Is it important that I be “an original girl”?

The online world is full of written words, pictures, images, and videos. These days it’s hard to be original and stand out from the crowd. It’s nothing new, however, as evident by this quote from Mark Twain.

“All ideas are secondhand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources. We are constantly littering our literature with disconnected sentences borrowed from books at some unremembered time and now imagined to be our own.” — Mark Twain

As a writer, a blogger, I sometimes struggle with content writing for my own blog, as well as when writing for outside sources. Everything I want to write about has been “done.” Yet when I add the brilliance that is myself (tongue in cheek) into the mix, I get original content, written from an original perspective.

In our industry, social media marketing, we often see trends emerge as more and more write, share, and talk about a certain topic, yet these trends come and go as quickly as you can say “MySpace.” One of the things I’ve noticed lately is a trend in articles about user-generated content. And this one hasn’t gone away so quickly.

What is user-generated content?

User-generated content (UGC) is “any data or media that is contributed by individual users of a website.” That includes social media content. Websites likes Wikipedia, YouTube, and Flickr are great examples of sites relying heavily on UGC.

How can you tap into this phenomenon and take advantage of this trend in your business? Simply by repurposing this user-generated content and putting it to good use for your company.

Here are 5 ways you can use user-generated content to create content for your business.

1. Interviews. Interview other business owners, clients, business partners, suppliers and employees and use their words for your content!
2. Quotes. Ask for quotes from peers, those in your industry, and your clients and repurpose them for content. A perfect example of how many business owners use this technique is when they ask for testimonials.
3. Lists. Make lists of industry articles, industry leaders, industry awards, industry tips, and more and link back. People love to read this type of content!
4. Use #Hashtag Search. Do a search on certain hashtags with a theme and embed the videos and/or images you find into a blog post!
5. Ask Questions. Ask questions of your peers, industry leaders, or your customers/fans. Whether you ask specific or open-ended questions, either way, make sure to link back to the right person, and they will be thrilled to be featured in your writing.

YOUR TURN

• Have you ever used user-generated content for your blog?
• Do you like reading user-generated content?
• Do you have user-generated content on your website?