User-Generated Vs Brand Content: What Is The Difference?

Nowadays, there are more debates going on as to which is better, user generated content or brand generated content. Users obviously go for user generated content as it provides them value for their time. It is also the most convenient to publish content online, while it can be difficult to syndicate or publish content to traditional media. Brand content on the other hand, tends to be difficult to control and manipulate in many ways. The biggest challenge for traditional media when it comes to content distribution is that it needs to be re-developed for every publication especially if it is a new niche. So there is always a chance of duplications or a similar strategy.

But brand generated content actually provides users with a better user experience and it is also much easier to keep track of all articles or material posted on the website. User generated content tends to be highly personalized and one can create a lot of content by targeting keywords. Brand content on the other hand has to be tightly focused on a particular brand or company and its products and services. This makes it harder to measure the effectiveness of the efforts and hence the Brand Value of a website.

The main question then arises as to which one should be used and which is better – user generated content or brand generated content? In fact there are multiple answers to this question depending on your requirements and goals as a website owner. If you want to publish a lot of unique content and are keen on making the website interactive then user generated content is the way to go as you will have the freedom to add whatever text and content you want and to tweak it as per your own rules. You will also have to check how you can publish the content on different platforms.

On the other hand, brand based content tends to be focused and hence quite limited in its scope. There may be a few articles on a specific brand or product, but that’s it. If you want to publish the content yourself, you will have to do a great job on the content as you won’t have the same freedom and flexibility with it. You can also publish the content only on your own site and if someone wants to access it from another site, it would not be possible for him to access the article from your site as your content would be exclusive. Hence, if you want to achieve all your goals as a website owner and to make the most out of your SEO campaign then you definitely need to opt for brand generated content.

Now, you might think that you have done a good job in creating your content. However, what happens when someone wants to get more information about a particular product or service and all he gets is some random content that nobody really wanted? This could have been prevented if you had taken the time in planning the article. You would have created a title and an agenda or a plan that would guide the content creation process and would have specified the exact type of content you want to create.

When we talk about user generated content, it is a form of content that is specifically written by the person who owns the website. It is not written by any professional or anyone who has some knowledge in designing. This is very important because a website owner would want their readers to enjoy the contents on the site and if they find the contents interesting then the reader would most probably come back to the website or blog to find out more information about the product. In other words, the content should be what the client wants to read.

You see, it’s not always that simple. Branding your business is not that easy and even when you do this you may not always gain success in the end. However, you will definitely enjoy the benefits that your brand brings to the table. And that’s why it is more advisable to go with the idea of user generated content and not with brand generated content.

In the end, both content types have their own merits but one may be more suitable for a particular niche. So, it would be up to the website owner which one he would prefer to use. Whichever the case may be, keeping the above points in mind would definitely help you decide what type of content to use on your site. Once you are done with that, you are sure to have a very good website that would attract lots of customers to your product.