There was a time when the Mad Men ruled. They created an advertising campaign, sent it out through television, radio and newspaper and waited for the praise and admiration to roll in.
That was, in theory, the way things worked for a long time. Advertising used to be uber creative because it had to be; there was no direct marketing. Ads primarily went out through mass media such as television and radio and because of this the creatives needed to resonate with the largest number of people as possible. A single commercial run during a primetime slot would be seen by men and women of all ages, income levels, locations etc. There was some ability to target but overall it was a blanket style campaign.
Today, things have changed. Advertising is now digital, highly targeted and increasingly managed by computers that run complex algorithms to determine the best day, hour, minute second, location, medium, phrase, image etc. to hit that consumer at just the right point to encourage an action (usually a purchase or signup).
The Baby Boomers Love Targeted Ads
Our fully automated digital marketing strategy works incredibly well on the Boomer generation. How many times have you heard your parents say something along the lines of, “That’s funny! I was just thinking about buying new patio furniture and now I am seeing all kinds of great ads for patio furniture!”. Um, yeah, so Google has been following you mom. It knows what you are shopping for!
These ads also work incredibly well on generation X who have an idea of what is going on but value the convenience of seeing targeted advertising even if it is void of all creativity.
However, unlike the Baby Boomers and Generation X these highly targeted ads are becoming increasingly less effective on Millennials and Generation Z. They are simply noise.
Millennials Set the Stage for User Generated Content
Millennials are the first generation to catch on to how digital ads are created and presented. To Millennials the ads are becoming sterile, programmed and inauthentic. As such, Millennials led the charge in the early 2000’s to begin creating User Generated Content. This is the content that you see on social media and peer-to-peer review sites. The best examples of peer-to-peer review websites that sprung up all over the web in the 2000’s are TripAdvisor, Angie’s List, Airbnb and even Uber. These sites are largely made up of user generated content in the form of reviews, photos and star ratings. This was the first stage.
Generation Z Now Owns User Generated Content
The second stage was led by Generation Z. They took to platforms like SnapChat and TikTok in greater force than Millennials took to Facebook and began pumping out their own content at staggering volumes. Their videos are largely made public with the intention of influencing their peers on a global scale. This content influences where they shop, what they buy, what products they support, what brands they identify with and everything in between. Generation Z uses their online content to speak to and influence one another.
User generated content is quickly becoming the new form of advertising.
User Generated Content is a Form of Decentralized Advertising
Let me be super clear, the days of traditional advertising are all but over. Commercials, billboards, sponsorships, coupons (I hate coupons!), etc. To Generation Z this is all just white noise that is easily blocked out.
The new form of decentralized advertising (UGC) takes shape when your faithful customers speak out, loud and proud about your products and/or service. When they speak up about your brand on TikTok, YouTube, blogs, Instagram etc. their friends listen. Then those friends add their own content and share with other friends and other friends… you know how the story goes from there.
At this point you might be thinking that this sounds a lot like influencer marketing. Nope. Influencers are professional social media personalities who get paid to endorse products. They are neither authentic nor classified as user generated content. They are even required in many countries to clearly state when they are being paid to talk about a product, service and/or brand.
So, this must be referral marketing, right? Wrong again.
Referral marketing is when one friend tells another to try your product or service. The problem with referral marketing is that it is a daisy chain that can easily be broken. Once one friend stops telling other friends the chain breaks and basically ends right there and then.
User generated content lives on the web and like a snowball it grows as each new member joins and contributes their content to it. UGC is a living and breathing organism that, once large enough, begins to take on a life of its own. It comprises everything from user reviews, blog articles, social media images and videos, and everything in between. UGC is a wild beast. It cannot be purchased, and it certainly cannot be controlled.
However, it can be nudged.
How Your Brand Can Nudge User Generated Content
Here is the secret to nudging user generated content to benefit your brand. The concept is crazy simple, but way too many companies fail in execution. Ready?
Be or become a kickass brand!
It is as simple as that.
Bend over backwards for your customers. Make them feel valued, cared for, understood, respected and appreciated. Provide the very best products and services that you can imagine and make sure that if anything goes wrong, take ownership and do your very best to make it right. When you treat customers as truly valued human beings, they will want to share that experience with the world. They will post review videos on their social, they will write blogs about you, they will shower you with creative ideas for how they use your products and services, in essence, they will become your advertising.
Again, they will become your advertising. I need you to understand this concept because with or without you the change is occurring.
And please don’t underestimate your customers, especially Generation Z. They are incredibly creative and willing to share that creative spirit with everyone who will listen, and believe me, millions are listening. Their content is about sharing the true value of products, services, brands and companies. They don’t want ads, they don’t respond to commercials, what they want is transparency and what better way than to ask for and provide this for one another.
User Generated Content Is Already Here. Can You See it?
So, what is the moral here? Well, the world is changing, big surprise. But the pace at which modern customers are looking to each other to discover new products and services is growing at an accelerated rate.
User generated content is happening all around you and as soon as you take the time to recognize it, you will see exactly how the world sees you and your company. You can no longer push ads at people, not matter how creative, ads are no longer enough to influence potential customers to become future customers. The only way an ad will work is if it is supported by the growing mass and sentiment of user generated content.
Think about this before you create your next ad campaign. Does it reflect the overarching sentiment from your consumers? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then take some time to figure it out.
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Article Written by:
Dean Horsfield
Founder of Little Bear in the Forest | Digital Marketing Agency
Connect With Dean on LinkedIn 
