Looking for the best way to find and share user-generated content on Instagram?
Today, we’re happy to share a new suite of user-generated content features to help you collect, organize, and re-post content on Instagram!
Now you can add Instagram posts that you are mentioned or tagged in directly to your Later media library, making it easy to share to your social channels in just a few clicks.
You can also search by hashtags or have contributors upload content to your Later account.
It’s a great way to save time on content creation, and engage your fans while you’re at it.
What is User-generated Content?
If you’re new to user-generated content (UGC), here’s the cut-and-dry textbook definition.
UGC is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, and audio, that have been posted by consumers on online platforms.
You’ve probably seen UGC in the wild—friends posting an Instagram story about a new pair of shoes they love and tagging the store, or even the #PSL posts from Starbucks lovers that make the rounds every fall.
So how is UGC going to help you?
Well, for starters, it helps you source content that already exists, meaning less time spent creating (or finding!) the perfect thing to share.
But more importantly: user-generated content is trusted. It’s coming from an authentic voice, and not a brand.
We’re way more likely to trust recommendations from our peers—in fact, 85% of consumers find UGC more influential than brand photos or videos.
UGC is so effective that 47% of top-performing content marketing teams are relying on it to build their brand. Our mission at Later is to make sure you have the resources to be a top-performing brand—no matter what stage your business is at.
Incorporating UGC into your social strategy will be a game-changer. Not only will it save you a ton of time on content creation, it’ll help you engage with your followers and attract new ones.
How Later Helps You Manage User-generated Content on Instagram
Next time you open Later on desktop, you’ll see a few options under “Collect Media” in the sidebar. Think of this as command central for finding on-brand content that you can incorporate into your social calendar.
Any content you find in these sections can be easily added to your media library for re-sharing.
This content is also automatically labeled, so you can stay organized and easily find user-generated content any time.
Later’s new suite of user-generated content features has five different ways to find and share UGC, for both Instagram and your other social channels like Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter:
Instagram Mentions and Tags
If you’ve been tagged or mentioned in an Instagram post, that content will show up here. You can then select the posts you want to re-share and add them to your media library.
It’s a great way to keep tabs on what your fans are saying about you and give them a shoutout. That’s especially true if you’ve got a high volume of tags and mentions—you’ll never miss a chance to engage.
Search by mentions and tags is available on all Later Paid Business plans (requires an Instagram Business profile.)
Search by Instagram Hashtag
Searching by hashtag can work in a couple of ways. Let’s say you’re a high-end luxury tea company. You may have come up with a branded hashtag (like #LittleLuxurTEA) that your followers use. You can keep this saved as a search in Later to display the last 7 days of posts across Instagram that use your hashtag, and add those posts to your library for sharing.
If you don’t use a branded hashtag, you can still find content that’s popular within your community. Using our luxury tea example, you could search for #TeaTime or something similar to see what kind of content tea lovers are posting.
You can search up to 30 unique hashtags per Instagram account over a 7-day rolling window, but only posts in the last 24 hours will show in the results.
Search by hashtag is available to all Later users with an Instagram business profile—free.
Collaborate with Contributors
If you’re working with partners (like influencers, brand ambassadors, agencies or photographers), you can add them as contributors and make sure their content is delivered straight to your Later account.
You can then approve or deny the content, and the approved media is added to your library. No need to hop between apps or uploads—the content is right there for you and ready to share.
Collaborate with Contributors is available on all Later Business plans.
The Results Are In…
A small group of Later users got early access to our user-generated content features. Here’s what they had to say (and some examples of the content they shared!)
“A large part of Lush’s content strategy is to elevate other voices, including our customers. One simple way to do this is through UGC. We’re fortunate that our volume of tagged images is incredibly high, but it can be difficult to effectively manage. Using Later has helped us to navigate our tagged photos and videos, collect and organize them, and leverage across our channels” – Laura Cranfield, Social Media Manager, North America at Lush
“Later has helped me save a huge amount of time with scheduling UGC for Instagram. I used to spend 3 hours just finding photos and bringing them into Later in a format that was easy for us to schedule, but the new tools solved the majority, if not all, of these issues.” – Ben Pryce, Founder and CEO of Black Wave Digital.
Now it’s your turn to take UGC features for a spin. We’d love to hear how you’re incorporating user-generated content into your social strategy, so feel free to share your thoughts with us on Instagram or Twitter!
