5 Ways User-Generated Content Can Grow Your Instagram Community

For years, social media strategists and the brands they work for have kept their eyes peeled for good quality user-generated content (UGC). We’ve scrolled Instagram, kept our notifications on, and put all our energy into building relationships with our communities. 

Which is why it’s become a whole “industry”.

Accounts are popping up on Instagram and TikTok promoting their user-generated content services, which, if you keep reading, you’ll know is the exact opposite of UGC. 

What is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content is organic content that a user posts on their own social media accounts. For the purposes of this blog post, it’s content that features your brand in a positive light. 

It’s important to note that UGC is not paid content. 

It’s not an Influencer ad and it’s not photos or videos you’d pay a content creator for. It’s organic content that users create on their own, simply because they love your products. Which is why it’s so valuable. And why it’s so effective at growing your Instagram community. 

What Types of User-Generated Content Is There?

There are all types of user-generated content. On Instagram, UGC can include Instagram stories, reels, and grid posts. 

How Does User Generated Content Help Grow Your Instagram Community?

1. User Generated Content is Posted on the User’s Own Accounts

When a user posts about your brand on their own social media account, you’re reaching new people. It doesn’t matter if they have 10,000 followers or 100,000 because you’re reaching a new group of people who haven’t heard of your brand before. This translates to increased brand awareness and follower growth.

2. User Generated Content is a Form of Social Proof

Everyone knows that having testimonials on your site is valuable, but sometimes new customers have a healthy level of skepticism about on-site reviews. Organic social posts, however, are much more valuable because they’re totally unprompted and they come directly from the user. 

3. User Generated Content Shows How Customers are Using and Loving Your Products (Similar to a Tutorial!)

Customers love to see your product in action, especially when ordering online. They want to see what it looks like, how it works, and what their experience will be like. User-generated content checks all these boxes. They even show customers where your products can be enjoyed, which is sometimes missed in a simple tutorial. 

4. User Generated Content Adds Variety to Your Instagram Content, Maintaining Community Interest

To create a profitable social media calendar, you need content that drives awareness, content that educates, and content that sells. User generated content is definitely content that drives awareness. With permission from the creator, it can be reshared to your stories and grid, giving you additional awareness content to share with your followers. 

5. User Generated Content Creates a Community Around Your Brand

All of this comes together by creating a community around your brand. User generated content shows your customers that your brand is of interest to others, that it’s something they should care about, that you as a brand pay attention to what your customers are saying, and that you engage with your customers on social media.

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Wait, Who Am I?

Hiiii! 👋🏻 I’m Sarah, an online entrepreneur & marketer of over 10 years. I went from starting a clean beauty blog right out of high school to managing social media for Canada’s largest wellness retailer. Now I live in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, helping high-growth entrepreneurs get SEEN so they can build a crazy fun life their business supports, and not the other way around.

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