Survey Shows User Generated Content Key to Social Discovery

User-generated content might just be what adds the special sauce to Social Discovery apps and services. That’s the suggestion if we take a closer look at the results of a survey commissioned by EnTribe, a community and content development Software as a Service platform. Interestingly, the survey suggest that consumers are not interested in traditional influencer style posts and ads. They are in fact most swayed and convinced by authentic posts from other real consumers. 

Here lies the appeal and power of Social Discovery apps. Such platforms can build their success on cultivating communities of like minded people, who share interest, and can therefore be trusted for recommendations and reviews. Social discovery delivers authenticity that is increasingly hard to find.

The survey in particular looked at how brands advertise to consumers on social networking platforms. Nearly 1,000 American consumers were questioned about how they felt about influencer content and in particular their branded content. Some 81 per cent of respondents admitted that they often scroll straight past such content. In fact, only 12 per cent said that such posts had any kind of influence on their purchase habits. So much for the term ‘influencer’…

On the other hand, 84 per cent said User-generated content would increase their trust in a brand. Adam Dornbusch, CEO of EnTribe said:

“This survey is evidence of the continuous shift we’ve been seeing around consumer preference towards content that is authentic and organic. Regardless of industry, user-generated content is allowing brands to build online communities with a foundation of trust and inclusion. We expect to see these trends continue in the months and years to come.”

The survey is focussed on how brands can improve their engagement – and the answers seems to be resoundingly: use other real authentic customers to have the best effect. This really gets to the heart of why Social Discovery is so powerful and such platforms have real potential to grow. On Social Discovery platforms we can uncover others who genuinely share our interests and therefore whose opinions and views are more trustworthy and of value to us. We are all looking for communities we can trust, and Social Discovery can deliver that, perhaps more than influencer content we see on social networking apps.