How to Enhance Your Social Media with User-Generated Content (UGC)
User-generated content can transform social media strategy from broadcast to conversation, but knowing which types to use and when requires a structured approach. This article draws on expert insights to outline twenty-two practical methods for capturing, curating, and deploying authentic customer voices across platforms. Each tactic is designed to build credibility, accelerate purchase decisions, and turn audiences into active participants.
Convert Feedback into Relatable Posts
We leverage non-carousel UGC by turning customer testimonials into single-image posts, story screenshots, and pinned comment highlights that feel native and effortless. Written feedback is reformatted into clean quote graphics or overlaid on lifestyle photos that reflect everyday pain-relief moments. We also use long-form captions to tell a customer's pain journey in their own words, which drives saves and comments from people with similar issues.
One example was a static post featuring a customer's note about reduced shoulder pain after desk work, which generated high comment engagement and profile visits. This approach keeps the focus on credibility and relatability without relying on multi-frame formats.
Channel Documentary Ripples into Community Voices
The caregivers in my documentary outperformed my entire marketing department without knowing we were running a campaign.
I produce "People Worth Caring About," a docu-series following nursing home caregivers across the US. It's streaming on Apple TV, Hulu, and Amazon and 7+ million views on TikTok.
This is the content engine that works without burning my team out.
Here's what broke my brain. We published a clip from our New Mexico season about a caregiver in a facility where 50% of residents are Navajo. Within 72 hours, hundreds of comments from real people adding their own stories with nursing facilities. The caregivers we featured shared the clip with their contacts. More importantly, they tagged facilities and coworkers. That's how healthcare associations CEOs started chiming in on LinkedIn. And then the reviews on IMDB came.
This was when I realized that the documentary isn't the end product. The real product is the impact and influence in the nursing home space. The conversation and social ripples it creates.
These steps sound convoluted, I get it.
Think it like this: we are already repurposing the documentary across social media, but we missed capturing the conversation threads. Those are our UGC. The association CEOs I interview become sales collateral when they post testimonials. IMDB reviews validate credibility. My podcast appearances become prompts for new content. We tag everyone who appears, and most people share with their audience.
The algorithm favors real stories over scripted videos. Some of our clips got millions of views, with one breaking the 7 million record. And 61% of our viewers are men in their 30s. This made my jaw drop all the way to the floor.
UGC can't work if scripted, so we created the conditions where people would be proud to share the work. It validates caregivers' work and shows how incredible they are.
I didn't ask them to become content creators, I just gave them the means to speak up.
Showcase Practitioners to Drive Conversation
Our social strategy focuses on sharing the authentic professional voices instead of polished marketing content. We regularly feature submissions from instructional designers, learning specialists and professionals who share their implementation experiences. This approach fosters meaningful conversations that traditional promotional content cannot achieve.
A great example of this was our hashtag campaign, where we invited educators to share their biggest breakthroughs in remote learning. Hundreds of professionals contributed practical solutions with honesty. The resulting thread became our most engaged content of the year, offering real value to our community. This participant-driven approach has turned our social channels into collaborative spaces where professionals can connect and engage with one another.
Leverage Client Videos to Speed Decisions
Hello Marketer Magazine Team,
You know, we actively use user-generated content in our social media strategy, especially for law firms. One example that really stands out is with KJT Law Group, a personal injury firm we partner with out in LA. After they won a case, we just asked the client to share a bit of their experience on video. Nothing fancy, nothing scripted, just a quick, honest conversation about what happened and how the firm helped them.
We dropped those videos straight onto Facebook and Instagram, no fluff. Then we pushed them out with targeted video view campaigns in their local market. When someone watched most of a video, we'd follow up with more content that made sense for their situation. In my opinion, that kind of raw, real content pulls way more engagement than any polished ad ever could.
And the bonus is, those videos live across their whole digital presence. It helps with SEO, makes them look great inside platforms like ChatGPT, and builds serious trust with potential clients before they ever pick up the phone. We've seen it help people make decisions faster and come in way more ready to hire.
