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iManila is now a Microsoft Partner!

The year isn’t over for iManila just yet! Recently, we received news that we are now officially a part of the Microsoft Partner Network or (MPN). Being a Microsoft Partner in our industry is important as this gives us more access to tools and information that will help expand our business, the way we engage with customers, and eventually help drive more clients.

This new honor once again only proves that time and time again iManila has stood to withstand the cycle of evolution, by constantly adapting to changing economic situations, market behavior, and consumer preferences. Getting local support from an internationally renowned company such as Microsoft is a huge deal for our company as we consider ourselves a small fish in a big pond in the industry of IT and Digital Marketing.

What are the benefits of being part of the MPN?

First off, as a Microsoft Partner, we’ll now be able to gain instant access to exclusive resources, programs, tools, and connections to foster business growth and possible opportunities. Microsoft offers different business opportunities to help support and evolve the businesses of companies in their Partner Network.

Microsoft is also the best platform to connect with and reach out to other partners through blogs, case studies, stories, and social networks. Being part of the MPN allows our Technical Support team access to different kinds of trainings that will allow us to keep our goals and visions up to date.

There is power in partnership. Moving forward, we know for sure that together, we can accomplish more. We’re looking forward to the resources, programs, and tools that will help train all of us and at the same time build some more innovative solutions, help us connect with customers, and differentiate our company in the marketplace.

We’re excited about what the future brings for us especially now that we’re officially part of the Microsoft Partner community. If you want to learn more about Microsoft’s top-of-the-line and highly secure collaboration tools, business emails and cloud solutions, we would be happy to help! Our dedicated technical support team have the expertise to support your business’ needs. Get help from a Microsoft partner such as iManila. Visit our website at https://imanila.ph/hosting/microsoft-365/ to learn more.

The Importance of Identifying the Right Target Audience

Picture this: you are thinking of all the possible marketing tactics you can employ for your business. The carousel ad you saw on Facebook showcasing different products, the Instagram story Ad while you were browsing your stories, and the Google Display Ad that you saw as you were surfing the web made you wonder the kind of reach your business can get simply by trying out these different digital marketing efforts. But when you sit down with a marketing expert and they ask you about who you are targeting, you realize you haven’t thought about that part yet.

Who is the target? 

Knowing who your target is the first step for any company when it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy. A target market is a set of individuals that share similar needs or characteristics that your company hopes to serve. These people are targeted to be the end users who will be purchasing your product.

How do you determine the target market?

Because you want to get the most sales out of your marketing efforts, perhaps you’re thinking about capturing the interests of as many people as possible. However, in marketing, the opposite holds true: the more defined and clear the target, the more chances your marketing will work.

When you define your product and what it does, it becomes easy to determine who the end users will be and what they will like the most out of your offering. The key is understanding the needs of your customer, their pain points, and how you can meet that need with your product. This is possible through market research such as customer focus groups, industry reviews, or market surveys.

Making specific messages

Once you have successfully narrowed down a target market, then you can begin thinking of messaging that can appeal to them. This is important as it is about how you approach and come off to your possible clients. How you would approach selling coffee to someone who wants the premium coffee experience would be different to selling coffee to a busy worker who needs coffee to stay awake. Each target segment has different and unique needs and the message has to be one that clearly gets across how their needs can be met with the product.

Getting the audience right 

Usually, the target audience is also the intended recipient of your marketing message but sometimes, it isn’t so clear cut. There are some products where the buyer of the product is not the same as the end-user, so in cases such as this, it is important that the messaging is to the person who is making the purchase. In some cases, this does not ring true. An example would be toys for kids because while the parents pay for the toys, the kids get to influence their parents to buy the toys so in this case, it works that the toys are marketed directly to them.

Being more cost-effective 

Knowing who your desired target market is, makes it easier to make decisions when it comes to budget allocations. If you have a much narrower targeting, you will save on money and get a better return on investment. For instance, you would get better results by targeting women aged 20-30 and into cooking rather than targeting just women. Your money is not going to waste on wasted audiences if you have clearly defined your target audience because you are taking out of the equation people who are unlikely to purchase your product.

