Daniel Vaczi
Digital marketing for home services companies is getting more complex and expensive. Organic social posts aren’t getting the traction they once had, leading companies to rely on paid strategies to reach followers. But you can turn your customers into advocates and leverage it to your advantage with user-generated content (UGC).
UGC is any type of content that is created and shared by fans. Instead of your company churning out content, your audience are the ones who generate photos, videos, posts, and more that you can use to promote your brand.
These days, we document almost every aspect of our lives on social media—times with friends, food we eat, service we’ve received. If you’re a home service company and your customers are praising you online, this can be a great opportunity to share it with everyone else. We’ll outline the benefits of UGC, how using it has worked for other brands, and how to use it to your advantage.
Benefits of UGC
Shows your work and keeps it fresh
Home service companies help homeowners improve various aspects of their homes. Having a visual or textual testimonial that speaks to the quality of your work can go much further than you simply stating what you can do. Anyone can say they will do a good job. Yet when other buyers recommend your company, prospective customers are much more likely to believe it. These unsolicited testimonials are even more powerful when accompanied by images or videos that give buyers a glimpse into how your company has improved another’s life.
Using your customer’s photos and videos keeps your social media feed fresh—and it can save money on content creation.
Demonstrates Your Authenticity
With so much content out there, it’s easy for consumers to tune a lot of it out. All companies make a claim, and sometimes these claims don’t live up to their promises. But when other buyers recommend your company, prospective customers are much more likely to believe it. UGC puts you on the map as a company that is connected to its audience, which boosts your reputation.
Brings the Customer Into the Brand Experience
Building a loyal customer base involves making your buyers advocates for you. The most iconic, revered companies deliver a brand experience that keeps customers coming back for more. Offering great products and providing excellent service is important, but having a brand that customers truly connect with will turn them into advocates.
How to Make UGC Work for You
The first step is to figure out where your target audience is spending their time, and after you do that, learn what type of UGC works best with which platform.
Facebook is a great place to share videos that have a chance of going viral. You can even use UGC for ads, since Facebook’s algorithm can make organic reach difficult.
Instagram and Twitter connect people through hashtags, and this can be an ideal way to curate content. Let’s say you’re a pool installation company who builds beautiful pools for homeowners. You could curate content by asking customers to post their summer fun pictures using a hashtag that correlates to your business, such as #
You can also kickstart the content sharing yourself by announcing a Facebook or Instagram post contest. For example, if you’re a home improvement professional, you could ask your audience to submit photos of a room that needs remodeling with the promise that a winner chosen at random will get an update of their choosing. Once the work is complete, you can show the before and after photos—you can even document the work as it goes along. This brings users into the experience and makes them more invested.
Any chance you get to connect with your customers will go a long way in improving your company’s image and increasing trust in your brand. UGC is just one way to do that.
