By cdelprincipe@hubspot.com (Curt del Principe)

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Though Mike Tyson meant that literally, his wise words certainly hold true in marketing.

And no marketer gets punched in the mouth quite as often as those who deal with user-generated content.

Need convincing? Just search for videos about Celsius on TikTok. While the drink brand does tout ingredients that “burn calories,” many TikTokkers falsely claim the fitness beverage contains everything from Ozempic to cyanide and will give you luscious locks, sturdy nails, and an early grave.

So what’s a brand to do when UGC goes off the rails? Does a smart marketer fight back or roll with the punches?

Below, I cover some real-world examples of how brands have encountered controversial UGC and then pluck out some takeaways to learn from.

But first, let’s check out what’s at stake …

When UGC Attacks

Despite the old adage that “all publicity is good publicity,” there are a few different types of user-generated content that can potentially damage your brand — even if it sounds overwhelmingly positive.

Misinformation

This involves outright false claims about your product or service. Even when users are trying to promote your brand, these posts can be damaging.

Diving back into the Celsius case I noted above, the “fitness drink” became a lightning rod for false information last year when drinkers posted TikToks alleging it contained the weight-loss drug Ozempic.

At its peak, the term “Celsius drink Ozempic” reached a whopping 11.7 million searches on TikTok.

The trend got so out of hand that a spokesperson had to give a media tour to Fox and other outlets to state “Celsius products do not contain, and have never contained, Semaglutide (the generic name for Ozempic and Wegovy).”

Even though the videos might feel positive, they could very well turn off health-conscious consumers who believed the false claims that the drink snuck prescription medication into its recipe.

Should the marketing team have stepped in before it got that far? Or was it a message that needed to come from an official channel?

Misleading Content

And what about claims that are simply harmless stretches of truth instead of outright lies?

Again, we look to Celsius. TikTok’s second favorite claim about the drink is that it helps people quickly grow hair and nails. Though Celsius markets itself as a health drink — and some ingredients may be linked to hair and nail growth on their own — this is still just a rumor that is unproven by testing. A rumor that Celsius hasn’t spoken out on. But, should they?

The claims aren’t hurting anyone, they’re hard to falsify, and they’re promoting the brand, right?

Before you think of this hard-to-prove rumor as a win, remember that 80% of consumers say that UGC impacts purchasing decisions. If customers come to a brand on false grounds, they could feel misled by both UGC creators and a brand when unchecked claims aren’t true.

While …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron