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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

For decades, emojis have shaped how we communicate online, but their popularity and meaning are constantly in flux. With social intelligence data marketers can learn more about how emojis are used over time, in different communities and contexts. 

To learn more about how emoji usage has changed over the past year, we used our social listening and analytics solution to follow up on our 2023 analysis of the most-used emojis. Like last year, we examined mentions of 10 popular emojis in English-language social media posts across 15 platforms, including X, Reddit, and Instagram. 

Here is how these emojis rank from least- to most-mentioned from January 1 through November 30, 2024:

10. 😊, or Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes

5. 🤣, or Rolling on the Floor Laughing

Let’s take a closer look to uncover more about the emojis that took over our digital communications this year.

Learn which emojis your audience uses most when talking about your brand, industry, or market with a demo of the Meltwater Suite.

Which emojis were most popular on each social platform in 2024?

Which emojis were most popular in different countries in 2024?

😭, or loudly crying face, was the most-used emoji on social media in 2024, surpassing last year’s winner 😂, or face with tears of joy. From January 1 to November 30, 2024, 😭 was used about 761 million times across social media channels. Daily mentions spiked highest on November 23 when multiple posts featuring  😭 went viral on X.

As always, the top emoji on social media fluctuates, with some seasonal consistencies like ❤️ being the most popular emoji on Valentine’s Day. In 2024, there were two notable trends that we didn’t see last year. 

First, 😂 briefly rose to become the most-used emoji on November 6, 2024, the same day it was announced that Donald Trump had won the U.S. presidential election.  

Second, 🔥 was the most popular emoji on November 18, as well as from November 27 to November 29, due surges of posts on X about cryptocurrency, new music releases, and Hindu rights protests in Bangladesh. Otherwise, 😭 was the most popular emoji for most of the days in 2024.

What words are most associated with the top emojis of 2024?

The most common keywords mentioned alongside each emoji gives us a window into how they are often used. Some of these keywords remained consistent to last year:

“love” was the top keyword for 🥰, ❤️, and 😍

“life” was the top keyword for 😭 and 😂

However, the top keywords changed for four out of the 10 emojis analyzed, highlighting how their associations have shifted. In 2024:

“smile” was the top keyword for 😊, in 2023 it was “friend”

“world” was the top keyword for ✨, in 2023 it was “life”

“family” was the top keyword for 🙏, in 2023 it was “life”

“video” was the top keyword for 🤣, in 2023 it was “life”

In general, these shifts point to how the emotional resonance of each emoji has evolved. More specifically, 🤣 seems to be growing more associated with funny videos than descriptions about life and personal experiences. 

Check out our blog about the changing meanings of emojis to learn more about how consumers and marketers alike use them to communicate.

😭 was most popular on X, while 😂 took the top spot on Reddit and Facebook, as well as in comments. Interestingly, though ✨ was the seventh most popular emoji overall, it was the most-used one on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitch, and blogs. On Pinterest in particular, which had the highest volume of ✨ mentions, the emoji is the go-to way to give a pin a little pizzazz. 

Get more stats on social media usage trends in our Global Digital Report.

In 2023, we analyzed the top emojis for five countries with the highest volumes of English-language emoji usage. In 2024, two of those countries gained a new favorite emoji:

The most popular emoji in the United States was 😭, in 2023 it was 😂. 

The most popular emoji in India was 🔥, in 2023 it was ❤️. 

The most popular emoji in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, 😂, remained consistent from 2023 to 2024, as did South Africa’s top emoji, 😭. In the end, it seems that South Africa’s emoji users were ahead of the global curve.

In 2024, Unicode, the organization behind emoji standardization, rolled out six new concepts along with four new family combinations. Our analysis focused on four of the new emoji concepts:

🙂‍↔️, or Head Shaking Horizontally

🙂‍↕️, or Head Shaking Vertically

(Note: Some of these emojis may not appear correctly on your device depending on how up-to-date its operating system is.)

Of those emojis, 🙂‍↕️, or head shaking vertically, was the most popular by far, followed by 🙂‍↔️, or head shaking horizontally.

While all four emojis began with relatively the same amount of usage, 🙂‍↔️ and 🙂‍↕️quickly became the leading favorites. Since, April, however, 🙂‍↕️has consistently been the most popular of them all. 

