Marketing today has become so much more immersive and interactive. That’s why on social media, influencers and user-generated content (UGC) are bigger than ever!
I’m sure you’ve been on Instagram and come across influencers promoting different products and brands. By collaborating with influencers, brands have the ability to tap directly into an influencer’s followers. There’s power in leveraging influencers to grow your own brand awareness and increase sales, especially when you choose influencers in specific niches that align with your brand.
Along with influencers, UGC creators are also just as popular now. If you’re new to UGC, I covered the ins and outs of creating a UGC plan in a previous article, so be sure to check that out first! For a quick breakdown for you, UGC is basically any form of content — photos, videos, reviews, or testimonials — that’s created by consumers rather than brands themselves.
But what makes UGC campaigns so impactful? The #1 reason it works is because it’s all about authenticity. Consumers want to see real, relatable content from everyday people versus stuffy or overly scripted content from brands. And UGC delivers just that!
If you’re looking to add some flare into your social strategy, there’s lots to learn from how other brands have leveraged both influencers and UGC creators. Let’s look at our favorite examples from other brands and our top takeaways as a marketing agency.
1. ARMRA Colostrum
ARMRA Colostrum is a gut and immune health brand that blew up largely thanks to influencers. If you’ve never heard of colostrum, it’s the first milk produced by a cow after giving birth, which can be taken in supplement form. That’s such a specific niche product! But through partnerships with key figures in the health and wellness community, ARMRA amplified its message and product offerings to a broader audience and became a trusted authority in the space. In addition to influencers, they also leverage UGC. On TikTok especially, they use UGC to connect with consumers by showcasing the benefits of their products in people’s everyday lives through routine videos, unboxing videos, etc.
The top takeaway here is if your product or service is pretty niche or something people would usually ignore, influencers and UGC are great ways to attract more attention to your brand. With influencers and UGC combined, they have taken over feeds. It’s hard to scroll social media without seeing one of their videos, and get you wondering, “maybe I need colostrum?” For a brand that needs to increase buyer awareness, influencers and UGC really do the job!
2. Athletic Greens
One brand that has been all over social media is Athletic Greens, a one-product, subscription-based wellness brand. A major part of their success, including raising over $115 million dollars, is their commitment to UGCs and influencer marketing. They have especially seen positive results through Gen Z creators and UGC posts highlighting morning routines. Along with UGC posts, they have partnered with big-time influencers and podcasters, like the Joe Rogan Experience, which reaches 11 million listeners per episode. That’s a big reach from one podcast alone!
The top takeaway here is to learn from how consumers interact and engage with content. Athletic Greens found certain demographics of creators, as well as certain types of UGC videos, performed better than others. They then poured more resources into those areas. They also used a multi-prong approach and leveraged popular influencers and podcasters to increase their reach. It was all these avenues working together that gave them such powerful social awareness.
3. Fabletics
Fabletics is a fitness clothing brand that launched in 2013, and in 2015, started its first celebrity line with Kate Hudson. So it comes as no surprise, Fabletics is willing to spend the big money to work with celebrities, including a recent campaign with Khloe Kardashian announcing her new line. Outside celebrity collaborations, fabletics also uses micro influencers and UGC. This has helped grow their Instagram following to over 1.9M followers.
The major takeaway here is why it’s important to diversify. Celebrity endorsements definitely generate buzz, but it also creates a certain brand image. Meanwhile, with micro-influencers and UGC, Fabletics has been able to tap into other segments of their target audience. It also adds a layer of authenticity and relatability by showcasing real-life stories and experiences with the brand.
4. Gymshark
If you are obsessed with the gym, you’re probably heard of Gymshark, another fitness clothing brand. Gymshark takes a unique approach by partnering with athletes as social media influencers. These athletes help the brand get new customers, share their discount code, and make content for their followers that incorporates Gymshark apparel. When the brand first started to gain traction, it partnered with well-known bodybuilders, including Lex Griffin, Chris Laado, Matt Ogus, Jeff Seid, and Zyzz. This clearly worked wonders — they have a huge Instagram presence, with almost 7 million followers.
The #1 takeaway from Gymshark is to learn from how they have managed their influencers and affiliates. They don’t look to cut costs and only work with influencers and ambassadors on a short-term basis for a quick cash grab. They focus on relationships with their team of influencers, which in the long-run is so important to keep the most talented influencers and create the best content that will resonate with consumers.
5. Native
Native, a personal care company, positions itself in the market as a clean and safe alternative to your typical drug store antiperspirants and body washes. Naturally, their campaigns focus on clean ingredients and personal wellness. With their recent focus on sustainability and being eco-friendly with their new plastic-free line, they turned to micro-influencers to create UGC and feature their products in people’s everyday lives.
A top takeaway from Native is that you can leverage influencers and UGC for new product lines, launches, announcements, and so on to spread the word and raise awareness. In their case, they wanted to highlight all their amazing work behind-the-scenes with sustainability to show their commitment to not just the human body, but the natural world as well. They saw great success from this campaign by leveraging the collective 548,000 following of the micro-influencers in their niche space.
6. SKIMS
SKIMS, an underwear and shapewear company, has a robust influencer program in place. They are a brand that values inclusivity, which is why they also use a wide range of influencers and UGC. For example, plus-size influencers and UGC creators are common on their social pages. Plus, they don’t just market to women, and also use male creators and influencers. Their content tends to focus on new product drops, unboxing videos, and first looks.
The major takeaway from SKIMS is they made it easy and accessible to apply to be an influencer, with a designated landing page on their website. This aligns with their inclusive values and provides more variety of content. For influencers and UGC campaigns to be most effective, it’s so important to find influencers and content creators that fit your brand image and brand voice. And, like SKIMS, if there’s a way to make it easier for those creators to collaborate with you, then you should take advantage.
7. Tarte Cosmetics
Last on the list is Tarte Cosmetics, a beauty product company that generates unique attention with their influencer marketing. Tarte is famous for their #Trippinwithtarte, where they invite top influencers to vacation with them. This costs them a pretty penny, but it also gets so much attention in the influencer community. Influencers will go out of their way to create content for the Tarte brand in hopes of getting noticed, which only spurs on more and more incredible free content for Tarte to reuse. This trend catches some controversy from consumers, but for Tarte, brand growth is the deciding factor, not brand loyalty. And, well, the numbers don’t lie.
The major takeaway from Tarte is that you can try out-of-the-box campaigns through influencers and UGC creators. Controversial campaigns don’t fit every brand, but it could have a place for yours depending on your brand story, voice, and target audience. You can sprinkle in more polarizing messages here and there to catch attention. Even if some of it is negative, it’s better than being completely overlooked. More importantly, look for ways to be creative with attracting influencers and creators to your company. Often, being different really pays off!
Well, there you have it! The 7 brands I’ve learned the most about personally as a Social Media and Influencer Marketing Director. Hopefully you learned a thing or two from them as well. Following brands you admire is always a great way to get inspiration and your own takeaways as you go along. It’s all about finding the right messaging and brand positioning that attracts the right people to your door, and influencers and UGC creators can do their part to fast-track your success.
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