Do you know how to repurpose your brand's user-generated content? Learn the best practices for repurposing UGC and how to maximize its marketing impact.
Pop quiz: have you been repurposing your brand’s user-generated content?
From higher conversion rates to building trust with customers, the benefits of UGC campaigns are clear. Authentic customer photos and videos are among your most impactful marketing content.
The problem? Despite its potential power, many brands fail to get much mileage out of their UGC.
Rather than treat your customer content as “one and done,” consider how you can reuse and repurpose UGC to engage your audience and bring in new business long-term.
Don’t know where to start? Below is our step-by-step breakdown of tips, examples and best practices for repurposing UGC across social media.
Skip to a Section:Why You Should Start Repurposing User-Generated Content |
Chances are you’re already swamped with content and campaign ideas. We totally get it!
But brands with even a modest amount of UGC on hand should make repurposing a priority.
Why, though? Here are some quick benefits to consider:
Let’s say you’re interested in repurposing UGC. Nice!
But before you start posting, it’s important to understand a few best practices. The tips below will help you stay organized and ensure that your content gets the reach it deserves.
First thing’s first: you need to do a bit of housekeeping to avoid photo copyright infringement and other legal issues.
Just because someone tags you in a photo doesn’t mean that it’s fair game for promotion. Although rules and regulations around user-generated content promotions vary from platform to platform, here are some quick guidelines:
For example, check out how oVertone asks for permission to republish UGC via Instagram comments.
Source: @overtonecolor
Note: if you want a crash course on the legalese of repurposing influencer marketing content, we literally wrote the book on it!
If your brand gets consistent social engagement via product tagging and #hashtag campaigns, congrats! You’ve earned the right to be picky when it comes to repurposing UGC.
Because you shouldn’t promote any and every piece of content that comes your way. Ideally, you should prioritize high-quality UGC that…
For example, Youth to the People republishes UGC of all shapes and sizes. From product close-ups to lifestyle shots and selfies, their feed features a bit of everything.
The brand repurposes content from influencers and creators with follower counts anywhere between 100 and 100,000+. Note how their engagement rate varies from post to post but is still relatively high. Their content works regardless of follower count because their photos reflect their target audience.
Source: @youthtothepeople
The takeaway? Save your “best” UGC for republishing and experiment from there. Don’t feel pressured to promote content that your audience wouldn’t actually engage with organically.
When repurposing UGC, be prepared to make some slight changes and edits prior to publishing.
Just because a piece of content works on Instagram doesn’t mean it’ll work on Pinterest or TikTok. The flip side is also true. Likewise, a massive customer photo likely needs to be cropped for use in a marketing email.
Meanwhile, every social network is different in terms of its “ideal” image sizes and requirements. We’ve also seen instances of platforms discouraging direct cross-posting (like Instagram claiming their algorithm won’t favor cross-posted TikToks on Reels). For starters:
Below is an example of repurposed content between creators on TikTok and a brand on Instagram. Check out how Peach & Lily took a popular piece of UGC and transformed it into a Reel.
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Source(s): @jordyn_wood / @peachandlily
Repurposing content for social media doesn’t have to be an intensive, time-consuming process. Some platforms make it much easier than others. For example, there are multiple ways to download a TikTok video (including without a watermark) that you can republish and repurpose elsewhere.
If you want to integrate UGC into your sales funnel, you need to keep track of it. Organization matters!
Gathering your UGC beyond @mentions and #hashtags is a smart move. That’s because accounts can move and content can easily get lost or deleted over time. Plus, you need to get the “thumbs up” from your creators to ensure you can use their content throughout your marketing campaigns.
There are dedicated platforms out there that can find and aggregate your UGC. But even with these tools, sourcing, saving and gathering permissions yourself can eat up your schedule and feel like its own full-time job.
That’s why we recommend working with a full-service platform (like Statusphere!) to generate relevant, promotion-ready UGC that requires no legwork on your part.
