User-generated content moderation is an integral part of digital marketing today. It refers to regulating images, videos, comments, forums, and posts produced by end users. This type of online monitoring is implemented based on a set of pre-arranged rules and guidelines. It enriches customer experience and maintains the overall look and feel of a brand. This approach employed by businesses enables them to expand audience reach, improve customer relations and credibility in the digital market.

An Upswing in User-generated Content

User-generated content or UGC are videos, blogs, posts, and images that are created by end-users of an online platform. At present, it is difficult to find a brand or business without an online presence. Business owners are simply recognizing the value of incorporating content created by their online community in their marketing strategy. Without a doubt, letting consumers support your brand develops a valuable consumer-brand relationship.

In fact, in a survey done by Statista, 73% of respondents felt that positive customer reviews made them trust a business more. This shows how people count on other people’s experiences before jumping the gun on their purchases. It is no wonder business owners choose to delegate some marketing tasks to the online community.

Statistic: How do online customer reviews affect your opinion of a local business? | Statista

UGC encourages engagement and builds trust among consumers. Firsthand experience is trustworthy, which is why consumers turn to social media to seek other consumers’ experiences to justify their purchases. Moreover, businesses benefit from UGC because it is cost effective. There is no need for celebrity endorsers or spend largely on an elaborate campaign. All you need is an online community to champion your brand.

While leveraging consumer-created content provides your business with several benefits, giving them free rein is risky. Unmoderated content may cause your business more harm than potential conversions. Consequently, this prevalence of content from outside the organization has led to a growing demand for user-generated content moderation.

 

Your brand needs user-generated content moderation

Today’s internet generation feels the need to share experiences online and this instinct isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. As a business owner, this is an opportunity for you to get them to share experiences about your brand.

You might be thinking if there really is a need to moderate content from your fans, reviewers, or even critics. Doesn’t moderation defeat the whole concept of UGC? While we can go on talking about content moderation and freedom of speech, there is no doubt about how effective social media monitoring plays in enhancing brand reputation, customer security, engagement, and satisfaction.

Here are some examples of how user-generated content moderation affects overall brand promotion:

  1. Making UGC work for you. Determine who your target audience is and have a clear idea of what your brand is all about. Knowing your audience is your reference for identifying what type of moderation would work best to promote your brand. Take for example Starbucks’ White Cup Contest. Starbucks got the idea to encourage customers to doodle on their white paper cups and post a photo of it on Twitter or Instagram. In just three weeks, the contest generated nearly 4,000 entries. It reinforced how well Starbucks knew its consumers and how its brand associated with their creative and artistic side. When you know your consumers, you know how user-generated content moderation can prevent trolls from posting offensive content. Furthermore, it helps shape and protect your overall brand image.

Starbucks Facebook page

    1. Elevating website traffic. UGC can promote your website through product reviews and social media shares. Just like what it did for Pepsi’s campaign that asked customers to share reasons why they prefer Pepsi MAX to Coke. The campaign received over 7,000 entries and the site recorded over 50,000 unique visits. Effective content moderation ensures success for campaigns like this through various clicks and conversion tools. When you have sound emoderation in place, you won’t have to worry about receiving entries that are out of line.

  1. Selecting valuable consumer opinions. Both digital marketing and sales campaigns and UGC costs less. An effective content moderation strategy unarguably guarantees that user-generated content is nothing but interesting and beneficial to your brand. Consider Greek yogurt company, Chobani, as a good example. Aside from a colorfully curated Instagram account, a large part of their marketing rests on posts by their consumers. These posts show how Chobani’s user-generated content moderation carefully selects posts and maintains engagement with their followers.

Screencapture of Chobani’s Instagram

Shaping your Brand through Online Reputation Management

Businesses encourage user-generated content in their social media campaigns for several reasons. The success of marketing through consumers who know what other consumers want to hinge on strategic user-generated content moderation.

You can opt for content moderation powered by artificial intelligence and program it according to your rules. Several online platforms have developed AI to moderate content. However, as with anything that deals with AI comes limitations. Human moderators still offer a more extensive understanding of what type of content from consumers your brand needs.

Let user-generated content moderation make consumer-created content work for you and elevate your brand. You can talk to us at HOPLA to learn more about it without worrying about outsourcing costs. What’s even better about outsourcing social media marketing is how we can help you engage and delight your customers while safeguarding your brand. Call us today!