If you are looking for ways to engage your audience and increase your revenue, try User Generated Content (UGC).
UGC is an affordable approach to create a sustainable channel of engagement on your WordPress website. Since your users generate the posts, the content will highlight their pain points and be original.
Here is what that means:
- You will spend less time brainstorming new content ideas. You already have the pain points of your audience – use those!
- Users creating content means they are actively involved in your posts and offers.
- Users will spend more time on your website. And that would boost your SEO, traffic and sales.
Perhaps the benefits are not clear enough. Let’s give you an example:
Look at Facebook and Twitter; these platforms adopt UGC and pull tons of traffic and sales from it. The fun part: the platforms rarely post anything; they leave it all to their users.
You can also copy the UGC model. It works, plus the entire process requires little input.
So, how can you go about UGC? How can you adopt this lucrative tool for your website and business? More importantly, what plugins can you use?
7 Ways You Can Add User Generated Content To Your WordPress Website
Before we delve into our list, you should know that UGC requires you to have an appealing website. Also, your pages should load fast. Otherwise, users won’t wait long enough to post on your site, and the only thing you’ll be increasing is your bounce rate.
In any case, don’t fret if your WordPress site loads slowly or isn’t visually appealing. We, Digital Treasury, can help you!
That said, let’s talk about the seven ways to add UGC to your website!
Testimonials
Visitors will often come to your landing page first, so start your UGC from there with testimonials. Testimonials do more than adding content to your site. They also convince your audience to commit to your offerings.
The best part: testimonials include short benefits and provide answers to most of your prospect’s questions.
So, how can you add testimonials to your site?
- You can use BuddyForms; it automatically gathers and posts testimonials on your WordPress site, or
- You can create a comprehensive form that collects testimonials from your users. A tool like Google form will come in handy for this. Note: ask short and straightforward questions.
Reviews
Reviews, like testimonials, meet a range of purposes and are a great way to generate users’ content. Also, reviews are marketing tools that highlight your credibility. Plus, search engines love reviews!
So, if your business provides a service or sells a product, reviews will come in handy.
And here is the fun part: People love to talk about a product or service they acquired. They do so to boost their ego about always making the right decision or to express regrets. Either way, reviews are easy to get.
However, you of course still need to build a product or service that meets people’s needs. And while you’re at it, devise a top-notch customer service. That way, you will avoid negative reviews.
You should equally know that negative reviews are not all doom. They are windows to improve your offerings, satisfy your customer, and make them rave about your follow-up process.
So, how can you add reviews to your site?
- You can use WordPress review plugins,
- Create a page for reviews, or
- Add reviews from recognized third-party platforms such as Facebook and Google.
Communities
Remember when we said people like to talk? We stressed how important it was that they talk about your products and services! Now, key into that innate nature and let your users interact even more within communities.
By communities, we don’t mean social media platforms. What we meant is a membership community on your site.
Imagine a forum where users can interact and chat with themselves! Cool, right?
You could even add spice to boost the community. Tweak the process so that members must sign-up to view the content on the community and reward them for participation with coupon codes.
The sign-up process is an opportunity to get the email of your users. That is another window to sell via email marketing.
Besides sales, you could use the emails collected for generating users’ questions. Then, you would use the answers to craft sales copies and blog posts.
That said, how can you add communities to your site?
Use the WordPress membership plugin. We recommend MemberPress; it is flexible and won’t affect your content or deter your site performance.
Comments
Now, you have reviews about your services and an active community; but, you can engage your users even more through your blog. If you don’t have one, it is high time you created it.
Create content for your blog that revolves around your users’ needs. You can also use Google to see what your target audience is asking online.
When you get a solid lead, plus your email-generated questions, create a blog post and add a comment section. With that, your users can interact, like, reply, and even share their posts on social media.
Pro tip: you should have social media handles for your business. You can use them to announce your products and services.
Overall, comments will boost your SEO, clicks, and sales. However, ensure that the process is easy for users. Yes, you want to avoid spam. But keep your tweaks to a minimal level.
That said, how can you add a comment section to your site? You don’t even need an extra tool. All WordPress blog posts come with an in-built comment section.
Users’ Posts
It might sound funny, but we will say it all the same:
You don’t have to write all your blog posts. The chances are that some of your users are content writers. So, let them write for you!
The best part is that this approach won’t cost you a dime. The user might even sneak a link to his services too. So, it’s a win-win situation for all parties. How?
- You will get user generated blog posts that will attract more comments. That’s a two-in-one act!
- The user will get exposure.
Note: don’t give users admin access to your WordPress site. Instead, you can create a submit your article section. Then, you will vet and handpick only the quality articles that meet your business goals.
So, how can you get the “submit your article” section?
Use a front-end submission plugin. With one, you can collect users’ posts as drafts and review them with ease. Besides, you can use the same plugin for other UGC means (such as meme contest).
Users’ Videos
If your users submit blog posts, you can also engage them to send videos. And like users’ posts, videos also benefit your user and you. How?
- First, it is a free UGC for you.
- Secondly, video reviews convert more than words. Plus, they can add visuals to how users can use your products and services.
- Lastly, users will get views for their videos and gain exposure.
That said, how can you add users’ videos to your site?
WordPress sites embed YouTube videos automatically. Get the link and embed it on your web page – that’s it!
Users’ Questions And Answers
The last user generated content on our list is the easiest to compile. Here, you will archive all the queries your customers made and the respective answers. Then, you will post it under a section.
When you think about it, the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) is one of the most visited pages on websites. Now, you have one, and it’s all thanks to your users.
Plus, FAQs save the stress of answering repeated questions. More importantly, Google loves it too. So, you can optimize this section for keywords of your choice.
Pro tip: update your FAQ regularly.
We hope you now understand the usefulness of user generated content and how to add them to your site. If you need further information, send us a message, and we will guide you even further.