Harnessing User-Generated Content in PPC Campaigns

This era of PPC is one centered around trust. Trust between users and digital marketers, between customers and brands. Savvy online shoppers are guarded against scams and untrustworthy businesses online, so it pays to be authentic in your approach to marketing.

This is where user-generated content (UGC) comes into play. It’s become one of the strongest tools in your marketing arsenal that pairs perfectly as part of your existing PPC campaign. By using UGC in your marketing, you can create ads that feel authentic, believable and naturally engaging. 

Success with UGC lies in understanding everything that UGC has to offer, and when best to use it. Let’s jump in.

Types of UGC (reviews, testimonials, social posts)

First off, let’s take a look at what UGC actually is. There’s more to UGC than meets the eye, with several types available, meaning you can tailor your UGC efforts to match your brand, your marketing goals and your objectives.

Reviews
Perhaps the most quintessential type of content is the humble review. This is any type of written feedback on platforms like Google, Trustpilot or product pages. Reviews provide social proof from existing customers that can help influence the buying decisions of other users engaging with your brand online.

Alongside ads in their native environment, your best reviews can be repurposed as ad copy snippets to highlight real customer experiences. Sometimes, the very best copy can come directly from the source!

Testimonials
Alongside reviews, you can find testimonials. These are longer, more in-depth customer stories often shared via video or written statements. This type of UGC is ideal for higher-value products or services where trust and credibility are crucial.

They’re useful in retargeting campaigns to reassure customers who are more hesitant. Sometimes, users are just looking for reassurance that what they see online does what it says on the tin. A testimonial can be an efficient way to provide that reassurance.

Social posts
The most famous style of UGC is found on social media. This is any type of content shared by customers on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X or LinkedIn (yes, LinkedIn counts as social media these days!)

Users can include photos, videos, unboxings or “how-to” demonstrations, making every approach to UGC tailored and unique, if you partner with the right creator. Ultimately, it’s a way to add a personal, relatable dimension that feels native to social ad platforms. They can also be entertaining, making them even more engaging than anything more “salesy”. 

Other formats worth noting
Beyond the dominant forms of UGC, you can also experiment with Q&A forum discussions, blog posts or community contributions to blogs, websites or social pages. Anything that is influencer-styled micro content created organically by loyal customers can fall into UGC.

Start simple. Your first UGC campaign could be customer-submitted visuals used in carousel or display ads.

How to source and curate UCG for Ads

Now that you’ve got some idea of what UGC has to offer, here’s an outline on how to create your first UGC campaign.

Gathering UGC
To begin with, you need to go directly to the heart of your most engaged users, and start small. Encourage reviews and ratings through follow-up emails, loyalty schemes or incentives. With the permission of users (GDPR is vital with any UGC, naturally), you can take the best of these and use them in your first campaign.

As a second step, you can find your more creatively engaged customers. Try running competitions or campaigns inviting users to share photos or videos with your products. It’s worth creating branded hashtags to make your brand's social content easier to find, and to create a sense of community online.

Beyond sourcing entirely new content, consider monitoring social listening tools to spot organic mentions of your brand. From there, you can contact those users directly to see if they’d be interested in partnering in some UGC. 

Curating UGC
Now that you’ve started to discover how your brand is being creatively shown online, you need to become selective in what you promote and encourage. The idea here is to curate UGC that reflects your customer-base and your brand identity authentically. Select content that feels genuine and aligns with your brand’s tone and campaign goals.

Once those basics are covered, focus on high-quality visuals and well-written feedback that can translate effectively into ads. If you set the bar high, you’ll find users that naturally want to create content that is of a similar quality.

As a rule, always get permission from creators to reuse their content legally and ethically, and be sure to outline the exact usage ahead of time, to avoid any confusion down the line.

Usefully, UGC can be repurposed for multiple platforms and formats, being edited to fit a variety of PPC formats at once. Test different variations of UGC to identify which resonates best with your audience, and be mindful that certain content may perform differently with specific demographics or audience segments.

Platforms that benefit from UGC

Beyond the variety of UGC available, it’s important to understand the platforms you can create UGC for, and how each one has its own pros and cons.