Looking at mentions by location reveals that 🙂‍↕️is the most popular new emoji concept in the United States, China, the United Kingdom, India, the Philippines, Thailand, South Africa, and France. Meanwhile, 🙂‍↔️is most popular in Nigeria and Indonesia. In 2025, as more mobile software updates bring these new emojis to more users, the usage of the head shaking emojis will only continue to take shape.

In 2025, as always, cultural, political, and social shifts will be reflected in how people communicate with one another, including how they use emojis. Stay ahead of those trends and start speaking your audience’s language — see how with a demo of the Meltwater Suite. 🙂‍

The Most-Used Emojis of 2024

The end of another year brings another opportunity to survey how digital language and behavior have evolved over the past 12 months. Last year, the non-negotiable dislikes better known as “the ick” beat out “nepo baby” and “girl dinner” to be the most viral phrase of 2023. 2024 gave us a whole new collection of viral internet slang to assess for their impacts on digital culture and communication.  This year, we used our social listening and analytics solution to analyze a new crop of viral phrases:

Brainrot: This year, “brainrot” and “brain rot” became internet expressions referring to the often negative effects of being too steeped in social media and internet culture. It is also frequently used to describe absurdist, ironic digital content popular with young audiences.

Brat: Following the release of pop artist Charli XCX’s hit album brat in June 2024, using the phrases “is brat” and “brat summer” became a trendy way of describing someone or something as carefree, confident, and, often, kind of messy.

Demure: Thanks to content creator Jools Lebron, the phrase “very demure, very mindful” took the internet by storm this year. As a result, “demure” has become synonymous with quiet, unbothered sophistication.

Rizz: Particularly popular among Gen-Zers, “rizz” is shorthand for “charisma”. Content creator Kai Cenat is often credited with popularizing the term online. 

Yap: In internet parlance, to yap is to chat at length, often about light-hearted or inconsequential topics. “Yap”, and its variations “yapper”, “yapping”, and “yapped”, became newly popular on social media in 2024.

Here’s how English-language usage of these viral terms across 21 sources — including social media platforms, digital media outlets, podcasts, broadcast programs, comments, and blogs — measured up against each other.

Learn more about the cultural shifts driving “brainrot”, “brat”, and other examples of today’s irreverent internet culture in the 2025 Webby Trend Report.

What was the most viral slang term of 2024?

“Brainrot” (Oxford University Press’s Word of the Year) was mentioned 2.92 million times from January through November 2024. Its biggest day of usage was October 1 when mentions spiked five times higher than average. This was partly due to a viral post on X proclaiming, “they hate it when you serve internet brainrot along with critical thinking while also serving fits.”

This post on X helped the term “brainrot” go viral in October. 

The phrases “is brat” and “brat summer” were used about 786,000 times from January through November. The biggest day for brat slang was September 3, 2024, just after Charli XCX declared “goodbye forever brat summer” in an X post. Far-reaching media outlets like BBC and The Independent reported on the post as the official end of brat summer.

Learn more about the ins and outs of hopping on social media trends with our Ultimate Guide to Trendjacking.

“Demure” (Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year) was mentioned more than 3.19 million times in 2024. Its biggest day for usage was August 17, 2024, when mentions spiked 165 times higher than average. 

That day, the most common keyword mentioned along with “demure” was “vocabulary” thanks to a popular post on X praising viral slang for introducing people to new words. 

There were about 10,400 daily mentions of “rizz” from January to November 2024, or about 3.48 million total. Mentions soared 214% higher than average on February 22, 2024, after the release of a BuzzFeed interview in which actress Zendaya praised her boyfriend Tom Holland for having “rizz”.

“Yap” and its conjugations were mentioned about 6.63 million times across sources from January through November 2024. 

It went most viral on March 9, 2024, when mentions were 120% higher than average due to a viral post on X that used the term with another viral slang phrase, “rizz”.

This post on X helped drive the highest spike in mentions of “yap” on March 9, 2024.

Of the five slang words we analyzed, “Yap” was the most popular of 2024 by far. Social media users, journalists, bloggers, online commenters, and more used “yap” and its variations more than 6.63 million times. 

