Using user-generated content for audience engagement

With millions of users on the internet, not only do you, as a publisher, have access to readers but also to an informed crowd. Using your audience base to gain feedback about your content should be your first step. This can be quickly followed by encouraging your audience to contribute their opinions and inputs.

As digital publishers, you’re constantly trying to humanize your audience from netizen count to members with a set of characteristics. Encouraging UGC on your website will only help with this. Your users get to contribute effectively to your website content. But how do you regulate all this user-generated data? How do you move from a passive audience to an active one?

User-generated content refers to content that is contributed/provided without any cost association. It can be a product review, an opinion piece, or a full-blown story. With respect to social media, this can be product promotion, simple retweets, or photo dumps. The result should benefit or add the content put forth by the brand.

How you leverage this plethora of user-generated content is what gives the medium its impact. Although organic, the reach of sharing and re-sharing UGC can go quite far for brands and consumers alike.

1. High brand engagement

More readers, more interactions, better reach. While the equation is simple, it takes time to create the buzz you want. With more likes, and smart engagement in the form of UGC you can reach a wider audience through the simple snowball. Influencers tend to spark conversation with their content. Seeing more comments, likes, and mentions toward your channels shows signs of success and gives a sense of virality. You also need the right tools to help you collect and analyze your efforts.

2. Building Brand trust

People trust people, it’s simple. According to the State of UGC 2021 Report, 93% of markers agree that consumers trust content created by customers more than content created by brands. As a brand, your voice will always sound more distant. But with users promoting or interacting with your content, the barrier breaks. Try to track keywords or phrases that are used often by users. This can help you navigate the general audience feedback. Associating reader feedback will help you gain better traction.

3. Encouraging active readers

The internet provides and promotes a sense of anonymity. As content creators, it’s important to break this faceless association with your reader base. This is why memberships and reader-specific packages are gaining popularity. Encouraging UGC helps create a reader base that both interacts with your brand and your content. It transforms a reader from a swipe/like behavior to a more active one.

4. Save time on content creation

You have to acknowledge that your readers are smart and informed beings. This means that there will always be room for feedback, suggestions, discussions, and more. Leverage UGC for your content creation process. Your readers can add to your existing content and inspire scope for new content. This is helpful as you can be assured about the level of investment for such content pieces. The need-of-the-hour topics that your users feel strongly about. UGC helps ease the content creation and validating process.

This is where Metype comes in. As a publisher, you want a central platform that can help you regulate your UGC. Metype acts as that single platform where users can react and contribute resourceful content. Authors and the editorial team can access these directly and regulate them according to relevance.

Metype is an audience engagement tool from Quintype built to transform the digital experience. Not only does it come at an affordable price range but it is also very scalable. It’s a product built to help encourage active readership. The platform brings both the readers and writers together by providing a space for discussions and brainstorming. You can schedule a demo right away to understand how you can use Metype to enhance your engagement efforts.