If you’ve got an understanding of UGC/CGC - or at least an understanding of today’s definition of UGC/CGC, then the next obvious question is: “Where does this fit in my marketing strategy?”
If we think about all the potential sources of ad content for your brand, we have:
Traditional, branded content: often created by an agency
Influencer content: often created by people with large audiences on social platforms; celebrity content falls into this category
UGC/CGC: created by people who are essentially freelance creators, and creators-first (not influencers with their own platforms)
Each of these content types have trade-offs when it comes to budget, creative control, and credibility. To illustrate those differences, we’ve put together this chart:
As you can see, each of these types of content serves its own purpose. You can’t build a brand on UGC/CGC alone- that would mean that you end up with a brand that’s completely unrecognizable and inconsistent. But, relying on consistent, branded content alone won’t do much in the way of diversifying your message and reach- and it won’t help your credibility.