Now that you know about the first step to an effective marketing campaign, you are ready to move onto the next stage. Here in iManila, we believe in the importance of getting the right message across to the right audiences. We are dedicated to helping you achieve your business goals through the right digital marketing. Learn more about how we can work together. 

What you need to know about E-Commerce Marketing

The digital world is now officially a huge part of our daily lives with the new normal that we are promptly facing. The pandemic has made everyone realize that we all have to adapt to living online. We are now living at a time wherein e-commerce is beneficial to every business and consumer.

A lot of changes have happened in the past few months, a lot of lives have changed, some businesses have closed, while different people and communities have been struggling financially. This crisis has tested us but one good thing that has come out from it is how we have adapted to living our lives online.

Let’s begin by first defining what is e-commerce marketing. E-commerce marketing is about driving brand awareness and call-to-action for consumers to buy your products and avail of your services. You have to successfully cater to your buyer’s preferences and work your way around it effectively to reach your target market and to effectively make sales conversions through online platforms whether it be through your website or through social media.

Here are some ways to make the most out of e-commerce marketing:

  1. Build a strong bond and loyalty.

One of the most essential tasks that you should focus on is the strong bond and loyalty towards the consumers. The benefits of customer relationship strategies should be well taken care of and be established. Nowadays, consumers develop a relational approach that relates to customer loyalty.

There is a lot to take into account for an effective service type to build on customer bond and loyalty. For your brand to succeed it must have a sustainable competitive advantage that increases customer retention and attraction to your brand. For as loyalty increases, the volume of purchases and customer referrals also increase.

Once you’ve developed a strong bond with your consumers, a lot of marketing benefits will follow such as, the good ole’ word-of-mouth marketing, good reviews, testimonials, and even case studies. Once successfully done, your e-commerce store will be filled with people that are engaged to your products and services, thereby increasing the level of brand awareness and driving more sales.

  1. Customize and personalize your e-commerce site.

Consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can remember. The best brands are usually remembered through different promotions and unique offerings. Every consumer is always satisfied when they have a personalized experience thus it makes them feel special, helping improve their shipping experience.

In a traditional retail store, we would always visit stores that make us feel known and special through its store employees. Brick and mortar stores are designed to attract customers while products are laid out to grab attention. The same goes for e-commerce stores, where buyers should be made to feel welcome and should have a positive user experience from the homepage to the inner pages.

Customized and personalized e-commerce sites make the users’ experience and purchases faster and easier. It is all about treating every person who visits your site as an exclusive customer. Tailor fit your site to reflect the unique needs of every buyer in a way that they will feel like they are part of the brand’s journey.

  1. Establish and capitalize on user-generated content (UGC).

To make it big online, you have to cut out and push through ahead of your competitors. Brands should always keep on trying something new and staying in trend to remain and be known as number one. One way to stay influential is through user-generated content. User-generated content allows marketers to let their consumers do the talking for them. It is about allowing people to advertise your product for you based on their own experiences and feedback.

  1. Provide an Add-to-Cart option.

An e-commerce site is not without a shopping cart. It’s almost similar to the traditional shopping cart, but this time around, everything just works with a click Having a well visible shopping cart allows buyers to control what they want to buy and allowing them an easier access to proceed to check-out to purchase the items on their cart.

Most importantly, a visible add-to-cart option on your website lets users know that they can get what they need with no fuss. It is also important that upon checking-out, users are aware of your company’s return policy, delivery procedures and options and that when needed, a customer support representative is available to answer any concerns.

  1. Create a responsive and effective web design.

Having a responsive and modern web design is an important aspect of an e-commerce website. The design should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on the adjustment to the screen size, platform, and orientation.

Follow the rule that “less is more” but also don’t be afraid to use a different mix of artworks, designs, and images. All of your e-commerce strategies will only work well when your website has a responsive design, is easily viewable, and can be accessed with the use of any gadgets. Finally, always make it a point to organize your content, keep the words simple and make sure that your website can be easily navigated regardless of age or gender.