Google Ads
Google has recently BETA tested direct partnerships with creators, streamlining the process of user generated content and welcoming this form of ad in a more official setting, as part of Google Ads. These tests have taken place exclusively on YouTube Shorts, as an invite-only exclusive. But overall, this shows a promising future for UGC via Google.

Aside from the BETA test, many customers can be influenced by ads that use testimonials and other forms of UGC. It’s like a shorthand for reassurance in PPC, so don’t overlook the opportunity to make your ads that little bit more personal.

Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
Both Facebook and Instagram do well with UGC, thanks to their ad formats blending seamlessly into user’s organic feeds. These are visual-first platforms where capturing attention in a way that feels natural and fresh is a winning formula for PPC success.

Stories and Reels with UGC feel more natural than branded content, which resonates with users on the hunt for something more personal to connect with online. UGC can feel like a friend just checking in, rather than a brand looking to sell you something. This more natural approach makes Meta’s ad platforms ideal for UGC. 

TikTok Ads
With the youngest engaged audience of all the platforms, TikTok is the space to occupy if you’re looking to stand out to a new demographic, ready to keep up with the latest trends and viral moments. These can be easily hopped on via UGC thanks to the speed that UGC can be created at. 

Short-form, authentic videos thrive here due to the platform’s “community-first” culture. So, user demos and unboxing videos often outperform polished ads. This is an online culture that thrives off of authenticity, not just huge production budgets.

LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn might not be your first thought when considering where to host your UGC. But with careful consideration, more professional and B2B focussed UGC can work well here. For example, case studies or B2B testimonials are effective for building credibility for your brand, and fall into the category of UGC.

Users on LinkedIn love a story, and customer recounts in sponsored content can highlight real-world applications of your products or services. If you’re looking for something more visual, consider carousel or dynamic display ads showcasing different customer experiences.

Retargeting ads on LinkedIn with customer testimonials can help reduce purchase hesitation, whilst reminding users of your brand’s presence and impact.

Measuring engagement/conversions

Once you’ve built out your campaigns using UGC, you’ll be met with a whole host of data. The difference between an okay campaign vs an efficient one lies in your ability to analyse that data and optimise accordingly. 

The first step to that challenge is understanding what metrics to focus on, and what different data signifies for your campaign. Here’s a quick-fix guide:

Key performance metrics
Your click-through rate (CTR) can increase when ads include relatable UGC, so keep ane eye on this metric.

If you find your UGC campaign has a higher conversion rate than non-UGC related campaigns, this could signal higher buyer trust, and that your UGC is working well!

Engagement metrics such as likes, shares and comments reflect audience resonance to your campaigns. But ultimately, if a UGC ad is getting a high level of likes, but no follow-through on clicking through to your site, you may want to place that ad at the start of the sales funnel, to target a wider audience without putting the pressure on to convert from that one ad alone.

Testing and optimisation
To fully understand the impact of your UGC campaigns, run A/B tests comparing UGC-based ads against brand-only creatives. This will showcase whether your UGC campaign is actually effective, and how you can bring in elements of your brand-only creative work to your UGC campaigns for even better results. Track the cost per acquisition (CPA) to measure how efficient your uGC really is.

Use heatmaps and interaction data to see how users respond visually to UGC in your ads. This will help develop your understanding of what is capturing the attention of your audiences the best.

Aside from the meticulously detailed metrics of individual ads and campaigns, monitor the long-term metrics such as lifetime customer value (LTV) linked to UGC-driven campaigns. This can show you how UGC pays off over time.

Conclusion: Scaling UGC for trust

UGC has gone from a “nice to have” element of marketing to a cornerstone of campaigns that can really resonate with your most engaged customers.

By sourcing it regularly, keeping it fresh and authentic, with a focus on everything that makes your brand stand out, you can link it into your existing PPC campaigns as a self-sustaining loop.

It keeps your customers engaged, creating a direct line from you to the customers that really convert. Because at the end of the day, UGC isn’t just content. It’s proof. Proof of what makes your brand convert, time and time again.