How to Collect UGC Videos: Strategies to Connect With Your Audience

User-generated content (UGC) is some of the most valuable marketing content there is. Since it’s made by customers and fans instead of companies, consumers are more likely to trust it. UGC comes in many forms—it can be text, pictures, video, or a combination. Video content tends to get more views, shares, and generally makes the biggest impact. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to collect UGC videos.

How to Collect UGC Videos: Strategies to Connect With Your Audience

To collect UGC videos from your audience, they need to know what you’re looking for and how to participate. To make any of these strategies effective, you need to start with a solid understanding of what you need from your UGC videos. While you want to give your audience space to be creative, you also want UGC videos that serve a purpose.

Consider the following as you create your UGC video campaign:

What purpose do the videos serve? Do you want to showcase your product in action? Show how your business has helped others? Generate buzz for a new product? Something else?
How long should the videos be? Are you looking for a few long videos with detailed accounts, or a lot of shorter videos from many participants? The ideal video length will mostly depend on what you want to use the videos for.
Where and how should users submit videos to you? Can a user simply post a video on social media and tag you? Should they email it to you? Can they submit it to a page of your website?
How do you want to use these videos? Do you want to create a full-length commercial? Do you want to share the videos on your own social platforms?

Once you know what you’re looking for, it will be easier to collect UGC videos you need. You might use any of the strategies below to collect UGC videos, or several of these strategies together.

Branded Hashtag

If you’re collecting videos over social media, a branded hashtag can be highly effective. This allows users to easily submit their videos to you. You can also collect and review videos with great speed. Likely, you’ll need to sort through a few misuses of the hashtag, but this is still an effective way to collect UGC videos.

If you’re using this strategy, keep the following in mind:

Use a unique hashtag that’s unlikely to be confused with unrelated content.
Make it clear that users can submit a video simply by using the hashtag.
Use a platform that’s easy to share video and connect with hashtags, like Instagram.
Short videos will work best for this strategy, as most social platforms limit video lengths.

Submit on Your Website

With a landing page on your site dedicated to collecting UGC videos, you can open up participation to everyone, not just people on a particular social platform. You can also collect videos of varying lengths, and make it clear on the page what type of videos you are looking for. Using a program like Boast, users can submit a pre-recorded video, or record a video right on the page. You can also include a legal statement on the page and show how you might use the video, so you don’t have to check back in with users once they submit a video.

For this strategy, consider the following:

Share your landing page as much as possible, so users know how to submit a video.
You might offer users some type of incentive, such as a gift card or coupon, to increase submissions.
Make your submission instructions clear, and clearly state what you’re using the video for.

Contest

Users may submit UGC videos simply because they enjoy your product, or they’d like their content to be shared. Using a contest to collect UGC videos can help to raise the stakes. There are many prizes you might offer, which might be related to your products or services, or not. You might offer a year’s supply of products, a trip, cash prize, or a special opportunity. With a contest, you can encourage users to submit their videos on your website, on social media, or anywhere that makes sense for you and them.

When using this strategy, consider:

Advertising the contest where your fans are likely to see it, so you can get the word out.
Be sure to make the rules of the contest clear, especially when collecting videos on social media.
You’ll need a fair way to judge the videos you receive, clear criteria for choosing a winner, and a clear way to show how users can win.

Giveaway

A giveaway is similar to a contest, except the winner is decided by chance more than skill or inventiveness. This can help to open the contest to a wider audience, who might think that their amateur videography skills wouldn’t help them win. Running a successful giveaway and collecting UGC videos is similar to running a contest, and you’ll want to keep the previously mentioned tips in mind. You might offer a prize that is directly related to your business, or simply a prize that your fans and customers will enjoy.

Automated Email Request

Email requests can help you connect with your most loyal customers and jumpstart your UGC collection campaign. There are many ways to request participation from your email subscribers, including an automated email request using your email automation program. This will help you save time while also jumpstarting your video collection campaign.

When using automated email requests to collect UGC videos, keep the following in mind:

Keep your email short so readers aren’t overwhelmed. Explain the details of the UGC videos you’re seeking on a landing page instead, and include a link.
Personalized emails using the subscriber’s first name and a few other details can help to encourage opens and interactions.
If you’re offering an incentive or a prize, include that in your email, so subscribers know what they can potentially get out of their participation.

You can use one of these methods to collect UGC videos, or a combination of them. Add your own twist and use your brand voice to make the campaign authentic and fun. Once you’ve collected UGC videos, you’ll be ready to get started on a commercial or marketing campaign showing how much your customers and fans love your business.