The Best User-generated Content Campaigns on Instagram

You can increase recognition and build trust quickly with user-generated content (UGC) on Instagram. This refers to content that your fans and followers create about your products or company. Unlike ads, you don’t pay for the content, so you don’t have to worry about a lack of authenticity turning people off your brand. Instead, UGC builds solid trust signals and can help you sell products.

Starting your first user-generated content campaign can be a bit overwhelming. You likely aren’t sure how to go about it and might feel stuck. Fortunately, you can review the best UGC campaigns on Instagram to get ideas for how to use this marketing tool to your advantage.
 

Iz&Co

Jewelry brand Iz&Co is one of the best companies when it comes to user-generated content. The brand creates custom engagement and wedding rings for customers and invites them to submit photographs. These photographs include proposals and wedding ceremonies that highlight the products. Then, the brand uploads them to Instagram, tagging the customers. 

This is a fun way to showcase products. Instead of just showing off engagement rings and wedding bands, this UGC campaign makes potential customers picture the entire experience. They can actually see themselves popping the question or walking down the aisle after viewing the photos on Instagram. That compels people to reach out to the company, so they can also have special, magical moments with their significant other. 

Iz&Co also does an excellent job on the legal side of things. You should never post user-generated content without the creator’s permission. Iz&Co outlines how it requests and receives these submissions and details the creator’s rights. If you share your photos with Iz&Co, you won’t have any questions about how the images will be used and what rights you still have.  

You should keep these points in mind when creating your user-generated content campaign. 
 

Starbucks

You’ve probably come across Starbucks’ viral #RedCupContest around the holidays. Each season, Starbucks invites customers to use the branded hashtag when sharing photos of its seasonal red cups. Tens of thousands of customers comply each year, dotting Instagram with decorative coffee cups. The enthusiasm is caused, in part, due to the chance to win a Starbucks gift card by entering.

Adding a free product or gift card to your UGC campaign can help you get tons of entries as well. Think about what you can give people in exchange for uploading content to the site. 
 

National Geographic

National Geographic also scores high marks when it comes to user-generated content on Instagram. The brand created the #WanderLustContest user-generated content campaign for its fans and followers. Content creators entered the contest by uploading pictures of experiences, people, and places they encountered while traveling. Then, they included #wanderlustcontest to the photos for a chance to win a seven-day trip to Yosemite National Park, where they would embark on a photo expedition. 

As you can imagine, the brand received lots of user-generated content when running this contest. Also, the photographs were beautiful since the contest was geared toward amateur, experienced, and professional photographers.   
 

Hootsuite

Most user-generated campaigns are used to help brands attract customers. However, Hootsuite does things a bit differently. The social media management software brand uses the hashtag #HootsuiteLife for one of its UGC campaigns. Employees use the hashtag when uploading photos that show what life is like working for Hootsuite.

This has proven to be an amazing recruiting tool. People who might be on the fence about working for the brand can flip through pages of photos of employees living the best lives possible. It’s easy to attract top talent when you have a user-generated campaign like this. If your recruitment needs a boost, consider getting your employees in on the fun with a UGC campaign.
 

Summer Fridays

Skincare brand Summer Fridays turned a product launch into one of the most successful user-generated content campaigns around. The brand partnered with beauty influencers to post about its CC Me Serum. The influencers created compelling content and tagged Summer Fridays. This built a lot of buzz and excitement around the CC Me Serum, so it flew off the virtual shelves when it was finally available. 

This campaign is a good reminder that influencers are an excellent resource for user-generated content. You don’t have to wait for a contest to take off or people to post about your brand. Instead, you can partner with influencers to create content for your page. While this is always beneficial, it’s really powerful when you are about to launch a new product.

With the right campaign, you can get people excited about your product before it launches. Consider having a pre-order option, so people can place an order before the product launches. Then, you can begin making sales during the UGC campaign. 
 

Adobe

You know that Adobe’s lineup of software products is powerful. However, it can be hard to visualize how much these products can do until you use them. Actually, that’s no longer the case, thanks to Adobe’s user-generated campaign on Instagram. Using the hashtag #Adobe_Persective, users upload images of them using the software. When you look through the images, you’ll realize just how much this software can do. In addition, it will get you excited about buying and using Adobe products.

This is an example of how you can use user-generated content to promote the benefits of your products instead of the features. Your customer base might not be interested in industry jargon about your product. Instead, they want to see what your product can do. Consider running a UGC campaign that invites users to showcase your product’s benefits. 
 

Creating Your UGC Campaign

Now you have some ideas for creating a user-generated content campaign. Turn those ideas into a powerful campaign to increase trust and visibility. 

If your UGC content campaign doesn’t take off immediately, don’t worry. Instead, buy Instagram likes to increase engagement. Sometimes, that’s all you need to give your campaign a boost. After you buy likes, your campaign will get more exposure and attract even more engagement.