However, “demure” was much more acutely viral due to how quickly and dramatically it caught on. Despite being a relatively rarely mentioned word for most of the year, “demure” had a spike in mentions in August that was higher and longer than that of any other word, illustrating its massive cultural impact. So while “yapping” will likely continue to be a new favorite conversational term for many around the world, no word will go on to scream “2024” quite like “demure”.

From big names like Kai Cenat and Jools Lebron to the lesser-known accounts behind viral social media posts, content creators are the driving forces behind evolutions in mainstream slang. And as these phrases and terms gain prominence, many youth- and digital culture-focused brands rely on them to signal that they are on the same wavelength as their target audiences. The creator economy is poised to grow even larger in 2025, meaning the relationship between marketers and influencers will become even more complex. Learn more about these and other industry shifts to watch out for in our 2025 Marketing Trends Guide.

What Was the Most Viral Slang Term of 2024?

If video hadn’t already killed the radio star, podcasts would’ve done it. Everyone from celebrities to influencers to brands are trying their hand at podcasts, some with more success than others. 

Podcast popularity is at an all-time high. Last year, there were 3.2 million podcast listeners in South Africa, a figure that continues to rise as mainstream radio numbers taper off. Of those listeners, 68% engage with content for longer than an hour each week, and 1 in 4 listeners actively tune in to podcasts daily. 

That’s why we’ve curated a list of the top 10 South African podcasters – across any category or topic. Covering music, finance, real-world events and local conversation, these are the top podcasts in South Africa for good reason. Have a listen, and decide which ones deserve a spot on your playlist:


Piano Pulse EP 14 |NetfLix, SASMA, Music Video's, Msaki, Shakes & Les, Major Leauge Djz,Kreative Korner,Mclaren,Limpopo


One of the most popular SA podcasts, Podcast and Chill focuses on unfiltered conversations with celebrities, industry leaders, and public figures. Podcast and Chill has built up a loyal and diverse audience, with hosts Macgyver Mukwevho, Ghost Lady and Sol Phenduka talking about everything from cultural differences to personal stories.

Having started in 2018, there are well over 500 episodes for listeners to enjoy. New episodes come out every Tuesday and Thursday.

An electronic and amapiano performer, Djy Jaivane’s podcast is a curation of music mixes, focusing on house, electronic beats and amapiano rhythms. The perfect podcast for electronic music lovers, listeners will start to recognise Djy Jaivane’s signature sound.

Djy Jaivane’s deep connection to the South African music scene and regular session uploads have made his one of the biggest podcasts in South Africa.

Speaker, author and self-made businesswoman, Mpoomy Ledwaba’s podcast takes everything she has learned along her journey and delivers it in an authentic and relatable way. The focus on personal development and holistic well-being makes Wisdom & Wellness one of the most inspirational and practical South African podcasts for any listener. Wisdom & Wellness regularly features expert guests, and uploads once a week. 

Knight SA, real name Edwin Cornelius Fortune, is one of the most celebrated midtempo producers in South Africa. His podcast taps into this, attracting a devoted audience of midtempo fans.

With more than 75 sessions uploaded, and each between one and two hours long, MidTempo Sessions by Knight SA is a must-have on any music lover’s podcast playlist.

Above and Beyond


Hosted by entrepreneur Vusi Thembekwayo, Ideas That Matter covers all things business, strategy, and leadership. With his wealth of first-hand business knowledge, Vusi Thembekwayo leads thought-provoking discussions and provides innovative insights.

With episodes released biweekly, Ideas That Matter is an unmissable South African podcast for aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals.

If You Ruled the World: A Listener Grab Bag [VIDEO]


If ever there was a South African that podcasts were made for, it’s Trevor Noah.

What Now? is a Spotify-exclusive podcast revolving around social issues, current events, and human stories. Delivered in Trevor Noah’s signature style, What Now? releases episodes weekly on Spotify.

Episode 170 The Murder of Allison Plaatjies


This podcast is a must-listen for crime enthusiasts. True Crime South Africa examines local cases — whether solved, unsolved, or still ongoing. Hosted by writer Nicole Engelbrecht with meticulous attention to detail, episodes are published regularly.

BizNews Briefing: Cilliers Brink with latest on Tshwane, Jhb; Comrades Collective triumph; Overpriced Wall St


Closing in on nearly 6000 episodes, BizNews Radio brings listeners exclusive interviews with top business leaders, thinkers, and economists.

