Social media has hit “peak content” but user-generated content (UGC) could be the answer for Canon, said editorial and consumer engagement specialist Tim Wilford.
Speaking at the Socialbakers’ Engage Bali conference, Wilford said Canon has invested heavily in UGC, bringing its social media in-house to produce more content and dropping its social media agency.
“Having those specialities in-house unlocks an authenticity and passion that otherwise might not be there and that’s something we will continue to do,” Wilford said, alluding to the possibilities of Canon bringing more capabilities in-house in the future.
“We are confident bringing our social media in-house is one of the catalysts to the success we’ve seen with content marketing.
“At the end of the day, people that work inside a brand are more passionate about it and it’s easier to get that authentic message from internally.
He said that the cluttered content environment has led to consumers rejecting messages from brands, which is where UGC can reconnect the conversation.
“People trust people, but they don’t trust brands necessarily,” Wilford said.
“People don’t want to have marketing messages forced down their throats on Facebook.”
UGC now accounts for 80% of the content that Canon produces. Wilford values these posts at around $5000-$10,000 per post, but they cost close to nothing to produce, using content from their brand advocates (shown above).
Canon first measured UGC on an awareness and advocacy level, but has evolved its metrics to now focus on newsletter acquisitions. The camera brand is focused on growing its owned media assets so it is not beholden to algorithm changes, like the recent Facebook News Feed update.
AdNews attended Engage Bali as a guest of Socialbakers.
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