1. Presented
@monicakwatson
The 2016 State of
User-Generated Content
R E P O R T

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Meet the Millennials
Consumers  User-Generated Content
Marketers Weigh In
Conclusion
@katejoie
@r_greenfield
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7
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3. INTRODUCTION
Authentic media, earned media, user-generated content (UGC), word of mouth
- marketers have a lot of names for the pieces of content created by consumers
recommending their products and services. Anecdotally, we’ve all been told how
important this content is for marketing - especially in the social age. However, just
how effective is this media? How do the people who create content most want to be
engaged with by brands? What are the biggest hurdles when it comes to using it in
marketing? To answer this, we surveyed more than a hundred millennials along with
digital marketers to get their thoughts on all things UGC.
1@ozeias

4. @ozeias
First, let’s kick things off with the millennial consumer report. It’s pretty clear: marketers
are obsessed with millennials - and for good reason. They’re the largest generation alive
today, according to Pew. However, that size is also the problem - it leads marketers to
create wide generalizations about a group of people who are all at differing life stages.
Plus, if there’s one thing to know about millennials it’s that they hate being generalized
- personalization is key for this audience, so thinking of them as one big monolith
inhibits brands from really targeting and creating effective content.
That’s why on top of defining this generation as those born between 1981 and 1997,
we also break up millennials based on 3 life stages: the student, the early careerist, and
the budding parent.
MEET THE
MILLENNIALS
@samsteinsf
STUDENT ( 19-24 )
2
IN MILLIONS
Source: Pew Research Center tabulations of U.S. Census Bureau population projections released December 2014
EARLY CAREERIST
( 25-30 )
BUDDING PARENT
( 31-35 )
Millennials: Aged 19-35

5. CONSUMERS 
USER-GENERATED
CONTENT
Generating Conversations Through UGC
Just to get it out of the way - if anyone was questioning the importance of user-
generated content, it’s time to reevaluate. Overall, 78% of millennials said they would
rather see photos of real customers over professional photos created by the brand,
and this remains consistent across all 3 groups of millennials. How does this fluctuate
based on industry? We gave consumers a series of images and had them choose the
ones that most inspired them to travel or purchase. For travel, 74% said the UGC most
made them want to visit the location shown. For CPG, that jumps up to 83% saying the
user-generated image made them want to research the product. And for fashion, 85%
were inspired to look into a clothing item after seeing it worn by a fellow consumer.
3
@agatakamler
% of millennials (per
industry) who said UGC
inspired a purchase over
professional photos
74%
TRAVEL CONSUMER PRODUCTS FASHION
83% 85%

6. @ozeias
And this trend continues when these millennials were asked what type of media they
need in order to buy or research a product. Overall, 69% said positive online reviews
and comments, 55% also want to see people who they relate to using the product,
and 53% get recommendations in-person. You can also really see how this is a growing
trend by noticing that as the respondents get younger, the more important earned
media becomes.
@jleighfarrar
@kimmiier
4
What would most get you to buy or
research a product?
Students Early
Careerist
Budding
Parent
69%
55%
53%
Positive online reviews or comments
Seeing people like me use the product
In-person recommendations
76% 73% 62%
62% 64% 43%
69% 44% 51%
Not only are millennials looking to UGC to make real purchase decisions, they’re
also making this content. Across the board, 64% post to social media to recommend
a product of service at least once a month. And what do these consumers want in
exchange for their interaction? Not a whole lot - the majority said they just want a
comment or reply from the brand they’re posting about.
64% recommend a product
or service on social media at
least once a month.
Students Early Careerist Budding Parent
67% 62% 64%

7. Top social platforms
millennials follow brands:Growing An Audience With UGC
In our research, we found most millennials follow brands on social media. In fact, only
10% of millennials who use social media follow no brands on any platform. However,
one specific platform stood out the most: Facebook. This is fairly unsurprising,
considering it is the platform that has become practically omnipresent in all of our
lives. However, the younger the millennial is, the more likely they are to follow brands
on other social platforms - especially image and visual-first platforms like Instagram,
Youtube and Snapchat. Meanwhile, Twitter grows especially in importance for older
millennials.
Facebook 74%
Instagram 36%
Pinterest 24%
Twitter 23%
YouTube 22%
Snapchat 12%
Tumblr 10%
None 10%
Facebook 83%
Instagram 50%
YouTube 33%
Twitter 27%
Snapchat 27%
Pinterest 20%
Tumblr 17%
None 3%
Student
Facebook 71%
Instagram 38%
Pinterest 31%
YouTube 27%
Twitter 18%
None 13%
Snapchat 11%
Tumblr 11%
Early
Careerist
Facebook 72%
Instagram 26%
Twitter 26%
Pinterest 22%
None 11%
YouTube 11%
Snapchat 6%
Tumblr 6%
Budding
Parent
5

