How to Leverage User-Generated Content to Boost App Growth

When it comes to app marketing, or even marketing in general, are social influencers a thing of the past?

Not exactly. But there is something that keeps gaining an increasingly larger amount of ground: user-generated content or UGC. 

More and more marketers are considering user-generated content “the new influencer marketing” and are using it to build their brands. This is true across several industries, from the rise of UGC for the food service industry to beauty and fashion.

Unlike influencer marketing (which is brand-created content), user-generated content is created by real customers that reaches a like-minded, more engaged audience — and usually at a much lower cost. 

That real-life authenticity comes across, as shown by a survey that says consumers are 2.4x more likely to view user-generated content as authentic compared to brand-created content. Plus, 60% of consumers viewed user-generated content as the most authentic form of content compared to only 20% that felt that way about branded content.

So, how can this help you in your app growth efforts, and should you be incorporating user-generated content into your app marketing strategy? We’re about to show you how taking a user-generated content strategy for a Facebook advertising campaign was the right move for our client, franki, and how it can be for your app too.

Using UGC to build awareness for a UGC-based mobile app

The franki app is no stranger to user-generated content. In fact, it’s what their own mobile app product is all about!  franki is a revolutionary mobile platform that enables creators (franki locals) to produce user-generated content quickly and easily. Viewers can then visit franki to get honest video reviews made by locals for recommendations on places to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. 

To grow franki’s brand awareness and app installs, our app marketing experts at App Growth Network worked with the franki client to develop an app marketing strategy based on these key objectives: 

1. Build a solid digital strategy through search engines and paid social media
2. Increase awareness and reduce acquisition costs per user in California and Texas markets

To achieve these goals, AGN’s user acquisition specialists took the following approach:

• Implement a creative strategy based on user-generated content that highlights the benefits of the app in a genuine and organic way
  
• Prioritize the most valuable events in the franki app and create a digital strategy centered around these key events
  
• Optimize and measure different results between platforms, creatives, and audiences with AppsFlyer
  
• Consolidate the campaigns and techniques that provided desired results

Creative examples of market-specific UGC:

UGC + Signup Optimization Produced Amazing Results

A critical part of the process was to test different Facebook App Event Optimization (AEO) techniques to see what would produce the best results.

After thorough evaluation, the user acquisition team made a decisive move to change the AEO of franki’s previous Facebook campaign from install optimization to signup optimization. The switch to signup optimization combined with user-generated content proved to be the winning combination.

franki’s new Facebook campaign setup resulted in:

• 25% increase in CTI (click to install)
• 132% increase in IPM (install per 1,000 impressions)
• 60% decrease in CPI (cost per install)
• 40% decrease in signup CPA (cost per action)

Final Thoughts

When it comes to authenticity and customer buy-in, nothing is more effective than word of mouth. In today’s world, social media is our main word-of-mouth vehicle and, from a marketing standpoint, user-generated content is its most powerful fuel. With the right strategy and expert approach with analyzing, testing, and iterating, you too can leverage the power of UGC to meet your mobile app growth goals.

We know that incorporating UGC into your app  marketing strategy needs to be done correctly with the proper expertise for it to work!  Please contact us for a free consultation with an AGN paid UA specialist who would love to help you discover all of the ways you can benefit from this approach and get you started on the right path.