Not sure where to begin with your e-commerce marketing? Having the right agency partner can help you establish your business goals and thrive in the “new normal”. iManila can develop the best, user-friendly, modern and easy-to-use e-commerce website for your business. Let’s talk or check out our website at www.imanila.ph to learn more.

Debunking the Most Common Website Myths

It is always a milestone for a business to have their own website as it’s a great way to expand their online presence. It can be exciting, but there are also a lot of myths about having your own website. 

We’re here to debunk those common myths and help you get on the right track to having the best business website possible!

Once you have a working website, you’ll attract visitors

Getting the website working and online is only half the work. What happens here is that there is a mismatch in expectations with business owners with how websites can give them the results they want. 

The truth is that it takes time, resources, and skills to attract website visitors. There are many factors to consider such as search engine optimization, paid search ads, video ads — in short, a lot of promotional means to get the right amount of traffic to your site. Once you put in the action then effort, that is the only time you’ll be seeing an increase in your website traffic. 

If your website looks good, you will start getting sales

Closely related to the previous one, while a well-designed website may be grabbing the attention of your visitors, it doesn’t necessarily equate to a sale. 

It is true that to attract new people and to give visitors a good user experience you would need a beautiful website, but at the end of the day, it’s still the quality of your products and services and brand reputation that weighs more. If all you are offering is aesthetic but your products or service fail to follow through on its promises, it will fail because people will be able to see through it. A business first and foremost must focus on its own products before worrying about aesthetics and appearances. If you are focused on delivering the right value to your site visitors, your site would work its magic even without the over-the-top designs. In short, your product should speak for itself, your website is merely a tool in helping your message get across to potential customers. 

Once your website is up, the work is done

This again is a mismatch of expectation as websites need ongoing attention much like any other business that needs to be nurtured and maintained. 

Website maintenance is a thing and part and parcel of this is renewing your domain registration on time, protecting your site from any potential threats such as viruses or cybercrime, keeping your design up to date in line with current trends, and investing in promotion to keep the site visitors coming. 

Your website needs to have all the features the other websites have 

There is a misconception that more features means your website will be better. While you may get a lot of inspiration by viewing websites of other brands, you may start to notice some of them have certain elements such as carousels for their headers. But again, it is always important to know the value of each decision as these can hinder your customers from properly navigating your site and getting them to do what you intend them to do. 

For websites, simplicity is key. The bells and whistles would not matter to your customer if they can get their business done on your website in the most direct and simple manner. It is always about the value that the customers get from your products or services. If you are thinking of having a certain feature, know that if it wouldn’t add anything of value to your customers then it’s better left out. 

What’s next?

For different people you may ask, websites may mean different things for them. However, it is important to know what it is that your business really needs as everyone has different approaches. Each business works differently. It is nice to research more about how you can create the kind of website that suits the purpose you intend it to and helps you achieve your business goals. Starting with debunking these common website myths, we hope to be able to guide you in creating your dream website. 

Getting the right experts on board can help ease any worries you might have about building a website on your own. Rest assured that you can find the right partner in iManila, who has been in the industry for over 24 years. Learn more about how we can help you build your website and how we can make it work for you. 

Effective Seasonal Marketing Strategies  

As September comes, it’s as if the world is programmed to go all crazy. The streets are full, establishments are overly crowded, traffic is unimaginable, and loud noises are everywhere. Indeed, the busiest time of the year and the luckiest time for business owners.  

The season has just begun. So if you haven’t planned your marketing strategies yet, we got you.  

Build an email list  

May it be seasonal or all year-round, building your database for your email marketing campaigns should be one of your top priorities. Take advantage of the high number of traffic in an internet-busy and profit-rich season like this by segmenting new signups or retargeting the leads in your old database.  

You also need to highlight the seasonal deals on your newsletter or announce to your subscribers that you are giving them an early access those deals.  

