The numbers speak for themselves: 1% of Millennials trust a brand's advertising; 83% of consumers worldwide express complete or partial trust in the recommendations of friends and family above all forms of advertising; and 80% of online content nowadays is user-generated content (UGC).

Without a doubt, people's product preferences are influenced by media. People also have no qualms about using media to share stories about their personal experience with brands.

The point I'm trying to drive home here is that no marketer of sound mind would miss the chance to mobilize their target audience in an effort to drive business impact and influence those customers to tell stories in a natural way, spreading authentic brand truths.

Unlike advertising, UGC campaigns are about sincerity and authenticity, and the business benefits of such an approach are clear:

• Brand trust and awareness (consumers give you credit if you have an interest in their opinions)
• Broad exposure (the social proof phenomenon works here)
• Better virality (consumers are prone to sharing their thoughts and emotions with peers)
• Better SEO (25% of search results are links to UGC)
• Better conversion (in the case of Instagram, for example)

With all that in mind, chances are you already consider UGC part of your marketing campaign. But do you consider all of its elements when attempting to influence consumers?

Step 1: Set a clear marketing goal

To develop a strategy for your smart UGC campaign, answer two questions related to setting a clear marketing goal:

1. Why do you need UGC?
2. How will you use it?

Your motivation might be to...

• Come up with business ideas (create a new motto or tagline, design a new logo, etc.)
• Generate new content (a persistent problem for all content marketers)
• Attract new clients (and increase sales as a result)
• Get more followers on social media
• Increase brand loyalty (customers' comments, testimonials, or reviews)
• Improve goodwill

Once you have a clear goal, it's time to start planning.

Step 2: Find an idea your target audience will consider awesome

As a marketer, you know and understand your target audience like the back of your hand. What questions could you ask to get their attention?

Depending on your idea and the audience's interests, choose the most appropriate type of UGC for your campaign.

The most common types of UGC are comments, reviews, designs/drawings, photos, and videos and podcasts.

1. Comments

Comments are crucial for generating goodwill. If consumers leave comments, it signals their interest in what you do. Besides, people often share their experience via comments, which could influence the preferences of new visitors to your website.

Image source: PlagiarismCheck

2. Reviews

For conversion, reviews are the No. 1 type of UGC to influence the buying decisions of consumers. According to a study by Econsultancy, "61% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision," and "63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site which has user reviews."

To get reviews from your consumers, just ask people to write them. Yes, some visitors will write reviews spontaneously, but you can increase the number of testimonials by simply asking for them. Use your website, social media accounts, or email newsletters to do just that.

3. Designs and Drawings

The perfect example here is Starbucks, which organized a drawing competition to find a new design for its "limited series" cups.

Image source: Instagram

This type of UGC lets you kill several birds with one stone:

• You attract a different target audience (designers, creative artists, painters) to your brand
• You motivate loyal customers to express themselves
• You save costs on designers
• You get more exposure and new followers on social media
• You increase conversion