Sasha Berson
Co-Founder and Chief Growth Executive at Grow Law
501 E Las Olas Blvd, Suite 300, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
About expert: https://growlaw.co/sasha-berson
Website: https://growlaw.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksanderberson
Headshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OqLe3z_NEwnUVViCaSozIOGGHdZUVbnq/view?usp=sharing
Treat Fan Stories as Earned Evidence
At Purple Patch, we don't treat user-generated content as something to "slot into" a content calendar. We treat it as evidence. Evidence of what fans actually care about, how they speak, and where emotion shows up without prompting.
In sport, the most convincing stories rarely come from brands. They come from people who are already invested. Our job is to notice those moments and give them a bigger stage without flattening them into marketing assets.
Practically, that means we don't start by asking for UGC. We start by listening. We track what supporters are already posting around matches, rivalries, officiating calls, travel days, and losses. When we see repetition, not volume but emotional consistency, that's our cue.
One example came from a regional football rivalry we were working on. During a tense run of fixtures, fans were posting short clips reacting to referee decisions. Some angry, some funny, some oddly thoughtful. Instead of reposting the loudest takes, we paused and reframed the moment.
We invited supporters to send short videos answering a single question: "What does this rivalry mean to you?" No filters. No format rules. Just their voice. We collected responses over a week and edited them into a series we called "Fan Truth." Each clip ran alongside match content, credited clearly, and left largely untouched.
What surprised us was how people engaged with it. Watch time was higher than our branded posts. Comments were longer and more reflective. Fans responded to each other, not just to us. Sponsors noticed too, because the sentiment felt earned, not staged.
The key for us is restraint. We don't over-brand UGC. We don't rewrite captions to sound like a press release. And we always ask permission and credit properly. That respect shows up in how willing people are to contribute again.
Used this way, UGC isn't filler. It's a feedback loop. It helps us understand the audience better, and it helps the audience see themselves reflected accurately. That's far more valuable than chasing reach for its own sake.
Highlight Backstage Prep to Win Inquiries
We don't ask speakers to promote themselves—we ask them to pull back the curtain.
The content that performs best for us isn't polished keynote clips. It's speakers showing their prep process. Setting up in a green room. Testing the mic. Scribbling last-minute notes on their outline.
One of our speakers, Jesse Itzler, posted a photo from his hotel room at 5am captioning it "gameday prep." We reposted it. Got 3x our normal engagement and two direct inquiries from event planners who said "that's the energy we want."
The insight: people don't hire speakers because they're perfect. They hire them because they're real, committed, and bring genuine energy. UGC that shows the human side converts better than any highlight reel.
Our move now: we prompt speakers to share raw moments, then we amplify them. Authenticity scales when you stop manufacturing it.
Launch Hashtags and Contests for Participation
The UGC has transformed the landscape of social media marketing, allowing brands to tap into authentic consumer experiences. One of the potent ways to use UGC is through branded hashtags when posting about purchases, brands can create an engaged online community. I once collaborated with a brand which launched a contest inviting customers to share unboxing of their order with a hashtag. This effort resulted in a 40% increase in engagement and increase in conversions. Authentic testimonials and real experiences and increase conversions. Authentic testimonials and real experiences resonate much more which effectively polished advertisements. The UGC not only ensure trust but turns customers into loyal advocates, enriching the brand narrative in an organic manner. Including UGC is not just beneficial but essential for brands aiming to grow in competitive market.
Build Community-As-Content for Sales Lift
I've moved from simply reposting user content to a full "Community-as-Content" strategy, using UGC as a primary trust engine to cut through ad fatigue and AI-generated noise. I integrate UGC directly into shoppable social storefronts, turning tagged posts into videos where others can buy products instantly. I also whitelist high-performing customer content to run ads from the creator's account, keeping promotions authentic and spontaneous. Knowing that consumers now search TikTok and YouTube for reviews, I brief users and micro-influencers to answer high-intent questions, boosting my visibility in search results. I involve employees to share behind-the-scenes content, humanizing the brand. A campaign I ran, the "Digital Wellness Challenge," encouraged users to post unfiltered clips of screen-free activities, with incentives like wellness retreats and featured content. The result was thousands of authentic assets and a 161% higher conversion rate compared to studio-produced ads, proving the power of real, community-driven content.
