UGC is what differentiates successful e-commerce brands from the rest. Here are 7 tools to help you generate as much as possible.
September 26, 2023
Adding user-generated content into your marketing strategy can effectively engage your audience.
This type of content offers your customers a genuine glimpse of how your product or service integrates into their daily lives, fostering an authentic connection with your audience.
Nonetheless, manually collecting such content can be time-consuming.
That's where UGC platforms come into play.
We have compiled a list of the finest user-generated content platforms to assist you in selecting the most suitable one for your strategy.
A UGC platform is an online tool that makes it easy to collect, curate and display content generated by users, often customers or fans of a brand.
E-commerce brands have come to realize the importance of UGC platforms for engaging their audiences in a more authentic and sincere way.
By encouraging users to contribute their own content, brands capitalize on the power of peer-to-peer recommendations and word-of-mouth marketing.
UGC platforms typically allow users to submit various forms of content, including photos, videos, reviews and testimonials, or social media interactions.
Content shared on an UGC platform can provide valuable information about customers' preferences, feelings and usage habits.
Brands can then use such data to fine-tune their marketing strategies and product offerings to better meet consumer needs.
What's more, UGC platforms create a sense of community and foster a stronger bond between the brand and its customers.
Companies will also be able to display user-generated content on their websites, social media channels or marketing campaigns.
These real-life experiences and stories will reinforce trust and credibility with their audience, and thus boost conversion rates.
When choosing the perfect UGC platform for your e-commerce brand, you need to know what distinguishes the best tools on the market.
Let us guide you:
An UGC platform must include strong content moderation tools.
This will help ensure that content shared by users aligns with your brand's values and guidelines.
The ability to filter out inappropriate or irrelevant material is crucial to both maintaining a positive brand image and providing a safe environment for users.
Make sure your chosen UGC platform integrates seamlessly and easily with your website and social media channels.
Such smooth integration guarantees that user-generated content fits seamlessly into your brand's online presence.
It creates a consistent and engaging experience for both customers and creators.
The best UGC platforms support a wide range of content types, such as photos, videos, reviews and more.
This diversity of choice allows users to express themselves in a way that suits them.
They’ll choose what they are most comfortable with, making the content more captivating and easier to understand.
Make sure that the platform allows easy management of content rights.
It's imperative to obtain users' consent to reuse their content in order to avoid any legal problems later on.
The platform must offer the right tools to request these authorizations.
As so often in marketing, data is king!
A valuable UGC platform provides comprehensive analytics and insights into user engagement, content performance and audience behavior.
These metrics enable you to fine-tune your strategies and optimize your marketing campaigns.
Every brand has its own personality, and your UGC platform should be able to reflect it.
Look for a platform that allows you to customize the look and feel of your campaign.
Make sure it seamlessly aligns with your brand identity and enhances your overall visual storytelling.
The essence of UGC lies in bringing your brand closer to its customers.
Look for features that encourage user interaction, such as commenting, sharing and following.
This should enable you to create a thriving community around your brand.
To really engage your users and ignite their passion for creating UGC, look for a platform that features gamification elements and offers incentives.
With challenges, contests and rewards for contributing creators, you can encourage them to get more involved with your brand.
Gamification not only stimulates content creation, but also fosters a sense of competition and community among users, leading to increased loyalty and enthusiasm.
Loyoly is a unique UGC platform widely used by DNVB e-commerce brands.
It enables companies to collect quality and free of rights user-generated content across all marketing channels.
What sets Loyoly apart is that UGC is not limited to simple photos and videos.
The platform enables brands to encourage their customers to interact on social media, publish posts, leave reviews and testimonials and much more. +30 missions are available.
All UGCs collected are then centralized in a library, allowing them to be filtered, sorted and exported.
Finally, a comprehensive dashboard helps you track UGC performance, view the profiles of the most active customers with great granularity, calculate the Earned Media Value generated and many more KPIs.
✅ UGC creation missions can be integrated into the brand's loyalty program, so that customers can earn points and redeem them for rewards.
✅ Loyoly allows to generate customer reviews on all major platforms (Google, Facebook, Trustpilot...) and not only on your website like most of its competitors.
✅ Loyoly integrates with new platforms including TikTok (unlike some of the platforms on this list)
Taggbox is one of the best-known tools for brands looking to boost trust, engagement and conversions through user-generated content (UGC).
Taggbox offers a versatile and efficient solution for seamlessly collecting, curating, managing and displaying UGC across various marketing touchpoints.
Its user-friendly interface, free level and various integrations make it a versatile and effective choice for brands wishing to use UGC.
While the analytics are informative, some users might wish for more in-depth tracking of interactions.
