How to increase marketing ROI:

By creating a user-generated content campaign that actually works

Over the past few years, thousands of brands from the miniature to the mighty have sponsored campaigns featuring user-generated content (UGC). Why do some fly while others flop? It's not about the money they spend. It's about using three proven strategies to ensure a big return, no matter what your marketing investment.

1 — Target the diehards

Don't expect everyone who sees your invitation to join in. Let the 1% Rule guide you. Referenced in several studies of online communities including Yahoo, the Wiki projects by Comscore and others, the phenomenon shows only 1% of a community typically contributes content to that community — the rest act as bystanders.

When you stop to think, aren't the diehards the ones you want contributing to the campaign anyway? They're the most passionate about your brand and the most predisposed to helping you create something wonderful and memorable. If you're collecting email addresses through your website, that's a great place to start building a list of fanatics to target.

2 — Get them to put skin in and reward them

People are busy and you're asking them to go out of their way to make your brand look good. The first trick here is to prevent them from backing out of giving you what you want — inspired user-generated content. Ask people to commit to your advertising campaign verbally, communicate the importance of the promise they've made back to them, and consider producing a written list of participants' names on your website or another public place to deepen your expectation that they come through.

Secondly, make it worth their while to play the game by rewarding them properly. While big, glossy prizes are great, some people just want their name in lights — to be acknowledged for their creativity — requiring little to no financial investment from you. Know your audience, and you'll know what turns them on.

3 — Ask them to do what they already do well

This plays back into targeting your brand evangelists and requesting them to do something they naturally do without prompting — talk about your brand in a positive light. The final task is left up to your advertising agency to create an intriguing, buzz-gathering campaign worthy of everyone's time and effort.

Want to chat more about developing an explosive user-generated content campaign? I'm always here, drop me a note kreedy@leereedy.com.