Father’s Day is coming up fast! In just a few weeks dads across America will be donning their white crew-cut socks, test clacking their BBQ tongs, and brushing up on Dad Jokes in anticipation for their big day. With the holiday of course, comes some major spending. Which is why we’ve put together four of our favorite user generated content ideas perfect for driving sales and capturing a piece of Father’s Day revenue.

In 2022, we are updating this post with even more of our favorite Father’s Day UGC contest tips and best practices. Let’s dive in and help your brand make the most out of their Father’s Day contests!

Father’s Day is Big Business

Sure, Mother’s Day tends to get all the glory when it comes to a parental holiday, but Father’s Day has come along way since it was first celebrated in 1910.  In total, Americans spend over $15B each year on their fathers. The biggest spenders are 25 to 34-year-olds, who on average drop $188 per person.  Top three categories include:

• Clothing: $2.2B
• Gift Cards: $2.1B
• Consumer Electronics: $1.8B

This list goes on, but one thing is clear: there is money for your brand to make during Father’s Day, regardless of its space. You simply need to market and position your brand or product as the perfect Father’s Day gift.

Enter user generated content.

The Magic of User-Generated Content

User generated content (UGC) is one of the most powerful forms of content available to brands. It’s content created by your brand fans. Selfies, videos, whatever the format; if your fans are creating content about your brand, that’s UGC.

Here are just a couple of the core benefits of UGC:

• Consumers Trust UGC: 51% of consumers trust UGC over any message shared by a brand’s owned property. This includes ads, sponsored posts, and what’s being featured on a website.
• Less Expensive to Create: Any post created for “free” by your fans is one less post that you have to pay to create.
• Earn More Engagement, Shares, & Sales: When fans see other fans featured in the content (or better yet, the author of a piece of content) they’re more likely to engage with that content. Actually, they’re 28% more likely to engage. They’re also twice as likely to share UGC. All those extra shares and engagements can add up to significantly more opportunities to drive spending when compared to organic branded content.
• Better SEO Presence: For the world’s 20 largest brands, 25% of their search results link to UGC (according to KISSmetrics).

5 Contest Ideas to Drive User Generated Content for Father’s Day

1) Hold a Photo Sharing Contest

Whether it’s #favoritefather or #dadsbeingdads, create and host a contest that encourages your fans and customers to share their favorite pictures of their Father on social media. As a best practice, make sure:

A) Your Request is On-brand

Are you an apparel brand? Encourage your fans to share pictures of their dad’s worst outfit.

Grilling company?  Get that man behind a grill and snap some pictures.

Electronics? Have your fans show off their dad’s man cave.

You get the drill; the point is the picture you’re requesting should align with your brand and its offering.

B) Your Instructions are Clear

Don’t make it too complicated to enter your contest. Users should be able to easily snap a picture and enter. Too many steps will discourage fans from joining in on the fun.

C) You Include a Strong Prize

You are asking your fans to share and create content on your behalf. They deserve a little something for their time and energy. Provide a prize that will have fans clamoring to share pictures.

2) Share Their Favorite Dad Moments

Images aren’t the only medium fans can use to create UGC. Tap into the UGC power of the written word by encouraging your fans to share their favorite dad moments. As with the above photo contest, you want to make it easy for your fans to enter and share their story. Also, be sure to provide a solid prompt to keep any proverbial writer’s block away during the creation process.

Pro Tip: SocialToaster makes capturing and soliciting these stories a breeze through our built-in survey functionality. Simply create a survey within our platform encouraging your fans to share that story, then share it to your entire advocacy audience with a single click. You can even track who completes the survey and contest entries or even prizes accordingly.

3) Capture The “Going to Be A Dad” Moment

This one may require a bit more planning, but it’s sure to get your fans talking! For this contest idea, encourage your fans to create a video that captures the moment a would-be father was first told they were going to be a dad.

Kick this idea up a notch but holding the contest a few weeks prior to Father’s Day, then edit a series of the reactions together into a fun video that you can use to market your brand and capture last-minute sales the week before Father’s Day.

4) Daily Dad Joke-Off

The height of paternal humor, nothing invokes that mix of shame, cringe, and laughter like a well-punned dad joke. In the weeks leading up to Father’s Day encourage your fans to share their favorite dad jokes. Whether it’s through a written post, video, image, or even a meme, provide your fans and customers with a platform to show off their fatherly funny bone.

Once the jokes start pouring in, select your favorite and repost it as that day’s winner. Then repeat until Father’s Day. Bonus points if you award a prize to the winner every day. Even more bonus points if that prize is a gift card or % off of a product you sell.

5) “Like Father, Like Child” Reel

It’s 2022! If your UGC engagement strategy hasn’t evolved to take advantage of the latest trends in social media contest creation, it’s time to make some changes. TikToks and Instagram Reels are two channels that inspire and encourage your audiences to create and share content. One idea, have your followers create a Reel or TikTok that shows how they are like their Fathers. 

A couple best practices to keep in mind:

Create an example that creators can follow: Don’t make it to complex, but create a specific editing style or cadence that your creators should model in their UGC. 

Choose a trending song: Reel and TikTok algorithms reward trending songs. Select a single song for your challenge that aligns with your brand AND your audience. 

Don’t be a copy cat: Do your best to come up with a fun, unique UGC challenge. Try not to duplicate existing trends/dances. 

Father’s Day UGC Best Practices

Regardless of your contest of choice, if you want to get the most out of your Father’s Day UGC contest, be sure to keep these best practices top of mind:

1. Keep Your Target Audience Top of Mind to Improve ROI

From your contest entry page to the request and prizing, it’s imperative that your content resonates with your target audience. A well-matched contest will not only encourage more entries and engagement it will also help to ensure that the content created will help grow your audience and drive sales.

2. Keep Your Contest Requirements Simple to Encourage Entries

Don’t handcuff your UGC contests with extraneous rules and complicated entry instructions. Remember, your audience is doing you a favor by entering your contest. They’re taking time out of their busy schedules. The easier/quicker you make it to enter, the more entries your contest will earn.

3. Have a Plan for How You’ll Engage Your Entries After The Contest to Increase Your Audience

Sure, you want your contest to succeed, but what happens after the contest is over? Many brands assume that because a user has entered a contest, they’ll automatically become a contest or engage with the brand through other channels. This doesn’t happen. Instead, develop and implement an engagement strategy that bridges the gap between your contest entrants/participants and your warmer customer audiences. Need some inspiration? Consider sending after-contest messaging that includes promotional discounts, nurturing campaigns, or even surprise swag.

Fun With Father’s Day

Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to connect with your fans. With just a little push (and incentive), you can turn your fans into content generating machines. Leverage their creative power, to create content that encourages engagement, builds awareness, and drives sales.

Not sure how to get started with this whole UGC thing? We can help! Send us an email or give us a call at 855.62.TOAST today to learn more about how the SocialToaster platform can help you reach your Father’s Day (and year-round) goals.