Promote special product categories  

Another great strategy to consider is categorizing your product by season or by occasion. You should know which among your products people are most likely going to buy. This is to keep your customers away from the hassle of browsing your catalogs of products that aren’t fit for the occasion. 

In short words, choose a relevant product to do the front act. 

Set up a countdown timer 

Is there anything else that excites people more than a big event coming? Building anticipation for an upcoming event builds hype and interests among people. So, don’t forget to advertise ahead of time and set up a timer for people to see.  

Create seasonal testimonials and games 

A businessman could attest to how a testimonial could drive more sales. Before checking out, a consumer would usually look for testimonials, ratings or reviews about the product. Have someone review the product you are planning to highlight and post it on your media channels.  

A seasonal game could also work. Always induce fun and adventure to your audiences. Do not just aim for profit but for good customer interaction and experience as well. You can create quizzes, mind games, user-generated content, or anything that requires people to share your brand across social media sites. And don’t forget about the prizes! A reward is what excites them mostly.  

Create daily or weekly offers 

It’s always a good idea to attract people to continuously engage on your social media pages or website. Creating daily or weekly offers could make that possible for you. You may also create daily rewards if they interact or visit your sites.  

Inspect what could go wrong and resolve it 

Seasonal events bring huge traffic. If you sell on your website, be prepared to encounter potential technical issues, checkout errors, or your site crashing. We don’t want things like these to occur but they do happen unexpectedly so buckle up.  

You should ask yourself, is my current hosting plan able to handle a huge traffic? If you don’t know the answer, that’s something we can help you with.  

Just remember that giving consumers a smooth, fast and unproblematic shopping experience is always the key to a successful business.  

Seasonalize your brand 

Aside from making deals or special rewards for the season, you may also customize the look of your brand. Give people the feel of the season by creating relevant content, designs, graphics, and more.  

Play around your packaging as well. Just remember to give your customers an extra something for free. 

Capitalize on advertising 

The spirit of Christmas is around the corner. People are already starting to shop gifts online or offline. 

And what greater way to dominate online than doing ads? Get double or triple your ad investments from running ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Google.  

If you are having a hard time planning your seasonal marketing strategies or running these ad options, you just need a little management investment to have an agency do it for you.  

Don’t miss out this huge opportunity to get ahead of your competitors. Let iManila do the magic for you.  

Request a quote for our Social Media Management, Social Media Ads, Google Ads, and other website services now. You may also leave us a message or email us at [email protected]. 

‘BER’ Months Marketing Guide for all Digital Marketers

The most wonderful time of the year is coming up! ‘Tis the season to be jolly!

BER months starts from September to December and are the most important months to look at and get excited about as a marketer. These months help fuel up every business to raise more brand awareness, sales initiatives, and engage with customers.

Don’t miss out on the season to grow your brand. Here’s a quick guide to help you during the most anticipated time of the year:

 

  1. CREATE EFFECTIVE SEASONAL OFFERS AND PROMOTIONS

What best way to spark joy and entice customers and potential buyers to buy than by adding the “Best Offer” and “% Discount” tags? Seasonal fluctuations in consumer buying behavior always increase during special seasons, particularly the most loved BER months. It’s best to grab the chance.

There are a lot of offers that are doable but always keep in mind that it should be extraordinary from what is usual. Our situation now is different; your special offers should also be. Start with free shipping, shipping voucher codes, followed by 50% off, cashback deals, additional points/rewards, limited-time deals, freebies, and other promotional bundles to induce the buyers.

You should seize the seasonal advantages as well such as gift card deals, holiday bundles, holiday QR Codes, exclusive holiday treats, promo contests, and the famous, free gift wrapping. Make sure that every seasonal promo that you have will always stand out above all other competitors.

 

  1. CREATE SEASONAL CONTENTS

It is easier to grab the customer’s attention when you create the best seasonal content. Build up your content for the holidays and highlight the products and categories that are traditionally the most popular during the holiday seasons.

