This is the seventeenth in our series of key takeaways from some of the presentations and panel discussions offered at the Social Commerce Summit in May 2008.
Joel Knight, Marketing Services Manager, spoke about how to increase participation to increase UGC volume.
With these 10 best practices, a company can establish a new UGC-based marketing program, foster its success, and then take it multi-channel.
1. Launch an Engineered UGC program
- Have a launch announcement, and keep it simple!
- Use past-purchase e-mails for purchases up to six-months past (Send them on Tuesday mornings)
- Always provide a direct call-to-action
- Provide an incentive
- Connect your message to the brand (i.e., include the CEO’s signature in e-mails)
2. Build on Critical Mass
- Develop loyalty programs, giving contributors early access to products, badge consistent contributors, offer rewards, etc.
- Make internal contributors, such as your staff — especially for providing answers to customer-generated questions. Always remember to badge these folks
- Always send post-purchase e-mails.; include a direct link to where the customer can contribute their content (review, story, answer, etc.)
3. Take it Multi-channel
- Use cross-promotions to promote UGC and use reviews to prompt more purchases. Use box stuffers, catalogs, receipts, in-store signage, etc.
- Encourage reviews through warranty registrations from manufacturers and other packaged goods
- Use your customers’ words in all types of advertising – see how Office Depot got great results from their online ads featuring “reviews”
we’ve found that way less than 1% of all our users write a review, and we use multi-channel approach
in the ugc field the fact is that about 0.2% — 1/5th of 1% — actually create content