For investors and interested listeners alike, the South African podcast is an invaluable resource for the latest news on both local and global markets.

The Money Show: China Strikes Back: Rare Mineral Exports to U.S. Halted Amid Escalating Tech War


A longstanding financial staple in South Africa, The Money Show offers expert insight into business trends and market movements. Hosted by radio personality Bruce Whitfield, the podcast delivers new episodes every day.

My Deep Is Not Your Deep curates unique house music mixes. The podcast explores the diversity of deep house, providing listeners with new tracks and commentary about the genre.

Find the Right SA Podcasts for You with Meltwater

Tapping into South African podcasts can be a game-changer for brands. With Meltwater, brands can now monitor podcasts for all the keywords that are important to them. Additionally, they can surface opportunities to place thought leaders from their organization on podcasts that cover topics relevant to their expertise.

Learn more about which podcasts resonate with your audience, glean listener info, and request guest appearances or product placements. Discover more when you request a demo by filling out the form below.

Top 10 Podcasts in South Africa

As far as social media channels go, TikTok has quietly become one of the biggest – and brands that don’t jump on the TikTok bandwagon risk being left behind. Globally, TikTok has over 1 billion monthly users. And it’s popular as a search engine too. TikTok is the fourth most-popular search engine, just behind YouTube, Bing and Google.

So we know that TikTok is popular globally. But the stats around TikTok use in South Africa are equally impressive.

The Global Digital 2024 report revealed that TikTok has 17.5 million South African users aged 18 and up. The gender split is fairly even, 52.0% of TikTok’s ad audience in South Africa is female and 48.0% is male. For brands, the potential ad reach is tantalising: TikTok ad reach in South Africa increased by a massive +10.6% in just 4 months between October 2023 and January 2024. This makes posting on TikTok (almost) a non-negotiable. The question is, when is the best time to post on TikTok in SA?


The Best Time to Post on TikTok in South Africa

Best Times to Post on TikTok in South Africa

Best Days to Post on TikTok in South Africa

How to Find the Best Time to Post on TikTok in South Africa for Your Brand

It’s important to clarify that there is no perfect time to post on TikTok for every brand in every province in South Africa. Part of it will depend on your industry, your audience, and what your brand objectives are on TikTok. For this reason, it’s important for brands to analyse their own TikTok data using a social media management tool to determine when to post.

Having said that, there are 3 top times worth testing based on general data:

Good news: there is no such thing as a wrong day to post on TikTok. But it does pay to look at user behaviour to pinpoint which times work best for each specific day. Posting throughout the week will allow you to find out which days and times are the most ideal for your content and your audience.

The best times to post on TikTok on Monday are in the early and mid-morning, as well as the late evening. People are active on TikTok both before and after the workday, breaking up the start to the week.

Believe it or not, TikTok is active extremely early in the morning on Tuesdays.

Like Mondays, the best times to post on TikTok on Wednesdays are before or after the workday.

The best times to post on TikTok on Thursday are 8 AM, noon, and 7 PM. Users tend to log on more frequently as the work week winds down.

Like Thursdays, TikTok is active around lunchtime on Fridays as people get ready for the weekend. Other popular time slots are 5 AM and 5 PM.

Late mornings and evenings are the best times to post on TikTok on Saturdays, with people sleeping in, and spending more of their free time on social media.

9 AM and 2 PM are the best times to post on TikTok on Sundays. The 2PM Sunday time slot is one of the most popular times to post throughout the entire week.

TikTok is one of the best platforms to experiment with, both in terms of post times and content. While brands should still follow their own brand guidelines, TikTok’s short-form videos allow brands to showcase fun and flexibility. South African audiences are, on the whole, receptive to humour, so don’t be afraid to test!

TikTok favours more content rather than less, so if you can post as often as every day, your audience will naturally see more and more of your content.

One way to find the best time to post on TikTok is to post, manage and analyse everything yourself. A much better way to achieve TikTok success is to make use of a social media management tool.

Create, schedule, manage, and track your TikTok content all in one place. With in-depth reporting and dynamic admin capabilities, equip yourself with everything you need to keep your TikTok performance tip top.