We all know that people tend to look at designs more than the texts, so make sure to create content that is in line with the season, showcasing creative trends and highlighting brand innovation and flexibility. Creative and up-to-date content drives awareness and interest, leading and influencing the customers to decide their way into buying.

Brands that are always in line with the season receive the best kind of word-of-mouth marketing. It engages many consumers to take suggestions, reviews, and then relay it to their family, relatives, and, friends especially when shared on social media.

Let your brand, products, and offers be heard through the use of holiday contents that are just as loud as Christmas jingles.

 

  1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND TARGET MARKET TO ADVERTISE YOUR BRAND AND PRODUCTS

 

Effective and successful marketing is knowing the right people that will buy your product and the right place wherein you can advertise your seasonal offers, promotions and, contents.

Design your brand and products directed to as many consumers as possible since people are most likely to spend during the holiday season. As marketers, it’s just our job to make them more aware that your brand exists and is something they need to buy during the holidays.

Get to know your target audience’s interests and make use of that knowledge for your branding to be more effective and specific.  Focus on the customers and potential buyers who are actively in pursuit of products related to your industry or who share interest in what you’re selling.

 

To wrap-it-up, it’s time for your brand to rise and be ready for this season. Although the times now are quite different and even though a lot of people say that Christmas this year may not be the same – let’s keep our hopes up and continue to work towards the objective of ensuring that our brands are holiday-ready.

As we continue to stay at home, let’s keep our businesses moving through digital marketing. There are plenty of ways to reach your target market whether it be through Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, through Search Engines like Google, through your website, email and other digital marketing platforms.

iManila is the best Web Development and Digital Marketing Agency, and has helped different brands through Website design and development, Apps Development, and Digital Marketing. We’d love to help your brand sleigh BER months. *wink*

Get in touch with us and Contact us to learn more!

Cloud Hosting Vs Shared Hosting: Which is better?

Hosting is crucial when setting up your website and emails for the first time – but it can also be confusing. Shared hosting and cloud hosting have three things in common: web hosting provider, servers, and websites. Though shared hosting is deemed to be more popular than all hosting plans, understanding the new features of cloud hosting might give you second thoughts.  

In this blog, we will be looking into each of their key features like uptime, support, security, pricing, performance, and other benefits.  

Shared Hosting  

Shared hosting has long been part of the web history. Its main difference from cloud hosting is that multiple websites are hosted together and share all the resources available. Such resources shared includes disk space, storage, bandwidth, and databases all in one server. It generally requires a dedicated web server. Although this is cheaper and easier to use than cloud hosting, it may not be the best option for websites with a lot of traffic and that are content heavy.  

Cloud Hosting 

Since its inception back in 1996, cloud hosting services has been gaining attention – and rightly so! In comparison to shared hosting, cloud hosting allows your website to be hosted on multiple servers. What’s good about this is that if an issue comes along with one of the servers, you’re safe from downtime as multiple servers will allow your information to be accessible online. Cloud computing technology allows numerous machines to work in synchrony. Aside from its proven flexibility, its ultra-fast speed is also one to look out for.  

Features 

Uptime 

Shared hosting, in its very nature, may assure you 99.5% uptimes but you can expect that when you get a spike in website traffic, you’ll probably experience some downtime. 

With cloud hosting, on the other hand, you’re guaranteed impeccable uptimes despite surges in traffic. 

Support 

Cloud hosting has unlimited everything, from storage, bandwidth, and databases. It may only get more advanced in the following years. Shared hosting, in contrast, has many limits. Overusing its limited resources could cause suspensions.  

Bonuses 

Shared hosting could get the upper hand this time. There are always free bonuses waiting for you if you get shared hosting plans. This can range from free domain names to web transfers and website builders – this would all depend on your preferred supplier. But, cloud hosting, alternately, isn’t really that generous.  

Security 

The security protocols of shared hosting are often based on applications and databases as these are the most vulnerable to hackers. 

 

A hacker that has access to one shared hosting server automatically gives him access to all the websites on it. And once a website is hacked into, the intruder could invade the site time and again. 

