Metigy is very pleased to announce that we have created a product partnership with Swave to help our e-commerce customers fire up their customer generated content stream.

Getting customers to create content that talks about your brand and product or service, in a really positive way, is one of the most valuable outcomes you will get from being Social. If you have everything right in terms of customer service and product market fit, then hopefully this starts to happen naturally. However, frustratingly, not always and sometimes it takes some key actions to get you past the inertia point where customers really get excited about doing the thing you want most, other than buying from you of course. Sometimes, you just need to use other means to get the momentum going, and when you get that momentum, it can be a wave of really constructive endorsement that will change your public profile as a brand.

We are assuming you understand the importance of customer-generated content, but if not, check out our recent article on how to appreciate and monitor this valuable stream.

There are different ways to start generating this content. You can activate campaigns with influencers, which can have a significant cost. There are even platforms that help you brief out for this type of active product placement with influencers, but again this will take budget. Metigy would also raise a cautionary note on this, that many of the users that respond on this, will not be real customers and this has an impact on the nature of the product endorsement. Nothing is more natural and aligned with your goal for this, than a real customer who actually loves your product or has just discovered it for all the right reasons. If it meets their need or solves a problem, then they are going to be excited.

You can do product placement with friends and customers in return for Social endorsement. This may be a slow route to success though, but definitely worth doing.

Or you can fast track, by motivating real customers to do the thing you want most, rave about why they like your product and demonstrate that enthusiasm on their social channels so all their network will recognize the endorsement. There is a fair bet here that they have friends that share the same passions or lifestyle they do.

So Metigy is really pleased to make this easy for you, using a clever technology developed by the Swave team, which is a hot up-and-coming Startup in Israel.

At this point, you need three key ingredients to get this started. A Shopify e-commerce store, an Instagram account and a Swave account. Swave is already working to include other social channels and other e-commerce platforms, but let’s face it, these are the two big options for e-commerce right now. So if you are not using them, then you need to re-think both. These channels are where the real growth is right now.

If you are not familiar with Shopify, then you are probably not an e-commerce brand, but just in case you should check out the MetigyIQ e-commerce platform review to read why we recommend Shopify.

The Swave solution is quite simple and powerful. And it takes an approach, that in our opinion, is very natural. Real customers come to your Shopify Store. They see you have a Swave incentivized rewards program running that they can benefit from if they buy your product. They buy your product and then tell their network why they love it, via Instagram. Swave then tracks that and refunds them an agreed rebate off the cost of their product purchase from you. You then pay Swave for the amount of content that is generated. You have a whole range of great customer content created by real customers who wanted to buy your product anyway.

The team at Metigy thinks this is a wonderful way to kick off or stimulate your customer content stream on a regular basis. You are only paying for real content from actual customers and your customers get a rebate for being a fan. It is that simple yet that powerful.

What is the real payoff for your brand though? Happy customers talking about product and fantastic inspiration for some of best content you might ever produce acknowledging real customers loving your brand.

So let’s explain how this works and how you can get started

Step 1. Create or update your Shopify e-commerce site. If you want to get started using Shopify then click here to learn more.

Step 2. Create or update your Instagram account. You must have a Business Page so check your setting if you have an existing account. You will need the profile name to get customers to tag your brand in their content.

Step 3. Set up an account with Swave and then follow the instructions. Sign up for Swave using this link. Then embed the Swave app in your Shopify website, following the instructions provided by Swave.

Then start driving customers to your store and watch the content come to life on Instagram.

If you are happy with the results, then you can easily integrate a Swave content stream into your Shopify Store so new customers can see others talking about their recent product purchase.

When you have completed your setup, Metigy will start delivering Recommendations focused on helping you improve your e-commerce activities and the usage of this new stream of customer content.

If you have an e-commerce business model, and you are not activating sales and new customers in this way, then you should start now. You are missing a great opportunity to bring your brand to life socially and drive organic sales.

Want a simple visual explanation. Check out the Swave explainer video.

Be sure to share your outcomes with Swave with us at contact@metigy.com

We are planning to feature the best campaigns and UGC each month and aside from some free PR, there will be a reward for being great at what you do!