Writing by Nick Stamoulis
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A great content marketing strategy needs to attack from all angles. The more pieces of content you can create and push across various platforms the more successful you’ll be. Don’t just limit your content marketing strategy to a blog posts and static articles. Get creative! Incorporate videos, infographics, podcasts, webinars, slideshows and more to make your content that much more engaging. But there is one more piece of content you should also think about incorporating: user generated content (UGC).
You’re practically swimming in user generated content and you probably don’t even realize it. Every blog comment, product review, customer e-mail and social networking “shout out” is a piece of UGC that you can leverage for your SEO. Other forms of UGC include: forums and discussion boards, Wikis, video and photo sharing sites, and blogs.
So how can you use user generated content to your advantage?
Independent product reviews are great for e-commerce sites! By allowing customers to rate and review your products, you are letting them become third party endorsements for your brand. Think about the last time you were looking to buy something off Amazon. You probably scrolled down to read the user review/ratings section, right? Didn’t it make you feel more confident in your purchasing decision to see that 748 users had written positive reviews of the product?
By creating a community forum on your site, you are encouraging your customers to connect, not only with you, but with each other as well. This is a great way to help your customer service team out as well. If one of your customers has a question/issue, your network of existing customers can help you answer them. An open forum is also a great way to keep your ear to the ground and learn about your online reputation. If you’re getting blasted in your own forum, imagine what people are saying across the web.
Customer e-mails are a great source of content ideas. If someone has a question, answer them with a video and share it online (a la Matt Cutts and Google). If one of your customers found a new use for your product, write a blog post sharing their story. E-mails are a great place to pull quotes and testimonials as well.
If someone shows your brand some love on a social networking site, take the time to thank them and then share it to your network (reTweeting a positive Tweet for example). It helps you create a stronger connection with that customer, while simultaneously branding and promoting your company across various social media sites.
A great way to get UGC is to hold a content, where they entry is a piece of content. For example, if your company sells camping supplies, create a contest where one winner will get a trip to go camping in Yellowstone National Park. To enter the content, they have to create a “How to Survive in the woods with a…” video, using a product not commonly seen in a camping site. The most creative product and video wins! Many companies have found that contests are a great way to build buzz and get customers involved.
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