What Is Influencer-Generated Content? How It Helps Your Brand

Influencer-generated content is posts, reels, reviews, and videos created by influencers to promote the services and products of a brand. Types of influencer-generated content include sponsored posts, product unboxings, tutorials and how-to videos, brand ambassadorships, giveaways and contests, and social media takeovers.

Influencer-generated content benefits are building trust, boosting brand awareness, driving engagement, and providing repurposable content for social media channels like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Influencer-generated content (IGC) differs from user-generated content (UGC) because it is sponsored and created by influencers as part of a structured influencer strategy, while UGC is created voluntarily by brand consumers.

Influencer-generated content is valuable for brands because it delivers authentic and engaging content to strengthen customer trust and provides scalable opportunities for brand promotions.

What Is Influencer-Generated Content?

Influencer-generated content is any content created by influencers, such as reels, posts, and reviews, to promote a brand’s product or service on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

Influencer-generated content is mostly sponsored by brands, but it is in the influencer’s style and tone that makes the content different from traditional advertisements. This type of content is repurposed by brands to be used across different social media platforms for brand promotion.

What Are the Types of Influencer-Generated Content?

The types of influencer-generated content include sponsored posts, product unboxings, tutorials and how-to videos, brand ambassadorships, giveaways and contests, and social media takeovers. These are explained below.

• Sponsored Posts: Influencers create photos, reels, stories, and videos that feature the products or services of a brand in exchange for payment.
• Product Unboxings: Influencers film themselves opening the brand’s product and reacting to it to give their honest review and feedback.
• Tutorials and How-to Videos: Influencers demonstrate the step-by-step procedure on how to use a product or service. These videos promote the brand and help the audience better understand the value of a product.
• Brand Ambassadorships: Influencers form long-term partnerships with brands and consistently promote their brand to build trust with the target demographic and increase brand recognition.
• Giveaways and Contests: Influencers encourage their followers to take part in challenges, giveaways, and contests related to the brand to increase engagement and brand visibility.
• Social Media Takeovers: Influencers temporarily take over the social media accounts to create and share content directly with the audience of the brand.

What Are the Benefits of Influencer-Generated Content?

The benefits of influencer-generated content include building trust and credibility, increasing brand awareness, increasing engagement, repurposable content, and authenticity. These are explained below.

• Builds Trust and Credibility: Influencer-generated content builds a loyal relationship with the audience because it feels like a recommendation from a trusted friend.
• Increases Brand Awareness: Influencer-generated content exposes the brand to the influencer’s audience, increasing brand reach and awareness.
• Increases Engagement: Due to a considerable fan following, influencers are better able to promote a product and create more engagement through likes, comments, and shares.
• Repurposable Content: Influencer-generated content is reused by brands for their marketing campaigns, and they post it on social media platforms, websites, and paid ads.
• Authenticity: Influencers create content that feels natural and genuine because it is in their own style.

How To Measure the Impact of Influencer-Generated Content?

To measure the impact of influencer-generated content, set clear objectives, track key metrics, check engagement rates, measure website traffic, calculate conversions and ROI, and evaluate brand sentiment. These steps are explained in detail below.

1. Set Clear Objectives: Define achievable goals, evaluate your long-term and short-term expectations, and the outcome you want from influencer-generated content.
2. Track Key Metrics: Monitor the measurable data, such as impressions, clicks, shares, and saves, to understand how the content performs.
3. CheckEngagement Rates: Analyze the likes, comments, and shares to better understand how the content is performing.
4. MeasureWebsite Traffic: Use tools such as Google Analytics and trackable links to see how much traffic is driven to the brand’s website by influencer marketing.
5. Calculate Conversions and ROI: Measure the purchases generated through the influencer-generated content and compare the costs against revenue to calculate the return on investment (ROI).
6. Evaluate Brand Sentiment: Observe the perception of the audience about the brand after monitoring the comments, reviews, and social media mentions to know if your content is landing well.

What Makes Influencer-Generated Content Authentic?

A storytelling approach, along with a unique tone and voice of the influencer, makes influencer-generated content authentic. Influencers do not follow a rigid advertising script and naturally integrate the brand’s product into their daily life so that the content feels authentic to the audience.

The reliable influencer-to-audience relationship makes the content authentic as it feels like advice from a friend rather than a sales pitch. Influencers also share their personal experience after using the products or services, building transparency and trust, which adds to authenticity. 

How to Repurpose Influencer-Generated Content?

To repurpose influencer-generated content, brands share the personalized content from the influencers on their social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Brands use this content as testimonials on their website’s landing and product pages to provide social proof and increase conversions.

Brands also repurpose influencer-generated content by using clips, images, and quotes in email campaigns and newsletters to improve brand engagement. The content is also used for in-store displays, print ads, and packaging to attract a wide demographic.

What Are Tips for Repurposing Influencer-Generated Content?

The tips for repurposing influencer-generated content include securing usage rights, adapting content by channel, using it in paid ads, integrating the brand identity, and crediting the influencers. These tips are explained below.

• Secure Usage Rights: Make sure you have the legal rights to reuse the influencer-generated content across all social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.
• Adapt Content by Channel: Reformat the content for different influencer marketing channels, like using product review videos as Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and TikTok, and use quotes by the influencers on the brand website.
• Use in Paid Ads: Post influencer testimonials, product reviews, and unboxing videos on product pages and landing pages to build a loyal audience and increase brand awareness.
• Integrate the Brand Identity: Edit the influencer-generated content to add the logos, colours, and fonts of the brands to create a cohesive brand image for your audience.
• Credit the Influencers: Tag the influencer whose content you are using to give them credit and build a long-term relationship with them based on respect and trust.

Does Repurposing Influencer-Generated Content Improve ROI?

Yes, repurposing influencer-generated content improves ROI because it increases the lifespan and reach of the content without needing to invest in costly new productions. Repurposed influencer-generated content performs better than polished brand ads because it’s not overly promotional.

Why Should Brands Use Influencer-Generated Content?

Brands should use influencer-generated content because it is cost-effective and builds an emotional connection with the audience, expands the brand reach, and drives higher engagement, unlike traditional marketing.

How Is Influencer-Generated Content Different from UGC?

Influencer-generated content is different from UGC (user-generated content) because it is created by influencers and is sponsored by the brand, while UGC is unpaid content created by customers of the brand and is based on the experience of the consumer after using the product and services.

Why Influencer-Generated Content Is Valuable?

Influencer-generated content is valuable because it is authentic, scalable, and brands can repurpose it for better engagement, higher ROI, reduced promotional advertising, and expanded reach by influencing the audience’s purchasing decisions.