8. But what factors play into these consumers’ decision making processes for whether
to follow a brand or not - especially on a platform like Instagram? Overwhelmingly,
“amazing content” in the form of a good theme or aesthetic was the top factor. This
was particularly key for millennials in the Students group - 73% of them selected this
option. Amazing content even beat out “offers and contests”, which was selected by
48% of respondents.
6
What would most get you to follow a
brand on a platform like Instagram?
57%
48%
27%
24%
Amazing content of a good theme/aesthetic
Offers and contests
Re-posted my content/gave a shout-out
Engaged with my own content (commenting/liking)
Students Early
Careerist
Budding
Parent
All
On the other hand, there are some social media
taboos brands need to avoid to hold on to their
audience. Overall, the top reason millennials unfollow
brands is because they post too often. That is closely
followed by posting images that look or feel too much
like ads. However, keep in mind that this shifts based
on group - students are most turned off by ad-like
images whereas budding parents don’t have patience
for too much content.
Posting too often is the top reason people unfollow
brands, followed closely by posting images that come
across like ads.
64%
55%
26%
Posting too often Images look too
much like ads
Overly produced
photos
This changes by age group
73% 58% 72%
Images look too
much like ads
Posting too often Posting too often
STUDENT EARLY
CAREERIST
BUDDING
PARENT
73% 56% 50%

9. @ozeias
With these shifts in consumer preferences and additional outlets and channels,
marketers are under increasing pressure to maximize resources, which haven’t
increased at the same pace. In our survey of U.S. marketers, we found few seem to be
lacking ideas. Instead, they are challenged with limited time, staff, and budget to put
those ideas into action.
And many brands are turning to UGC to help with this - 57% said the content is
an easy and inexpensive resource for their brand. But that’s not the only, or even
top reason 78% of digital marketers turn to UGC - the top 2 reasons are because
marketers want more authentic media and to engage audiences.
@howdoestheshoefit 7
MARKETERS WEIGH IN
Biggest challenges for marketers?
67% Lack of time or staff resources
62% Limited budget
49% Difficult approvals and legal processes
43% Poor measurement and attribution
42% Maintaining timeliness and relevance
12% Lack of creative ideas/inspiration
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10. @ozeias
Where are they implementing it? The top place is organic social posts - especially
on Instagram, however many are also using it in paid social and on their websites.
Instagram is also the top place these marketers are sourcing user-generated content -
unsurprising, considering the caliber of content that tends to be posted vs. other social
platforms.
@mixoftwo 7
Where are marketers using UGC?
Why do brands use UGC?
87% For authentic content
72% To engage audience
57% Easy and/or inexpensive to source
25% Performs better
21% Consumer insights 80% Organic social media posts
47% Paid social posts
47% Websites
34% Email
23% Live events
17% Ads
15% Print media
6% Retail/eCommerce experiences
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11. @ozeias
2
Where do marketers
publish UGC?
Where do marketers
source UGC from?
However, there’s more to UGC than just content. Marketers also see value in the
data behind it - to find new influencers with targeted niche audiences or to surface
demographic and social media trends.
However, user-generated content also has its pain points. 57% of marketers utilizing
UGC said discovering good content was their biggest hurdle. In fact, when asked
what part of UGC marketing they most wish could be automated, the top pick was
discovering and managing their media. A huge issue is that so many marketers are
trying to tackle UGC manually. There are tens of millions of photos being shared daily
on Instagram alone - discovering the best on-brand content by using their search bar is
impossible to scale.
Instagram
Instagram
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Pinterest
YouTube
Blogs
Pinterest
YouTube
Tumblr
81%
87%
72%
54%
13%
13%
77%
62%
23%
21%
17%
6%
What UGC insights would be most
valuable?
45% Influencer discovery
23%
17%
9%
Demographics
Social media trends
Geo-location
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12. What is the biggest hurdle
when using UGC?
How are marketers
managing their UGC?
10
What do marketers most want to be
automated?
1 Collecting and managing data
2 Content creation
3 Discovering influencers
4 Content discovery, creation and search
5 Mining consumer insights
6 Getting permission to use content
7 Performance measurement
8 Scheduling/publishing content
9 Approvals and goverance
57%
20%
14%
9%
Discovering good
content
Manual, in-house
Takes too much
time to source
Software ( like
Chute )
Legal worries
Manual, agency
Getting
permission
Other
@lionfour
45%
25%
21%
9%

13. @ozeias
Lastly, the biggest worry for marketers around user-generated content are the legalities.
Rules and regulations haven’t adapted yet to this new form of marketing. That’s why,
of the marketers who aren’t yet using UGC, 57% said legal concerns were their biggest
hurdle. And of the marketers already using UGC, 38% said copyright was their top
concern. Again, the majority of marketers are doing this completely manually - directly
commenting on or messaging creators. Not only is this not scalable, but it also leaves
room for human error - something most legal teams are going to be wary of allowing.
Without access to software, that leaves marketers with the less safe options of either
using a branded hashtag and hoping consent is implied or not getting rights at all.
@kaliegeo
Why don’t marketers
use UGC?
How are marketers
getting rights to UGC?
57% 38%
said legal concerns
are concerned about
copyright regarding
UGC
Manually commenting
to get rights
Using software
like Chute
Branded hashtag
Don’t get rights
53%
25%
17%
4%
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14. Chute powers enterprise UGC for brands, agencies and publishers – from discovering
consumer photos and videos, both with visual and text search, to the ideation,
production, and amplification of compelling visual material. Chute works with some of
the world’s biggest brands and publishers including Benefit Cosmetics, NBC Universal,
Adidas, Brown-Forman, Condé Nast, NBA, United Nations, New York Times, and Ford.
For more information, visit www.getchute.com
If there is one key takeaway from this report, it is that user-generated content is
not just a passing fad, and it’s not just restricted to select industries. It is growing
in importance as demographics get younger, and marketers should be prioritizing
authentic media and stories today.
CONCLUSION
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