How to Harness User-Generated Content for Effective User Acquisition
It’s fair to say that user-generated content (UGC) grabs attention.
Liftoff advertisers saw ~3x more ROI with UGC-style creatives made by Liftoff Influence than non-UGC creatives. Non-gaming advertisers, in particular, using UGC-style video ads increased their conversion rate from impression to install by an average of 152%.
Look no further than episode 58 of GameRefinery’s Mobile Games Playbook for ways to use UGC to enhance your user acquisition strategy. In the episode, host Jon Jordan interviews experts Nicole Danser, Senior Manager of Creative Strategy and Production at Liftoff, and Sydney Bruce, Creative Account Strategy and UGC at Liftoff.
In this blog post, we summarize some of the insights they shared about making the most of UGC-style mobile ads, with insight on every step of the process, from pre-production to finding your audience and testing.
Dedicate ample time for pre-production
The pre-production phase of UGC advertising is almost as important as creating the content, as it will help you understand what will work best for your campaign. It is also an opportunity to collaborate with the advertiser to uncover brand guidelines, asset requests, and the demographics you want to reach for that particular app.
Bruce says pre-production can be especially helpful for understanding user personas, such as gender and age breakdowns, user motivations, and overall app engagement. She recommends using this information in conjunction with general knowledge of user demographics and the success of similar apps and verticals to build a strong sense of the type of audience and creator that will work for the project.
Align your creators on your key messaging
UGC campaigns can be one of the most rewarding ways to aid your user acquisition strategy. Where classic influencer advertising gives you little control past a partnership agreement, UGC can allow for a much more involved campaign.
Danser says UGC can allow advertisers the flexibility to ensure their messaging is being delivered in a way they are happy with. Danser also highlights another benefit of scripting UGC: it allows for the strategic inclusion of elements proven to grab attention and convert ad viewers into long-term players.
Scripting can range from giving an influencer an exact script to memorize (although care should be taken to ensure they still sound authentic) to letting creators improvise under more general guidelines. Danser explains that while authentic content is beneficial in gaining audience trust, there needs to be a balance to avoid potential clickbait that will cause people to delete an app immediately after downloading.
UGC is especially impactful in advertising when trust is important to the app’s success. Danser says that apps—where real money is at stake—can make the most of UGC content by highlighting their ethos and reliability as long as creators know the advertiser’s key messaging. For example, seeing a creator talking to the screen and stating something is legitimate and that they have won money from an app works well.
Find the right creators for your audience
Another essential element of UGC creation is ensuring that people representing or appealing to your target audience create the content. Bruce says that factors like whether a creator falls into the target user demographic can impact whether or not the content will come across as believable and authentic. Bruce adds that the type of content you are looking to create impacts the creators you decide to work with. Some creators are experts in a specific template or format, like on-the-street interviews.
While knowing your audience is critical to creating effective UGC content, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment with creators who may not fit that audience’s usual profile. Even if you think you know the best creator to capture your audience’s attention, you may be surprised at what will engage and retain users. In some situations, creators and engaging, imaginative content can win over people representing the target audience.
Make the most of social media trends
Bruce says watching social media trends can help you understand what content will work well on Meta and TikTok. Depending on the trend, some creators will be considered experts, particularly when specialist equipment is required. For example, access to outdoor microphones is needed for trends like street interviews. This means that chasing emerging trends is an excellent way to find new creators you haven’t already worked with who may be able to offer unique insight and skills.
Nicole Danser suggests playful trends and formats may be another way to keep video ads entertaining while weaving in value propositions. The most important thing is to experiment and figure out how silly you can be while remaining credible.
Test, test, test
Testing is a vital part of the UGC creation process. All of the insights in this article ultimately come back to testing, from the right messaging to the right creators. Bruce suggests A/B testing different creators, scripts, concepts, assets, and gameplay to figure out the most effective way of reaching your target audience and making adjustments based on your data and testing results.
Bruce recommends testing a creative in a campaign for at least before measuring its effectiveness. She shares that external factors like the time of year and platform-specific algorithms can also impact when content might start reaching its target audience.
“We’ve had instances where a creative might go live, but it doesn’t actually take off and start performing for two weeks, so if you were to pause it after two weeks, you would never have gotten the insights,” Bruce says. “There’s also seasonality. For example, we’re working with a sports betting app, and the NFL season is coming up, so that’s going to be a good time to start testing our UGC.”