Turn LinkedIn Threads into Strategy Fuel
We leveraged user-generated content by treating audience interactions, especially comments and discussions on LinkedIn, as valuable content inputs rather than just engagement metrics.
We launched a region-specific SEO campaign focused on blogs. During campaign planning, I suggested repurposing the same content for LinkedIn by tailoring the messaging to match the platform's audience and behavior. The goal was twofold: drive traffic to the website and generate leads directly from LinkedIn.
After publishing the LinkedIn post, we generated a qualified lead from the target region within the first 48 hours, which validated the approach.
From there, every new blog was syndicated on LinkedIn with platform-specific wording. As engagement grew, especially in the form of comments, we treated those conversations as user-generated content. The questions, objections, and insights shared by users helped us refine messaging and directly informed our SEO and content teams when planning future articles, creating a continuous feedback loop between social media, UGC, and content strategy.
Reshare Guest Reels to Fill Tables
We leverage user-generated content by turning real customer moments into our most credible creative.
For restaurants, we focus on reposting high quality customer videos and photos organically because it feels authentic and non-commercial. We ask for permission, tag the creator, and then build a simple cadence around it, usually a couple of UGC reposts per week mixed with the brand's own content. We also save the best UGC into themed Highlight folders (food, ambience, cocktails, reviews) and reuse it in Stories when we need quick, engaging updates.
A specific example: we noticed guests were consistently posting short "first bite" Reels of a signature dish. We started resharing the best clips, added a simple on-screen hook like "This is what everyone orders," and paired it with the restaurant's reservation link. Over a four-week period, that UGC series became our top-performing organic format, drove a noticeable increase in profile visits, and led to more DMs asking about the dish and weekend availability.
Amplify Port Updates to Signal Competence
At BASSAM, we use user-generated content to show real operational credibility rather than marketing claims. Shipping is a trust-led industry, so seeing actual cargo movements, port handling, and client interactions makes a difference.
One example is how we leverage content shared by port partners and vessel crews during project shipments. When a client or port authority posts photos or short videos of a vessel berthing, heavy cargo discharge, or agency coordination, we request permission to reshare it on LinkedIn with context about the operation.
For instance, during a recent bulk vessel call in a Saudi port, the terminal shared images of the smooth turnaround and coordination on their page. We reshared the post, tagged the terminal, and added a short operational insight about how early documentation clearance helped avoid delays. That post performed significantly better than standard branded updates and led to direct inquiries from companies looking for local agency support.
UGC works for us because it reflects reality. It highlights teamwork, compliance, and execution, which are exactly what decision-makers in shipping care about.
Use User Examples to Remove Doubt
I treat UGC as proof, not decoration. It's there to reduce doubt at key points, not just keep the feed busy.
First, I work out where trust breaks in the buying journey. Things like: "Will this work for my exact use case?", "Is support responsive?", "Is setup hard?" Once I know those friction points, I look for UGC that answers them directly: short testimonials, screenshots, quick Looms, unboxing videos, before/after photos, even email replies (with permission).
On social, I use UGC in three ways: to lead, to support, and to close. To lead, I make the customer's words or video the "hero" and add a short caption for context. To support, I'll post something educational, then follow it with UGC that shows that idea working in the wild. To close, around launches or offers, I group UGC in carousels and stories so people see many proof points at once.
One example: a small SaaS tool I advised had good traffic but trial users weren't sure it'd fit their workflow. We asked happy users for 30-60 second screen recordings showing how they used the product, plus one sentence on the outcome. We then edited those into short social clips, each aimed at a clear segment (for example, agency owners, freelancers, in-house marketers).
