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In today’s e-commerce world, people trust each other more than they trust ads; 85% of consumers trust user-generated content (UGC) more than they trust branded content. Customer feedback and organic word-of-mouth marketing holds a lot of sway; whether your reviews are positive or negative, consumers rely on recommendations from influencers, peers, friends, and family. That’s what makes user-generated content so powerful; when your customers post about your products, the entire internet listens.
This can be a double-edged sword for ecommerce brands; as more and more people share their experiences online, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have their finger on the pulse. The world of UGC is full of opportunity, but only if you know how to put all that content to good use. That’s where UGC apps come in handy, and finding the right one for your needs is half the battle. We’ve compiled a list of the nine best UGC apps out there to help you find the perfect fit for your brand’s UGC and content marketing strategy.
What You’ll Learn:
User-generated content (UGC) is any kind of content that is created by consumers instead of by brands. There are many different types of UGC — text, photo, video, audio, etc. — but no matter what form it takes, a piece of content is considered UGC if it’s created and shared by a real person instead of paid for by a company. Not all UGC has inherent marketing value, but anytime a piece of original authentic content appears online and mentions a brand, it can quickly become a valuable asset. Leveraging UGC effectively helps brands increase engagement, drive conversions, and boost sales.
Typically, the content that qualifies as UGC can be categorized as either positive or negative feedback about a brand. Positive feedback can attract new customers, create brand awareness, and improve your reputation. Negative feedback may present an opportunity for improvement and growth, but it can also represent a real business challenge; 94% of consumers won’t buy a product with negative reviews and only 3% will consider buying from companies with an average rating of 2 stars or lower.
User-generated content doesn’t need to be a rave review to have a positive effect on purchase decisions, though. 65% of Gen Z and 60% of millennials say they won’t buy from a store that doesn’t display UGC. In that sense, all the social media conversations that influencers, content creators, and everyday people have about the brands they do business with — including selfies, unboxing videos, tutorials, testimonials, polls, and live streams — can expand your research and introduce your brand to whole new market segments. And everything from the initial user-generated post to the conversation that unfolds in the comments section can become valuable UGC for a brand that has the right tools in place.
That brings us to our ultimate list of the UGC apps every social media marketer needs to know about. Many UGC apps focus on specific industries or use cases, and between them there is a wide variety of features, capabilities, and pricing structures. Let’s take a look at what each UGC app on our list has to offer and consider what makes each one unique and useful:
Archive is an AI-powered social commerce tool that collects all the user-generated content about your brand. Instagram feed posts, reels, stories, and TikTok videos that tag your brand automatically appear in your intuitive, customizable library. In addition to viewing and managing all your UGC in one place, Archive lets you organize assets into custom collections or add labels, request permission to repurpose content directly from UGC creators, and share individual assets or entire collections with your team and external partners.
Here are some more of the most popular features Archive offers:
With advanced functionality and tons of AI-powered tools already available, Archive is an incredible UGC platform for any brand or social media marketer. Power users can unlock marketing automations through Archive, access the Archive API, and even turn a real-time UGC feed into conversion-boosting social proof with the Shoppable UGC widget.
Archive offers four different plan subscriptions: free, starter, pro, and advanced. Each tier introduces expanded access and increasingly advanced features, but the free plan is a great place to start if you just want to try it out. Get started with Archive for free today, and you can save Instagram feed posts, reels, and stories from up to 250 Social Profiles, send up to 5 Usage Rights requests per month, and benefit from email and chat support straight out of the gate.
Arena.im is focused on increasing audience engagement through real-time customer interactions. The Content Wall is their primary UGC product; it allows brands to create a centralized digital repository of curated content on any topic. The idea is to position your brand as an authority by augmenting your website or platform with a visual hub of resources and information collected from platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and more. Overall, Arena is focused on segmenting, activating, and converting a target audience using detailed personas and centralized customer data. The free Arena plan supports up to 100 monthly pageviews, while higher tier plans support more monthly pageviews and unlock more advanced and customizable features.