✅ Taggbox has a user-friendly platform that doesn't require a steep learning curve.
✅ A free tier option allows you to start collecting your first UGCs, with no immediate investment required.
❌ While Taggbox provides valuable analytics, some users may seek more advanced tracking options to gain deeper insights into user interactions.
TINT is a flexible platform for corporate brands to find, curate and repurpose UGC. It does not, however, encourage content creation.
TINT remains an excellent choice for exploiting existing organic UGC, obtaining rights to content and promoting it seamlessly.
Its feature-rich interface, AI-powered UGC discovery and seamless integrations make it a well-known player on the market.
However, its lack of a free plan and the pitfalls in terms of customer service pointed out by reviewers may be points to consider for some companies.
✅ TINT offers a wide range of features, making it a comprehensive and effective tool for managing UGC.
✅ TINT's machine learning technology optimizes content curation processes.
✅ With editing capabilities, brands can modify the UGC content they have permission to use in order to ensure that it aligns perfectly with their brand identity.
❌ TINT does not provide features to encourage content creation.
❌ TINT does not offer a free tier, and some smaller brands may find the plans expensive.
❌ Some reviewers have raised concerns about customer service response times.
Bazaarvoice is an established customer engagement platform.
Nevertheless, it focuses more on customer reviews, although it does support other types of user-generated content (UGC) for brands.
Its sampling function, technical support and brand-to-customer communication options make it an interesting choice for brands looking to boost customer engagement and generate UGC.
However, platform implementation requirements and occasional navigation issues may be considerations for some users.
✅ Bazaarvoice's sampling function sets it apart from the competition (except Wiink 😉 ).
✅ Bazaarvoice's technical support team is highly regarded for its responsiveness and expertise.
✅ Brands have the opportunity to answer customer reviews and questions
❌ The implementation process can be demanding and time-consuming.
❌ Some users find that the user experience falls short of expectations, with tedious navigation.
❌ The UGC authorization tool can sometimes be inaccurate.
What sets Trend apart from the other tools on this list is that it is not a platform for collecting, centralizing and reusing UGC.
Trend connects brands with their network of hand-picked content creators.
Trend's focus on influencer marketing and shoppable content on social media makes it an ideal choice for companies seeking high-quality UGC from "professional" creators.
The platform's e-commerce integrations and campaign management tools further enhance the content creation and distribution process.
✅ Trend specializes in the development of social media content tailored to the shopping experience.
✅ Their tool integrates seamlessly with leading e-commerce platforms such as Shopify and Magento
✅ Campaign management tools streamline communication and payment processes for creators
❌ Brands pay for a limited amount of content, which can quickly become expensive if you want to use UGC over the long term.
❌ Their tool doesn't offer a dashboard to track the performance of the UGCs created.
❌ Trend only lets you create photos and videos, not encourage people to leave reviews, interact on networks, etc. (which are also forms of UGC).
CrowdRiff stands out as a niche UGC platform catering exclusively to travel and tourism brands.
With its visual marketing tools, efficient content sourcing and content management features, CrowdRiff enables brands to create an engaging online presence and drive conversions.
However, due to its niche and limited platform support, CrowdRiff may not be the best solution for brands outside the travel and tourism industry.
✅ CrowdRiff is a UGC platform entirely dedicated to travel and tourism brands.
✅ Brands can measure overall performance and gain valuable analytics for optimizing their UGC strategies.
❌ CrowdRiff is a UGC platform entirely dedicated to travel and tourism brands, and may not be perfectly suited to other industries.
❌ For the moment, CrowdRiff only supports Instagram, and not yet platforms like TikTok or YouTube.
❌ CrowdRiff only lets you create and curate photos and videos, not encourage people to leave reviews, interact on networks, etc. (which are also forms of UGC).
Nosto (formerly known as Stackla) identifies itself as a visual content engine.
It's a pretty comprehensive platform to help brands discover, manage and share UGC across various marketing touchpoints.
With its deep social media integration, influencer marketing platform and advanced AI technologies, Nosto enables brands to create compelling UGC experiences and build lasting connections with their audiences.
Nevertheless, its feature-rich nature can make it more expensive for some brands.
✅ Nosto sources content from over 25 social media networks
✅ The platform's digital asset management ensures an organized and easily accessible UGC library
✅ Nosto targets e-commerce brands and offer features uniquely tailored to their needs
❌ Extensive feature set can make it expensive
❌ Some reviews have pointed out that Nosto's user interface can seem confusing, potentially requiring a learning curve.
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Loyoly is a new generation referral and loyalty program which helps brands turn their community into a growth engine through gamification.
