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User-Generated Content: How It Shapes Marketing Strategies in 2025

Written by Maya Kirianova | Jan 29, 2025 5:22:51 PM

Jim Metcalf once said, “If you’re a good marketing person, you have to be a little crazy!”

After reading this article, you would boldly add: …and never overlook UGC or user-generated content in your marketing plans.

Here’s why:

  • 79% of consumers confess that UGC prompts them to buy. For comparison, this number grew from 60% in 2017. (Source: BusinessWire)
  • 86% of retailers believe authentic user-generated content will help boost ad and content performance. (Source: BazaarVoice)
  • 60% of CMOs plan to embrace authenticity with brand-approved UGC by 2026. (Source: Gartner)

Looking into the future, we’ve prepared this article as a reference with suggestions and tips to reshape your marketing strategy with user-generated content.

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User-Generated Content Ideas for Marketers

UGC is any textual, visual, or audio content organically crafted by customers or users sharing their opinions or experiences about companies and their products/services.

UGC creation often reflects genuine perspectives, making it a valuable way to understand how products or services are perceived in real-world use.

It can take virtually any form:

  • Social media posts (e.g., product photos or unboxing videos)
  • Reviews and testimonials
  • Forum messages (e.g., in Reddit communities)
  • Blog articles
  • Podcast or videocast episodes
  • Content in augmented or virtual realities (e.g., Snapchat’s AR content)
  • Star ratings and scores from Google Review, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, etc.

All those constitute a super-large “toolbox” for marketers to promote brands, products, or services.

Yet, today, they implement UGC for marketing more interactively and engagingly than ever before, whether on the website, via email, or across social networks.

Let’s see how exactly.

  • On websites

The most widespread solution among brands placing UGC on their websites is a review or testimonial slider.

For example:

Falcon Pools created a dedicated web page with clients’ reviews to slide through for more interactivity.

Source: FalconPools

  • In emails

In modern-day email marketing, more brands switch to animated UGC to bring dynamics into emails.

For example:

Here’s how Biossance shares reviews for its best-selling moisturizer in a GIF format via email.

Source: Gmail

  • Via social channels

Again, since user engagement remains one of the major focus areas for brands today, UGC pieces formatted as GIFs or animations are expected to prevail in social media content strategies of 2025 and beyond.

For example:

Bonobos includes animated product reviews in Instagram posts.

Source: Instagram

How to Supercharge Your Marketing Strategy with UGC

  • Prioritize UGC-rich channels

What are those?

Ah-ah-ah... Not so fast!

Beware of a pitfall: they differ from business model to business model, from niche to niche, and from content type to content type.

For instance, assuming you’re a B2B SaaS brand. In this case, the best UGC-rich channel for your business would be LinkedIn, which has the largest percentage of B2B leads (82%) out of all platforms.

If you take niche-driven UGC, Sabas Lin, CTO at Knowee (education industry), prioritizes user-generated content from students on Discord specifically. He shares, “Any spot students prefer to hang out offers tons of UGC pieces for us. That’s why our Discord community is the most UGC-full place. There, students drop in screenshots or screen recordings with cool results they have got with Knowee AI.”

Regarding the UGC type, channels like YouTube and TikTok are treasure troves of customer unboxing and unpacking videos.

For example:

Here’s a series of luxury Rolex unboxing videos, each promoting the brand with the hashtags #Rolex and #RolexWatch on TikTok.

Source: TikTok

  • Use tools to capture and manage user-generated content

In fact, the UGC software market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 38%, from $5.72 billion in 2023 to $35.89 billion by 2030.

It goes without saying that the most promising “players” in this field are AI-powered tools. They help brands collect UGC and moderate it automatically:

  • Tagshop.ai
  • Emplifi.io
  • TagEmbed
  • Skeepers.io
  • Flowbox
  • RaveCapture

For Rhami Aboud, CEO of Arch Web Design, the utmost advantage of UGC platforms is not the accumulation of user-generated content but rather its segmentation. “You can easily sort user-generated content by tags and pick the most suitable items you need for your marketing strategy.”

