• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, June 21, 2016

Olapic, a content marketing platform, announced the release of a customer-generated video ad solution today. The platform uses automation and machine learning to collect relevant user content, which marketers can then curate for social media campaigns.

User-generated content is making big waves on social platforms, especially Snapchat, which has partnered with a number of brands to create filters that alter and brand images taken by consumers. Even if images taken by consumers aren’t directly shared peer-to-peer, Olapic says that brands will still experience lift.

“Olapic's research and external research shows that upwards of 92% of people trust images from their peers over brand-created photos when shopping. On average, brands using Olapic see 1.6x increase in conversions and a 16% increase in average order value from shoppers who interacted with consumer-generated images.

"In advertising for instance, we've found that Facebook ads that use consumer-generated photos are twice as effective as regular ads,” said Pau Sabria, co-founder and CEO of Olapic in an email.

Most users give explicit consent to brands when asked for their content, and many do it for no cost. The process is much cheaper than using an agency and is in some cases, according to Olapic, more effective than agency-generated content.

Some consumers may have concerns about privacy or copyright issues, but Olapic says the format ensures brand safety.

“The average approval rate among Instagram users that have used a brand’s hashtag is 70% - meaning they have given our brand partners explicit consent to use their photos when asked - with an average of 2.4 !! marks in their response,” he says.