How can brands acquire UGC and ensure it has the same impact as influencer content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nTo shed some light on these topics, let\u2019s take a closer look at influencer and UGC content performance in paid social, starting with some key definitions.<\/p>\n
Influencer Content:<\/strong> Social media posts\/reels\/stories produced by an influencer and posted to the influencer’s channels. This content can then be boosted by the brand in the paid social campaigns.<\/p>\nUGC, or user-generated content:<\/strong> The same style of content as influencers, but the creator does not post it to their account and instead delivers it to the brand. The brand posts the content from its accounts or uses it in ads.<\/p>\nInfluencers are defined into tiers by follower count:<\/p>\n
\n- Nano: 1,000 to 10,000 followers<\/li>\n
- Micro: 10,001 to 100,000 followers<\/li>\n
- Mid-Tier: 100,001 to 500,000 followers<\/li>\n
- Macro: 500,001 to 1,000,000 followers<\/li>\n
- Mega: 1,000,001+ followers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Determining the right content to boost<\/h2>\n
With varying performance in boosted content and additional costs associated with acquiring the content, marketers naturally wonder if there is a foolproof approach to the selection process. However, as it usually is with marketing, the right approach is to test and learn.<\/p>\n
The success of influencer creative for wider audiences (in other words, in ad campaigns) does not correlate with the size of the influencer’s own audience. Boosting Mega-tier influencer content is not a guarantee of success, and smaller influencers available for whitelisting at lower budgets can perform well in paid social campaigns. In whitelisting, the \u201cfit\u201d between the influencer, their content, and the brand is hugely important and can have a significant impact on awareness, consideration, and sales across wider audiences.<\/p>\n
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A few recommendations on picking well-suited influencers for paid campaigns:<\/p>\n
\n- Determine the available budget for influencer engagement and the following paid campaign. Make sure the paid campaign budget is sufficient for your goals.<\/li>\n
- Choose influencers based on their content and follower audience; the more relevant to the brand\/product\/audience the content is, the more authentic it will feel.<\/li>\n
- Review recent partnerships and endorsements to avoid competitor overlap.<\/li>\n
- Evaluate how much the creator’s values, style, and tone of voice align with your brand positioning.<\/li>\n
- Consider A\/B testing different influencers or boosted content against your own brand ads to get a better measurement of success.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Can the same creator content be used across all social platforms?<\/h2>\n
When it comes to brand ads, it is standard practice to develop creative specifically for the platform where it is going to run. This ensures that formats, designs, and CTAs are optimized for the environment in which they will be seen. In general, advertisers don\u2019t need to worry about the technical side of things since the creators themselves will post their content to the platform. Even if they are posting the content to multiple social platforms, it will necessarily adhere to the requirements of each.<\/p>\n
If the influencer maintains a presence on multiple social platforms, should you whitelist all of their content? Or is it better to work with unique sets of influencers on a platform-by-platform basis? There is no single perfect recipe for this. We have seen campaigns where an influencer\u2019s content is the top performer on one platform but underperforms on another.<\/p>\n
Remember, too, that an audience\u2019s preferences and behavior can vary by platform. While they engage with content on one social network, the same content might be less appealing on another.<\/p>\n
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The solution is testing and learning. Expanding the range of platforms for which the content is whitelisted from your top influencers is a way to start. However, identical performance should not be expected, and you should have more options in the testing pipeline whenever possible.<\/p>\n
Embrace the TikTok revolution<\/h2>\n
TikTok transformed the influencer world by changing not only the type of content that gains popularity but the means of that content gaining popularity. Follower counts have become less important in gaining exposure to audiences and a new wave of influencers has emerged.<\/p>\n
In this new environment, brands can still go the traditional route of influencer partnership and content boosting, or they can capitalize on the \u201ceveryone can be an influencer\u201d mentality and acquire quality UGC at a lower cost. At this point, TikTok\u2019s creative solutions\u2014TTCC<\/strong> and TTCX<\/strong>\u2014enter the chat.<\/p>\nTikTok Creative Challenge (TTCC)<\/h3>\n\n- Allows brands to tap into a wider network of TikTok creators by posting a challenge (detailed brief) and getting submissions from various creators.<\/li>\n
- TTCC program now offers two tiers: self-serve and premium.\n
\n- The self-serve tier<\/strong> has the lowest budget requirements, but also limits the advertiser in the number of assets they can receive and uses automated creator matching based on defined parameters (i.e. advertisers cannot pick talent). Creative must be used in paid campaigns within 7 days of receiving it.<\/li>\n
- The premium tier<\/strong> has a significantly higher spend commitment but offers support from TikTok reps in the creator selection process and flexibility on the campaign timeline. This tier does not require the use of every creative received and gives 30 days to run the selected submissions. Creators will be suggested by TikTok experts based on the initial brief and kick-off call, and advertisers can review the creators shortlisted. Multiple versions can be requested from the same creators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n \n
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