For example:

Helix Sleep sorted out reviews from the leading Sleep Medicine, Psychology, and Neurobiology doctors to showcase on the website.

Source: HelixSleep

  • Thank customers for UGC

“Just like you express gratitude to your clients for using your service or buying your product, you should thank them for their time and effort put into producing UGC,” believes Gary Hemming, Owner & Finance Director at ABC Finance. “This small gesture may become an impactful emotional contribution to your customer relationship-building.”

It’s the so-called mindful customer service, when you notice and appreciate even the tiniest interactions, being humble and grateful to your customers.

And that’s what the ABC Finance brand does on Twitter (X), sharing another client review with the following words: “We absolutely LOVE to hear your feedback, and nothing gives us more satisfaction than helping you along your journey to success.”

Source: X.com

So, make sure to thank customers for their positive sentiments:

  • Thanks for sharing your story, [CustomerName]
  • We love seeing our product in action—thank you for the fantastic post!
  • Thanks a million for sharing your amazing experience with us!
  • We’re thrilled you took the time to share this with us. It’s customers like you who make our day!
  • [CustomerName], thanks for your unboxing video!

Source: Instagram

This way, you also inspire other customers to create UGC about your products or services.

  • Bank on a video format

When brands choose UGC for their marketing strategies, they frequently pin their hopes on video content.

And it’s not an unreasonable decision. Videos are naturally more engaging and convert new leads more effectively than static content.

“If it’s a testimonial, it’s always a video one,” reveals Max Tang, CMO at GEEKOM. He adds, “As a seasoned marketer, I believe that videos are the most winning user-generated content in marketing. Moreover, I also frequently reflect on using the most revolutionary UGC trends like AR, VR, or Metaverse, where a video transcends the digital perception boundaries.”

For example:

Embedded clients’ video testimonials from Vimeo on the homepage.

Source: OsbornesLaw

You can likewise make testimonials more effective with the power of video.

However, Rodger Desai, CEO of Prove, argues, “If you rely on video UGC for your marketing strategy, it’s crucial to mind the watching time and reduce it as much as possible amid the rise of short-form content. This tendency is largely driven by attention span shortage in digital users.”

While keeping this fact in mind, the team created a short video as a Prove Identity Customer Testimonial Overview for web visitors to save time on reading all customer stories on the website.

Source: Prove.com

  • Encourage your audience to interact with UGC posts

Do you just drop user-generated content on social media and leave?

If so, we’ve got bad news for you: such posts are made for nothing.

Jonathan Feniak, General Counsel at LLC Attorney, said, “If you want to confidently step into the new era of marketing with user-generated content in 2025, it’s not enough just to publish UGC. You additionally need to caption it in a way that drives user engagement on social media. For that, you must add powerful calls-to-action (CTAs).” 

Jonathan Feniak suggests a few other CTA variants:

  • Click to read more
  • Check out these photos
  • Read the full story
  • Watch this video
  • Join our hashtag challenge

You may launch a branded hashtag campaign like #MyCalvins or #MyParachuteHome to collect user-generated content and urge other users to participate as well.

For example:

KFC did so with the #KFCCrunchyJingle hashtag challenge and encouraged their Instagram and Facebook audiences to join in.

Source: Facebook

  • Partner with influential figures

Who can improve your UGC marketing efforts in 2025 and further on?

Influencers, of course!

Influencer marketing is an evergreen (and proven!) tactic for UGC. Yet again—the trickiest thing remains the same. You should find the right influencers. Here’s a never-failing variant: collaborate with nano- (100–10,000 followers) and micro-influencers (10,000–100,000 followers) relevant to your niche.

