How do luxury brands use UGC marketing? Key analysis of these 3 issues

Many luxury brands are reluctant to use user-generated content ( UGC ) marketing due to the difficulty in controlling the scale. With the popularity of social media , many luxury consumers want to establish a closer relationship with brands – they are not satisfied with just being a consumer, but a content producer.

Kantar Media came to a similar conclusion by observing the evolution of social media in China over the past five years: content creation is no longer dominated solely by mainstream media or KOLs . Consumers are increasingly creating new content on Weibo and WeChat .

How can luxury marketers leverage this trait of consumers to encourage users to create original content? We spoke to three experts to get some advice for brands.

Weibo vs WeChat: Which channel is more effective?

While brands are free to choose the channel based on the right goals, all three experts agree that brands should first understand the characteristics of both platforms and then choose the one that ensures the best series results.

Weibo has a more transparent user experience where anyone can like, share and comment. This transparency can make UGC more disseminable. In contrast, WeChat is a more private tool , and generally speaking, users must first search for and subscribe to a brand’s WeChat account before they can leave a comment. However, this attribute also provides an opportunity for brands to communicate deeply with users.

Charlie Gu, director of China Luxury Consultants, said: “Users’ interactions on WeChat can reach a deeper level and trigger emotional resonance.” He continued, “Besides, the user graphs of Weibo and WeChat are also different. You can attract people of different ages on WeChat. In comparison, young people are more active on Weibo.”

French cosmetics brand NARS launched a UCG on Weibo in July this year, encouraging fans to come up with a Chinese name for its classic lipstick "Orgasm". The post quickly went viral on Weibo, attracting 14,296 replies and 9,612 reposts before this post.

Remi Blanchard, strategic planning manager for Asia Pacific at Mazarine, said: “A good strategy is to use Weibo and WeChat in a complementary way. ” According to Blanchard, brands can first promote on Weibo and then invite fans to participate in actual activities on WeChat. With these two simple steps, brands are better able to identify loyal fans because loyal fans take the extra step to engage.

What type of content should brands publish?

Based on our observations, most UGC initiated by brands are relatively simple and visually oriented, encouraging consumers to send text messages or pictures . According to Blanchard, this type of content is effective because it is easy for consumers to engage with and, most importantly, easy to share. Charlie Gu, director of China Luxury Consultants, suggested that a golden rule for content types is that " brands should have a certain degree of control, but should not hinder the creativity of participants ."

In addition to leaving enough room for consumers to play, brands should also determine the type of content their UGC creates based on the goals of the campaign. London-based fashion retailer Farfetch launched a WeChat HTML5 campaign in April this year, allowing fans to freely customize their outfits. The campaign received 8,000 hits within a week of its launch and drove traffic to its e-commerce site, where all the clothes featured in the UGC campaign were available for purchase.

French luxury brand Longchamp developed a mini program specifically for UGC in April. The app is designed in the form of a map where fans are able to check in and share their in-store pictures, ultimately leading to more foot traffic to the retail store.

In a Weibo campaign in September, German luxury brand MCM asked fans to take photos in a high-end shopping mall in Hangzhou with a rabbit sculpture as the background and share the photos. This type of UGC is mainly check-in based and is used to help brands promote new styles, retail locations and new events.

What are some common misunderstandings about UGC marketing?

1. Operation details are not clear enough

"On social media, participants need to know what the brand is doing in a very short time," said Chenyin Pan, China manager of digital marketing agency Fireworks. “The biggest problem is that the participation format is unclear.” In the comments on several luxury brands’ WeChat UGC events Weibo, we saw that many consumers were asking some basic questions, such as “how to submit pictures” and “how long will the promotion last?”

2. Launch UGC only at the beginning of important holidays

Holidays or important business events are important opportunities for brands to encourage consumer engagement. However, this is also a time when advertising is everywhere, with every brand trying to gain the maximum attention of consumers. “The key to engaging consumers is to launch UGC some time before the holiday season begins,” Blanchard said. That way, fans have ample time to respond and brands can collect more data and gain more valuable insights.

3. Exposure is the only factor that determines the success of UGC

A common misunderstanding is that the more fans a UGC attracts, the better it is for the brand. However, it is not ruled out that some people participate only to win prizes and stop following the brand once their goal is achieved. To avoid this from happening, Blanchard recommends that brands make these events more educational and provide users with the opportunity to learn new features about the brand and products.