Most marketers now understand and appreciate the value of user-generated content (UGC).

Research has suggested that UGC can drive almost 7 times more Facebook engagement than brand-generated content. And it has been recognized as “particularly valuable” in response to the increasing demand for authentic, fast, and cost-effective video content.

But some common mistakes continue to be made in the pursuit of higher engagement.

Strategies focused on hiring influencers can incur significant costs with questionable results. Failures in planning can result in retrospectively asking for permissions and rights from content creators, which is both time-consuming and ineffective. And poor communication can lead to poor quality clips being produced, with creators unclear on what is required and how best to achieve it.

So while user-generated content has its advantages, marketers need a clear strategy in 2022 to maximize their results. The answer, though, is simple: user-directed content (UDC).

UDC unleashes the full potential of UGC, driving higher engagement, building loyalty and trust, and creating genuine excitement across your community.

It’s easy to see how UDC can drive those extra results. Tools like Cinebody are particularly useful for managing user-generated content on social media, as they eliminate organizational issues and allow user content to be uploaded and filed for easy access for editing and social posting.

In traditional UGC, a brand creates deep emotional bonds by featuring the audience in the content it publishes. UDC content, however, builds on UGC’s foundations and reinforces those emotional ties by developing direct and personal relationships between brand and consumer during the content creation process.

And while today you don’t have to have a degree in media production to create a good clip, with UDC brands can fine-tune the messaging – maintaining the authenticity and user-generated appeal of their content while also having greater control over hashtags and other social conversations.

With Cinebody, it’s time to make 2022 the year of UDC – and see the results in your own marketing.