That being said, you must keep your computers safe by using reliable antiviruses, strong passwords and keeping your cPanel away from any files on your account.  

Cloud hosting, on the other hand, has usually four major security controls: 

  1. Deterrent Controls 
  2. Preventative Controls 
  3. Detective Controls 
  4. Corrective Controls 

Cloud hosting incorporates encrypted algorithms to further protect your data. It also prioritizes data confidentiality, data access control, and data integrity to protect you from traditional security issues like network eavesdropping, invasion and cloud-specific ones.  

Performance  

Most shared web hosts often struggle in selling this feature to clients. Shared hosting’s limited features impede its speed. You also need to be ready with frequent downtimes and outages. 

With cloud hosting, you can guarantee ultra-fast, auto-scalable and customizable platform. High traffic doesn’t budge the servers. In fact, cloud hosting is highly recommended for sites with high traffic.  

Pricing 

Sharing servers always translate to cheaper costs. So naturally, shared hosting services are the most affordable type of hosting services there is around. This is recommended for start-up businesses or for simple informational or catalogue-type of websites that don’t expect too much traffic.  

While, naturally given the difference in technology and the speed as well as the guaranteed uptime, cloud hosting would generally be significantly more costly. Essentially with cloud hosting, you pay more to get more.  

— 

Shared hosting is definitely a go to for those who are on a tight budget. If you are a new industry player, shared hosting could be a start. But if you want to advance your security, features, performance and speed, cloud hosting could do that for you.  

If you have an e-commerce site or looking to expand your website into a full system, definitely cloud hosting is the best decision to make sure that you don’t get any downtime with spikes in traffic. With cloud hosting too, you assure users of a faster loading speed on your website.  

If you are having trouble choosing which is better, we’ll gladly guide you through. Drop us a line or shoot us a message today to know more about our hosting services! For more information, visit our website at www.imanila.ph/hosting/. 

IMPORTANT REMINDER: How To Spot Spam And Phishing Emails

In the recent days, we’ve received a lot of inquiries and concerns from clients regarding spam and phishing emails.  

You’ve probably heard of “spam” or “phishing” before. On a regular basis, companies big and small often send out precautions to their employees and tips on how to avoid this. This is because most of the time, our emails are the targets of these scams and oftentimes, we don’t even know it! A single click of a button may cause big trouble if we unapologetically continue to ignore these types of emails. Here we’ve listed down some important tips to avoid your emails from being compromised and what you should do if you’ve suddenly become a victim!   

Tips on how to avoid being a victim 

By being meticulous with our emails, we can determine which are spam emails and which are phishing emails. Here’s important tips to keep in mind especially if you’re the type who likes to keep a clean inbox on a daily basis:  

  • Check your email account to see if you have a tool to filter out potential spam and phishing emails; if so, channel them into a bulk email folder. 
  • Never reveal personal or financial information in an email as this is an opportunity for criminals to get further into your email account. 
  • Always check the security of a website before entering sensitive or personal information online. If Google Chrome doesn’t allow you to enter the website, it’s probably best that you don’t!  
  • Pay attention to the website’s URL because malicious websites usually look identical and these URLs use variation in spelling or a different domain. 
  • If you’re unsure if the email is legitimate or not, try contacting the company and ask if they’re sending out emails heavily for a large amount of contacts including yours.
  • Diligently inspect the email address of the sender since some phishing emails tend to show that their email address is legitimate. 
  • Do not instantly open emails from unknown or suspicious senders. 
  • Do not open or download suspicious email attachments with suspicious filenames. 
  • Immediately delete suspicious emails and remember to empty your trash. 
  • Use strong passwords, please.
  • Ask your IT Admin to secure your computers with the latest OS versions, patches and security software.
  • If you are using email clients, make sure you are using Secure SSL/TLS settings.
  • Scan your cPanel or hosting account for malware using Virus Scanner tool.