Social metrics like likes didn't change much, but the trials that came from those posts turned into paid accounts at a higher rate. Sales calls also got shorter, because prospects had already seen "someone like them" using the product in a real setup. In practice, I've found UGC does more for conversion rate and lead quality than for reach, because it answers doubts in a voice people believe more than the brand.
Craft UGC into a Lesson Arc
Most agencies reshare testimonials or screenshots. We go a step deeper by framing UGC around the problem-process-outcome story. When clients share feedback, a behind-the-scenes clip, or even a casual LinkedIn post about working with us, we ask permission to turn that into a short narrative. The goal is to show how thinking, collaboration, and execution actually happen, not just that "results were good."
One specific example was when a founder shared a LinkedIn post about how their website finally started converting after months of struggle. Instead of simply reposting it, we broke it into a mini content series: one post focused on the initial challenge in their own words, another on the changes we made, and a final one on the outcome. Each piece stayed true to their voice, while we added light structure and visuals.
This approach works because it keeps authenticity intact while making the content useful for others. UGC becomes educational and relatable, not promotional, which consistently drives higher engagement and trust across our social channels.
Show Customer Makeovers to Trigger Demand
We use UGC as proof, not filler. When a customer posts their custom hats or patches, we turn it into a simple before and after story, their design goal, the finished piece, then a quick CTA to get a quote, and it consistently drives more DMs and form starts than polished studio shots. One example is a small construction company that posted a team photo in our embroidered hats, we reshared it with a short caption and it sparked a mini wave of similar requests from other crews who wanted that same look.
Feature Field Notes to Earn Belief
The content created by the users is most effective when it is a piece of actual work rather than a piece of praise that is polished. The easiest way to do it is to ask customers or partners to tell us how they really use the product or service in the field and then exaggerating such moments with light framing rather than editing them hard. In the healthcare-related areas, such as AS Medication Solutions-supported ones, that frequently translates into posting briefs by pharmacy departments on workflow enhancers, setup, or post-implementation small wins. An example was reposting a message by a customer saying that it was possible to cut down on delays associated with fulfillment following a modification in the process. The caption also included only one line about what and why this change was important, but did not restate their voice. It becomes more engaged than branded posts as peers were aware of the situation at the same time. The material was believable since it was not salesy. It showed progress. UGC is successful when brands do not take the temptation of making it perfect. Allowing natural language, flaws, and details to be kept creates confidence and prefiguration of trust. The audiences react since they relate to the story instead of feeling sold to.
Bake Capture into Service for Consistency
The most effective UGC strategy: build content capture directly into your service delivery process. Don't ask customers to create content—create it yourself during the work, then ask permission to share.
Specific example: One cleaning client has their supervisors shoot 30-second walkthrough videos after every job (lobby transformations, sanitized spaces). That content gets repurposed across Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Business Profile, and the website. Result: 312% increase in Google engagement and 40% higher website conversions because prospects see real proof, not stock photos.
The key is making it systematic—not an afterthought. When it's part of the workflow, you get consistent, high-quality content that answers the only question local service buyers care about: "Can you actually deliver?"
Share Patient Wins with Careful Restraint
The type of user generated content that is appropriate at Davila Clinic is real-life experiences rather than campaign content. The clinic promotes small win-shares by patients such as a pain-free walk or better laboratory outcomes following a change in medication, provided that they are comfortable and clear on consent. A patient who shared a brief Instagram story in which he said that he had finally understood his treatment plan was one of the examples that made an impression on me as he had been confused elsewhere. The clinic requested the opportunity to repost it, left the caption to the point, and did not include marketing words. That post had gone on to promote more direct messages than a month of planned content since it seemed human and relatable. UGC is considered as fuel of conversation as opposed to promotion. Responses to comments are responded to wisely, and analogous inquires are transformed into subsequent posts or brief videos by clinicians. That loop is the one that creates trust and it does not attempt to sell. The greatest lesson has been moderation. Allowing patients to use their own language is more effective than any kind of pre-recorded message, particularly in the medical field where the trustworthiness of the message is achieved through lived experience, rather than catchphrases.