We make it easy to repurpose influencer marketing content by sourcing it all for you. Through our campaign reporting and analytics, you can see which pieces of content are your best for repurposing at a glance.
The beauty of UGC campaigns is that they’re perfect for encouraging awesome customer content in the future.
That’s why we recommend scaling your consumer-generated marketing campaigns versus treating them as “one and done.” To keep your momentum going and ensure that customers keep hyping you up via content, make a point to:
To wrap things up, let’s brainstorm some UGC campaign ideas you can roll out yourself.
Arguably the easiest way to repurpose content for social media, some channels are easier to cross-post on than others. For example, we often see:
Brands like Black Milk do a brilliant job of cross-posting and repurposing UGC. By making slight changes to their posts’ captions and timing, they’re able to get more mileage out of their content.
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Source: @blackmilkclothing
This strategy is a no-brainer for brands looking to repurpose influencer marketing content.
Just remember that each social platform has its own best practices when it comes to captions and hashtags.
For example, hashtags aren't used much on Facebook whereas they're a staple of Instagram. Small tweaks to your captions can make a difference to your audience, proving that you aren't just copying and pasting your content across social media.
UGC represents a prime opportunity to make your social ads not feel like ads at all. In turn, this has a positive impact on conversions and engagement.
Don’t just take our word for it. Breaking down the success of Weekday’s Instagram ad campaign, Instagram themselves noted:
Ads from creators typically outperform regular ads on Facebook and Instagram because they feel more informative, relevant and entertaining.
Check out Weekday’s creator-based Reels ad below. This is an excellent example of how to repurpose content from social media and see a significant ROI from it.
Source: Instagram
Of course, make sure that you have the rights to the UGC you repurpose into ads. Asking for explicit permission from creators is ideal for UGC ads simply for the sake of transparency.
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok also have platform-specific features that allow you to turn creator posts into sponsored content. That said, creating ads out of “owned” UGC gives you greater creative freedom, not to mention flexibility with your budget and how long you run your campaigns.
Just like you can repurpose UGC for ads, the same rules apply to your marketing emails.
Below is an awesome example from Vieve that features a .gif of photos sourced from customers and creators on Instagram.
Source: Milled
Then, the email breaks down which specific Vieve products each person used to achieve their look.
Source: Milled
Smart, right?
This strategy not only grabs the attention of your subscribers in their inboxes but also gets more eyes on your social accounts. That's why email UGC is one of the best ways for brands to repurpose influencer marketing assets.
Product pages are a priority place to showcase your UGC.
Data from PowerReviews notes that 88% of shoppers look for customer photos and videos before making a purchase. That same data notes that UGC on product pages can produce a staggering 91% lift in conversions.
For example, Converse automatically pulls from their tagged Instagram images and populates them on their product pages (alongside images that people upload and get approved manually). This is a low-hanging way to stretch your UGC without really having to do much repurposing at all.
Source: Converse
When it comes to UGC, your brand’s mentality should be “the more, the merrier.”
Don’t be shy about asking for customer photos and videos. In fact, doing so can transform your social strategy.
From hashtag campaigns on TikTok to promoting purchases on Instagram Reels, brands today have so much creative freedom to get people talking. Once they do, you can repurpose that UGC into future posts and ultimately encourage more.
Check out how Zenni’s #JustGotMyZennis tag has earned over 63,000 Instagram posts, many of which end up making appearances on their company’s main IG feed.
Source: Instagram
Gaining this sort of momentum only happens when you’re actually able to scale your word-of-mouth marketing.
Repurposing UGC should be a matter of “when” and not “if” for brands looking to build trust and get more customers talking.
The hardest part? Getting the ball rolling in with those first few pieces of UGC.
Thankfully, Statusphere can help big-time in that department. Not only do we handle the process of finding awesome creators that resemble your target audience but we also make it possible to scale your creator content so much faster than if you were doing it by yourself.
Want to get more creators posting about your brand? Contact us today to speak to a consumer-to-consumer marketing specialist and learn how we can help you get your next UGC campaign off the ground ASAP.
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