Research
Something Borrowed, Something New: How Food Brands Leverage Br-UGC on Instagram
For my senior thesis, I conducted research on how brands utilize brand-related user-generated content (Br—UGC) to benefit their social media marketing. While analyzing and synthesizing past studies that have conducted research on UGC, there was a gap in the literature as to how food brands exclusively utilize UGC on their Instagram profiles. Therefore, I conducted a content analysis to provide more quantitative examination regarding the facilitation of Br—UGC on food brands’ Instagrams.
Leveraging — or borrowing — content from consumers is proving to be an up and coming trend for marketing on social media because it helps strengthen the relationships between brands and their customers. However, my research suggests that when brands share Br-UGC on their social media, they should not only consider which content would best serve their marketing, but which content their consumers would prefer to see to optimize their social media marketing.