbortouch reviews from satisfied customers. From secure payment processing to cloud-based reporting and management tools, Harbortouch’s model makes its products affordable for any budget. Harbortouch’s ground-breaking free POS program is regularly featured on the hit TV show Bar Rescue. This program offers merchants with a complete package including hardware, software, custom programming, expert installation, and unparalleled customer support, all with no upfront costs.
