UNLOCKING THE POWER OF
USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Evan Atkinson
Institute Social Media Officer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Steven Norris
Director of Media Relations and Social Media
Georgia Institute of Technology

51% of
consumers say
less than half of
the brands they
know are
creating content
that feels
authentic to
them.
(Nielsen Media)
WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?

92% of marketing
professionals
believe all or most
of their content
resonates as
authentic for their
audiences.
(Stackla)
WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?

WHY GO USER-GENERATED?
We’re fighting an ever-increasing
tidal wave of content on all-platforms
and a battle for attention spans.

WHY GO USER-GENERATED?
Content creation isn’t getting any
easier either…

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
UNLOCKING USER-
GENERATED CONTENT
• Cheap and cost-effective for teams of all sizes and
budgets.
• Allows our audiences to participate in brand
conversations and growth with us.
• 2.4x times more engaging than standard content.

UNLOCKING USER-
GENERATED CONTENT
It’s digital word-of-mouth
advertising.

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
UNLOCKING USER-
GENERATED CONTENT
• How to successfully MINE for UGC.
• How to successfully MAXIMIZE the UGC
you find.
• How to MINIMIZE the issues you might face
(particularly IP / Usage).

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
MINING FOR UGC
Where does UGC come from?
Well, that depends!
• Customers
• Brand loyalists / Fans
• Industry or Community Partners
• Online Reviews
• Staff
• People already interacting with your brand in
digital spaces

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
MINING FOR UGC
Build a strategic community on your social channels
That means following people closest to your brand
Who engages with you regularly? What are they talking about?
For Georgia Tech that looks like students, aspiring students, professors, alumni, parents of
students, our community, industry partners, sports fans…

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
MINING FOR UGC
Influencers don’t need to be celebrities
or have millions of followers to make a
big-time impact.

WHY GO USER-
GENERATED?
MINING FOR UGC
• Check in regularly on your brand’s footprint.
✓ Tags
✓ Mentions
✓ Geolocated Posts
✓ Comments or Reviews

MINING FOR
UGC
• Combine these
two tactics, and
when you log in as
your brand, the
algorithms start to
work for you

MINING FOR UGC
• Try this simple
exercise with your team:
In one or two words who are we, what
makes our brand different, what does
are brand aspire to be?
Use these terms to help find
content that fits into these
themes.

MINING FOR UGC
For Georgia Tech this looked like:
Nerdy
Urban Environment / Atlanta
Shared Success
Educational Opportunities
Challenge Stereotypes

MINING FOR UGC

MINING FOR UGC

Create
opportunities
for people to
make branded
content.

MAXIMIZING UGC
Build a community hashtag. #croctok
(You only need few. Not 239.)

MAXIMIZING UGC
Look for great visuals that help tell
your story.

MAXIMIZING UGC
Tell impactful and authentic stories. Highlight your employees.
257 ♡ 20,406 ♡

MAXIMIZING UGC
Engage with users and *share something* if you put out an ask.
(So many brands never actually follow up on this and users notice.)

MAXIMIZING UGC
Also… the days of grainy selfies are behind us! Our communities can
create amazing content.

Cover your You-know-what!
A UGC CHECKLIST…
✓ Ask for explicit permission before using any photo.
✓ Ask whether or not the person would like to be tagged in the post.
✓ Let users know exactly how you plan to use their post (platforms and
timing).
✓ Check on comments on your UGC post and moderate if necessary.
Don’t let a person get trolled on your social channels
✓ If you are planning on using the photo any where besides your social
channel
(marketing, websites, etc.) send the user a release form.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS SOCIAL
*there is no secret formula*
• Is your content reflective of your audience?
• Use the social function of your platforms
• Find accounts and people to follow in your own community
• Make your platforms a two-way street
• Ask questions, use polls, use easy engagement strategies

UNLOCKING USER-GENERATED
CONTENT
• MINE for it.
• MAXIMIZE it.
• MINIMIZE any issues.

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF
USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Evan Atkinson
Institute Social Media Officer
Georgia Institute of Technology
Steven Norris
Director of Media Relations and Social Media
Georgia Institute of Technology
MINE for it.
MAXIMIZE it.
Plan ahead to MINIMIZE any issues.