    • For B2C

Go to social media (preferably Instagram and TikTok) and search by hashtags and keywords like these:

    • #FoodBlogger → for restaurant influencer marketing
    • #SustainableInfluencer → for sustainability and eco-friendly living
    • #TravelVlog → for travel
    • #MakeupArtist → for beauty
    • #StreamerLife → for gaming
    • #MomBlogger → for parenting and family

For example:

Skylar Clean Beauty partnered with @kilennyk, a fashion and lifestyle blogger and micro-influencer in her niche (6150 followers), who tested the brand’s vanilla perfume.

Source: TikTok

    • For B2B

Reach out to industry thought leaders on LinkedIn and ask them to review your product or service and generate UGC for your brand. Note: Thought leadership posts reign supreme for LinkedIn B2B engagement.

For example:

Suppose you’d like to collect user-generated content about your inventory management software for the metal industry. You search influential B2B brands by the hashtags #steelmanufacturing or #metalindustry and contact those who are ready to give it a try and voice their opinions.

Source: LinkedIn

  • Update your digital spaces with new user-generated content

Look at your digital pages.

How old is the latest UGC piece posted on them? Isn’t it time to refresh it?

In the words of Jeffrey Zhou, CEO and Founder of Fig Loans, “Novelty is another UGC trend worth hopping on when you shape your marketing strategies, whether on the website or social platforms. When UGC is constantly refreshing across your digital channels, it enriches your content strategy, boosts engagement, and functions as ongoing social proof, evoking higher trust in your brand.”

So, you might want to refresh and optimize your website with new user-generated content pieces.

For example:

At Fig Loans, site visitors can read the freshest reviews sourced from Trustpilot and updated daily: 11 hours ago, one day ago, two days ago, etc.

Source: FigLoans

Also, don’t forget to update your social media content with the newest user-generated photos or videos to keep it ever-fresh.

FAQs About User-Generated Content in Marketing Strategies

1. What is a user-generated content strategy in marketing?

A UGC strategy is a set of tactics, methods, and tools marketers rely on to encourage customers to produce authentic content about their brand, product, or service so that they can leverage it later for promotional purposes.

2. Why is UGC marketing important for brands?

User-generated content marketing is primarily about building trust. People view content from fellow customers as more authentic and genuine than brands themselves. So, UGC positions a brand as more credible and reliable. Besides, similar to any other content, it also drives interactions and engagement.

3. How can I collect user-generated content?

Here are the best ways to capture UGC for marketing:

  • Review submission forms
  • Follow-up emails
  • Post-purchase surveys
  • Branded hashtag challenges
  • Photo/video contests
  • Brand ambassadorship programs

4. Where should I share UGC: on what marketing channels?

The top three channels to spread user-generated content in marketing are:

  • Social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc.)
  • Email
  • Website

However, UGC is likewise extremely influential in lead magnets and display ads.

5. Can UGC help with SEO?

Yes. User-generated content, mainly reviews and testimonials, is a powerful SEO booster for both on-page and off-page optimization.

For one thing, UGC can nourish a page with short- and long-tail keywords. For another, UGC keeps it lively with fresh content updates prioritized by search engine algorithms, which eventually give it higher rankings.

Add More UGC to Your Website with POWR Plugins

POWR offers a wide library of plugins (over 60!) for websites. Pick the one that best suits your website needs. Need a photo or video gallery with sliders for your customer reviews or testimonials? You’ve got it!

Sign up for free, customize templates by adding or removing elements (Edit Mode), and see how well they match your website (Preview Mode). Does it fit? Great! Then, what are you waiting for? Publish it!

Author Bio

Born to be a marketer, Maya Kirianova spent over 15 years in sales and marketing, where she gained strong managerial skills and became a coach. All that experience burst out as an unbearable desire to share her knowledge and expertise with others. Maya grew into a content writer covering marketing, sales, and UX/UI design topics. Every single piece of content bears her individual touch with a humorous vibe.

Whenever Maya has a free minute, she masters new languages or scrolls through hilarious cat pics (what else could you expect from a cat lover?).
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