Surface Peer Proof to Elevate Credibility
How do you leverage user-generated content (UGC) in your social media marketing?
For me, user-generated content is a credibility engine not just a content engine. It's less about volume, and more about signal quality—actual content that mirrors existing use-cases, the real language of the industry and real-vs-hype results that an audience already knows to be true. UGC is most effective when it lowers perceived risk and answers unasked questions that brand content simply cannot.
Can you share a specific example?
At Branch, we deliberately surfaced customer posts that showed them addressing a specific growth or measurement challenge through their own words and screenshots though they were not perfect. Those posts always killed it compared to brand-authored updates because they felt like teaching, not selling, and they were written the way that peers actually speak to one another. The trick was in curating and contextualizing UGC so that it fit into a larger story about how modern teams learn from one another.
Invite and Curate to Empower Creators
Digital Silk views UGC as proof of trustworthiness like a referral from a friend. We start by inviting users to participate through prompts, hashtags, and a reason to create content. After we invite users, we will then curate the best posts, reach out to ask for permission to use the content, and create a visual presence for creators across Reels, Stories, and paid social media platforms. A great example is when we worked with an ecommerce pet wellness company to run a two-week challenge asking customers to share their daily use of the product. We then reposted the best videos on Instagram, turned some of the videos into ads with captions from the creators, and built a highlight reel on Instagram. As a result, engagement increased, and the ads had a higher click-through rate than our studio-created content, based on the real-life results that people saw from using the product daily. Every post received a response from us.
Advance Engineer Case Studies for Authority
User-generated content looks fundamentally different than consumer UGC - it's less about social sharing and more about CUSTOMER APPLICATION STORIES AND CASE STUDIES. When engineers implement our measurement systems in unique ways or solve interesting technical problems, we work with them to document and share those applications as reference materials for others facing similar challenges.
A specific example is when customers share their implementations at technical conferences or in research papers. We amplify this content through our channels, giving credit to the engineers who developed the applications. This works because B2B technical buyers trust peer engineers infinitely more than vendor marketing. When a university researcher or automotive engineer shares how they solved a measurement challenge using our systems, that carries more weight than any product marketing we could create.
The approach that works is MAKING IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO SHARE their technical achievements while ensuring they get proper recognition. We don't ask for testimonials - we offer to help document and publish their interesting applications, which benefits them through visibility in their professional community while providing us with authentic, credible content. In B2B technical markets, the best UGC isn't viral social content but detailed technical case studies that demonstrate real-world problem-solving.
Transform Event Moments into Next-Year Momentum
Event marketing should include a social media component not only for upcoming events, but planning for future events using content from current events. Social pictures, video or callouts can be valuable word-of-mouth tools from one year to the next. Depending on your familiarity with your user base, it's even an opportunity to tag individuals who contributed the content, who are then more likely to share with their own networks.
Social media videos taken at HARDI's large annual conference are good for generating in-the-moment buzz, but then it also gives us a repository of clips and talking points to adapt into marketing efforts for the following year's conference. A large portion of our marketing calendar revolves around promotion of the event, and if it was all company-created content, it would risk going stale. Having a variety of materials to share on social media enhances our ability to generate the type of buzz that has driven year-over-year increases in attendance, including for our largest-ever annual conference in Dec. 2025.
Present Transformations that Answer Buyer Questions
We've found that UGC performs exceptionally well when it solves real customer problems rather than just showcasing products. For a home services client, we created a campaign encouraging customers to share before and after renovation photos with specific hashtags. The key was making it easy: we provided photo guidelines and offered small incentives like discounts on future services. These authentic transformations generated 340% more engagement than our polished brand content because they showed genuine results. The secret is treating UGC as social proof, not free advertising. Always respond to every submission and feature the best content prominently across all channels.