 

What to do if you are a victim 

If you’ve fallen and have unavoidably become a victim of spam or phishing, take these security measures into action immediately to avoid future problems: 

  • When you receive emails from your bank containing activities you haven’t done, call your bank to block your card/s immediately. 
  • Change your password and other confidential information in an instant if you’ve received notifications for an account in an online service.
  • In the event that you clicked a suspicious link or downloadable malicious software, use antivirus software to scan your computer and quarantine any viruses.
  • You may contact the nearest IT professional in your company to help handle the situation and to ask for guidance on how to go about the problem.
  • Report malicious content to authorities if possible.
  • Be an online informer and spread precautionary information to everyone to avoid scams and phishing in the future. 

 

For any clarifications or concerns please do not hesitate to email our Technical Support Team at support@imanila.ph or to contact us in our mobile numbers at +63 947 427 3011 or +63 947 427 3012 or in our new trunkline number at (+632) 8876-1925. Our Technical Support Team is open to help you with your website and email concerns from Monday to Sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  

To learn more about how to manage your cPanel and emails, visit our iManila Help Center at https://imanila.ph/help/.  

Pros and Cons of User Generated Content

In today’s modern times, we live and breathe user-generated content (UGC) whether knowingly or unknowingly. It has gotten rapid popularity due to its easy access for users. So what is it exactly? 

User-generated content is any content whether text, video, images, reviews, that are created by the people themselves instead of the brands. The brands will then share these content on their social media pages, websites, and other channels. The platforms that best utilize these are Instagram and YouTube, where users can upload photos and videos on their own profile. 

You may be asking, why do people love creating their own content? Firstly, people like to express themselves, whether it’s making a product review video or taking aesthetic shots of a certain product. Making user generated content is a good way to let them both express themselves while at the same time promoting their personal values. 

As a business owner, it’s important to understand how you can benefit from user-generated content and at the same time, the negatives that come along with it to better your marketing strategies. 

 

The Good 

Because it essentially lets users do the content, it can help reduce your content burden. Conceptualizing and creating content is a challenge for any marketer. Add that to the multitudes of available content ideas online, it is hard to come up with something distinctly original. UGC can offer a different perspective to possible customers even with it just being a simple review, or discussions among customers in blog comments sections. Congruent with this is also that you can save time and money as content takes time to create which can leave you free to do other productive things.  

Another reason is to improve your reach and engagement. Campaigns in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that involve the use of hashtags are an example. Each time users put the specific hashtag on their posts, they are able to drive engagement to their network of followers and friends. It is said that effective UGC can generate up to 7 times more engagement than content created by brands, which can trickle down to more sales. 

UGC are made by real people with faces and stories their friends and followers know, which is why it creates trust and authenticity for your brand. Data shows that users are 2.4 times more likely to view UGC as authentic compared to content by real brands which is a good credibility boost for any brand. Modern customers also prefer knowing what they’re getting before they order and that means not just check the official pages of the brand but also customer reviews. 92% of consumers trust reviews from people they know, and 70% from online reviews. 

 

The Not So Good

Just with all positives there are negatives and one of those is having negative content. You can only have so much control over the kind of experience your customer will have and not everyone will like the products or services you are selling. People tend to be biased. It is never a good thing to completely moderate over the bad content and censor them as it can always backfire. 

As mentioned there is also the need to monitor content because although anyone can express what they want freely, people can turn nasty and malicious online. This is also a method to fight back on spam, which is counterproductive to user-generated content. 

There is potential for legal issues to look out for especially as the content is posted by the users, giving them rights to it. Reposting it without the proper attribution is risky, but should you follow through with this, you should not come across any legal problems. 

 

The Verdict? 

While there are disadvantages, the advantages clearly outweigh them. UGC can give you that level of trust and authenticity your own marketing campaigns alone cannot capture while at the same time and money in creating content. Even with the possibilities of getting negative reviews, you are able to have content that is far reaching and can even spark dialogue between potential customers. 

 

It is important to know the upsides and downsides to user-generated marketing because this is a good strategy to have for any business. Unlock the benefits of user-generated content for your business- talk with our experts and see how iManila can help your brand’s digital marketing efforts. Leave us a message or email us at [email protected].