Bazaarvoice enables brands to add user-generated content, ratings and reviews, questions and answers, and shoppable images to product detail pages in order to better connect with customers and drive revenue. They also identify potential advocates so brands can send free samples and build influencer relationships, among other UGC-focused features. In order to sustain its focus on product reviews, Bazaarvoice leverages a community of 6.5 million reviewers to generate over 11 million reviews a month for brand clients. At that scale, another important feature Bazaarvoice offers is content moderation, which supports the influx of feedback and allows brands to manage any negative reviews that come in. Bazaarvoice doesn’t publish pricing information on its website.
Crowdriff’s visual marketing platform is primarily geared toward helping travel and tourism brands source and organize UGC and publish data-backed marketing campaigns. The platform uses artificial intelligence to combine effective UGC curation with engaging content delivery. Because Crowdriff is dedicated to the travel and hospitality industry, their features are uniquely geared toward partnerships and collaborations between brands and key players in the space including destination management organizations (DMOs), PR agencies, bloggers, and journalists. As with many of the UGC apps on this list, Crowdriff doesn’t publish its pricing online.
Flowbox is a UGC platform built for high-traffic, multi-domain, multi-country, and multi-currency online stores. Its automated UGC collection capabilities search social channels like Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The Flowbox platform (previously known as Photoslurp) also supports content moderation, a media rights framework, multi-product linking, and ecommerce platform integrations. Flowbox’s AI tools are specifically designed to help high volume brands search, manage, and publish UGC at scale. The company also recently launched a ratings and reviews feature that helps brands more efficiently collect and publish customer reviews. Flowbox doesn’t list pricing information on its website.
Notified is a communications platform focused on public relations, investor relations, and event experiences. As far as UGC apps go, Notified’s social listening and media monitoring tools are the most relevant; brands can use Notified to track online, social, and earned media mentions in order to improve their PR and communications strategies. The biggest benefit of Notified is that it tracks mentions in both print and digital media from a range of sources including articles, podcasts, radio, TV, discussion boards, blog posts, social networks, and more. Notified also allows brands to display social media mentions on websites, digital newsrooms, or in presentations. Notified hasn’t published any pricing details online.
Taggbox is a marketing platform that helps companies create and publish UGC campaigns that promote brand trustworthiness, credibility, and reliability. It can collect UGC from a variety of social media platforms, including Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Vimeo, and YouTube. Taggbox then allos brands to turn that content into website feeds, digital campaigns, social ads, print media, etc. Analytics features including an ROI calculator, performance reporting, and an influencer marketing database make it easy for brands to evaluate and adjust their UGC strategies. Each of Taggbox’s apps and widgets has a different pricing plan, but most offer monthly or annual billing options.
TINT bills itself as an all-in-one community-powered marketing platform. Its features include finding and curating UGC, getting influencers’ permission to reuse their content, and turning those approved assets into omni-channel campaigns. TINT also offers integrations with popular platforms like Hootsuite, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Woocommerce. Offline, TINT supports physical and in-person marketing efforts like social media walls at large-scale events, signage, and print ads. There is no pricing information listed on TINT’s website.
Yotpo is an ecommerce marketing platform designed to help brands improve retention and increase revenue. The built-in UGC app allows brands to create a custom display of content online, including on the homepage, product pages, and the checkout page. Yotpo also offers features to support review collection, making it easy for brands to encourage feedback and empowering customers to post their reviews (complete with visuals) directly on a brand’s website. Yotpo offers quick-start plans for growing brands on a monthly billing structure, in addition to more expansive premium and enterprise-level plans.
UGC can drive brand awareness, improve social engagement, expand market reach, and increase conversions. It’s a business growth tool that has a direct impact on your brand’s bottom line — that is, if you know how to use it. When you’re ready to meet the demand for community marketing and surface real reviews shared by real people, it’s time for Archive.
Archive isn’t just a user-generated content platform; it’s an AI-powered social commerce tool. We automatically collect all the UGC your brand is tagged in so you can organize, manage, and share your most valuable assets, turning them into beautiful campaigns that move the needle for your business. With plans designed to support brands of all sizes, Archive is a cost-effective and powerful way to transform your UGC into valuable social proof. Ready to build credibility, increase conversions, and boost sales? Try Archive for free today.
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