Photo of a wood and glass balcony and large skylight windows in tall ceiling

UGC, It’s Easy
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What is UGC? Trust us; you actually already know.

Standing for User Generated Content, it’s any content you see online created by the user. Think Instagram reel reviews, genuine photos of products or service results, and customer testimonials. Next question: what does that have to do with this case study? Let us introduce you to Norwich Glass Company and their organic social strategy.

The goal

Norwich Glass has been with us for over a decade now (yeah, we’re older than you might think); in fact, they’re one of our longest-standing clients. When the business was handed down from owner James to trusted team members Aaron and Lee, we all decided it was time for a bit of a social strategy refresh. A new chapter, if you will. A new era!

Businesses are ever-evolving, and their digital marketing plans should evolve with them. American philosopher John Dewey said, “Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.” We’d done what we set out to do with the existing Norwich Glass strategy, and it was time to reach for some exciting new goals.

The core objective behind Norwich Glass’s social (and digital) strategy remains the same as it always has: to be the leading glaziers in Norfolk (which they are, by the way, and we aim to keep it that way!).

So, how did we reach new heights with their new strategy direction?

Visitors to site year on year 275%

Conversions year on year 280%

Facebook reach year on year 869%

Instagram interactions year on year 17.5%

What we did

Norwich Glass have partnered with us for social media management for years. Our bespoke management package, tailored to them specifically, includes 2 posts per week on 2 platforms (for them, this is Facebook and Instagram), full scheduling and management, outreach and engagement, bespoke designed graphics, and quarterly reports. It’s a whopper! The management package means essentially handing the reins over to our very capable hands, letting them get on with their day-to-day operations. Dream team vibes.

Using data from years past, Alex identified that blog posts nowadays do better on Facebook, while showcasing portfolios and photos do better on Instagram. With this, he was able to evolve and rejig his plans for each platform to bring more traffic, and more engagement. These were our two content pillars: Knowledge for Facebook, and Inspiration for Instagram. Pillars are crucial in successful strategies!

Alex worked out that user-generated content (UGC) had started performing incredibly well on the Norwich Glass Instagram. Upon identifying that much of the previous photos were stock images, Alex made a decision to alter the strategy’s approach. The world is moving on from stock images – it’s real content or bust in this day and age, so it was time to cut the stock images out completely. Using genuine photography taken by the glaziers and customers instead would be nothing but a win for the brand and their socials.

“But why is UGC so important?” We hear you ask. Simple: it’s real. People trust people, not just brands that toot their own horn. With social media driving buying decisions, relatable user-generated content isn’t optional, it’s gosh darn essential!

By taking photographs of the glaziers at work, their finished products in homes or businesses, and customer photos along with testimonials, we can show the Norwich Glass audience the real deal – genuine content of real workers, real customers and their services actually out in the wild. We call it putting their money where their mouth is.

Graphic showing full length social post in blue and white

We encouraged the Norwich Glass team to take photos while on the go and said ‘see ya’ to stock images. We knew we needed real-life photos to emphasise commercial jobs, such as their emergency window replacement at John Lewis, behind-the-scenes photos in their warehouse, and residential transformations. We needed this because their audiences respond best to this kind of content – familiar, local, and genuine.

While UGC does well on Facebook too, Alex found that sharing informative blog posts was even more popular on the older platform as its users appear to prefer longer content. With this in mind, he made sure to create posts linking to helpful blogs that the Facebook audience enjoyed interacting with. He shared these posts in Facebook groups targeting relevant topics, such as home design groups, to get the Norwich Glass Company name out there.

A quick side note: social media and blog posts are a match made in heaven. You can find out why here in our social case study for another brilliant client.

We’ve always known that Norwich Glass users engage and convert in different ways at different times, especially seasonally – no one’s looking at balconies in the dead of winter. So, Alex took the existing plan and gave it an upgrade based on more recent data and trend research, then rolled out this gold:

Q1 (Jan to March) – balconies and balustrades, get ready for spring
Q2 (April to June) – styling and space, get ready for summer
Q3 (July to September) – commercial and portfolio work while people relax
Q4 (October to December) – double glazing and heat-resistant glass, get ready for winter

The outcome

Due to the success of implementing lots of brilliant UGC in the updated social strategy, the Norwich Glass team are enthusiastic about providing photos and videos of their work to boost their socials even further. By using photos of familiar locations, Norwich Glass have worked at and tagging them, we create a familiar sight that those seeking local businesses love to see. This helps improve the sense of community Norwich Glass offers, and the tagging helps bolster and grow their online community with local businesses. The magic of UGC, baby.

Let’s dig into the data. Looking at the results year on year, we’ve found:

In 2023, Norwich Glass had 140 visitors to the site from social media. In 2024, that increased to 525 visitors – that’s a rather lovely increase of 275%.
In 2023, social posts led to 10 conversations. In 2024, that went up to a whopping 38 conversations, an increase of 280%.
On Facebook, 2023 saw 27,524 accounts reached. In 2024, the reach expanded to 266,785… that’s an improvement of 869%, folks. Holy moly.

Not bad, right? I think we’re allowed to be a little (okay, a lot) proud of these results. This is the power that user-generated content can bring to businesses, both local, nationwide, and global. People have moved on from buying blindly; they need to see and hear the results from their peers to truly be sold.

If you’re interested in how UGC can help support your social media success, we’ve got you. Give us a call on 01603 859007 and let’s talk it through. If you’re not one for nattering, no problem. We’ve got a live chat on our website where you can talk to our studio assistant, a lovely real person here in the studio ready to answer your questions. Let’s get your social accounts thriving together.