In the current climate, customers favor authenticity and transparency and are steering away from traditional marketing messages. Enter user-generated content (UGC), the latest darling of the marketing world.

Why all the hype around UGC? It’s simple: Content created by users highlights your brand in unique ways. It appears more authentic because it’s coming from your customers, not your brand. It’s instant social proof!

To add to its appeal, a survey found that more than 80% of consumers claim that UGC influences their buying decisions more than promotional content made by brands or even search results.

Here’s what you need to know about user-generated content — including a definition — and how to apply it to your brand marketing.

UGC Meaning: What is User-Generated Content?

Why is UGC So Important? The Benefits of User-Generated Content

Why is Content Moderation Important for User-Generated Campaigns?

Let’s start with the basics: UGC stands for user-generated content. Sometimes it's also called third-party content or consumer-generated content.

So what exactly is UGC? Well, it is what it sounds like: content about your brand that is created by your customers, not your company.

A more thorough user-generated content definition is: the collection of text, images, videos, customer reviews, product reviews, blog posts, social media posts, or other content created by people, not brands. See our article on User-Generated Content Examples for more context.

Sometimes, your customers will generate a piece of brand-related content just because they want to. And sometimes, you might plant the bug in their ears by asking them to share a photo or other content.

For instance, your clothing boutique shoppers might snap a photo of their new outfit and upload it to Instagram with a branded hashtag (or some other relevant hashtag). Or, one of your subscription box customers might record an unboxing video to share with their friends or upload to YouTube. Boom — that's user-generated content marketing.

Brands go crazy over UGC, and for good reason. First and foremost, it’s one of the surest signs of approval. Imagine a customer loves your product or brand so much that they took it upon themselves to create some UGC posts about it and then shared them on their social networks. That’s true love!

But aside from the warm, fuzzy feeling it gives brand experts and marketers, there are tons of benefits and opportunities that come from UGC marketing. Here's why it should be part of your content marketing strategy.

It bears repeating: User-generated content appears more authentic because it comes from “real” people. Yes, you as a brand expert, marketer, or social media guru are also a real person. But you’re being paid to create brand-generated content.

Consumer content creation happens just because customers like it, even though they have nothing to really gain from it. It sends a powerful message to other users. It’s next-level word-of-mouth marketing and a testament that other people love and trust your brand.

In general, content marketers agree that quality and authenticity are hallmarks of good content marketing campaigns. Audiences are quick to point out fake reviews and UGC that appears to be staged, both of which can kill your brand's reputation. To truly reap the benefits of user-created content, it needs to come from your customers organically.

Engagement is a pillar of brand loyalty. When your customers actively engage with your brand, they’re more likely to remember you when they need something you offer.

This content strategy works for just about any industry or use case, including higher education, retail and e-commerce, hospitality, and any type of social media marketing.

Creating different kinds of content is an easy and effective way to engage your customers in a fun way. They essentially become a stakeholder in your brand and can participate in its success. Not to mention, engaged customers tend to spend more with the brands they support, and 59% are more likely to choose that brand over competitors when they join a loyalty program.

And when brands share their user-generated content on their own branded channels, customers feel seen, heard, and appreciated. The corporate walls come tumbling down and brands can show they’re listening to their customers.

In 2015, the American Association of Advertising Agencies made an alarming discovery: 96% of consumers don’t trust ads (especially Millennials). But it’s not without reason. The world (especially the advertising world) is full of misinformation, and it’s not always easy to sniff out fake news from the real deal. As a result, more consumers are increasingly dubious about marketing claims.

UGC marketing is key to helping to earn buyer trust for the long-term. Because content comes from customers, not the brand itself, it’s automatically seen as more honest and truthful. Because let’s face it: If you have a bad experience, you’re not likely to advocate for a brand or product.

That’s why many marketers consider user-generated content marketing to be akin to word-of-mouth. It’s like getting an honest recommendation from a family member or friend. It offers instant brand awareness. And since research shows that 90% of people are more likely to trust a recommended brand (even if that recommendation comes from an internet stranger), user-generated content campaigns have a strong chance of making the right impression.

The Meltwater Blog

The Most-Used Emojis of 2024

What Was the Most Viral Slang Term of 2024?

Top 10 Podcasts in South Africa

The Best Time to Post on TikTok in South Africa

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