A quick tip here. Last week, while scrolling through the news on Pulse, I chanced upon an interesting post from Shortstack that got me thinking.
Here’s the catch: if your engagement or content strategy includes getting your fans to create and submit user-generated content, then this tactic can come in handy.
So what is this tactic? It starts with the public becoming more and more obsessed with selfies. Remember Ellen’s Oscar selfie, the most retweeted photo ever? That’s right. But I’m only getting to my point.
Break out of the contest monotony
The increasing popularity of visual content heavy platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat have carried Selfies to its peak. And businesses should take advantage of this to break out of the contest monotony.
Instead of creating user-generated content around your brand or products, you can ask your fans to take selfies showing you how they use your product or interact with your brand. The key idea here is to let your fans take centre stage and let them show you how your product or brand fits into their daily lives. It could be as direct as “Take a selfie with your favourite Oreo creation!” or as indirect as “Show us your happy selfie!”. The latter seems irrelevant and out-of-place. But indirect tactics can be useful for 2 kinds of brands:
- A brand with strong affective associations, such as Coca Cola (happiness); OR
- A brand whose new marketing strategy is to create positive associations with the brand
Brands that want to create positive associations can now take advantage and ride on the Selfies trend and make an impactful attempt at creating their desired brand associations.
Furthermore, there are many ways your brand can benefit from such tactics, including but not limited to organic product placements, increased awareness, knowledge, likeability, and glimpse into consumer interactions with your brand. In-depth analysis of the benefits is a topic for another day.
So act now! (But remember to do so only if it fits into your strategy!)
You may refer at Marketo’s infographic below to see what kinds of selfies you can ask or challenge your fans to create! Bookmark it for easy reference 
