Please note, Bazaarvoice will be closed December 26th — January 4th for our Winter break. We’re going to take this time to relax (and be merry) and we encourage y’all to do the same.

During this time period, support coverage will be as follows:

• Critical issues (defined as production outages of submission and/or display): Support will be available 24/7 via phone or Support Community (Production Outage case only).  
• Live Chat: Live Chat will not be available during the break
• Non-critical support cases: Non-critical support cases will be addressed when our offices reopen in their respective regions after the break  

Support Hotline and Support Community information:

Phone:

AMERICAS: 888 984 1381 (toll free) / 866 522 9227, Option 4 (toll free) 

UNITED KINGDOM: 0800 368 0991 (toll free) 

FRANCE: 08 05 08 94 80 (toll free) 

GERMANY: 0800 188 8904 (toll free) 

REST OF EMEA: +44(0)20 8080 1100, Option 4 

AUSTRALIA: 1300 089 962 (toll free) 

APAC (OTHER THAN AUSTRALIA): 061 2 9362 2200, Option 4 

Support Community:

https://support.bazaarvoice.com

Have a wonderful holiday season, and we’ll see y’all in the new year.

Love from Bazaarvoice xo

I was recently on a work tour visiting Europe. Having spent years in the field throughout my career, I savor meeting real people, experiencing local vibes, picking up on-the-ground insights, and learning firsthand by listening to what customers are saying (and advising).    

My family and friends often ask if I’m exhausted from work trips, particularly when they’re extensive and far away from home. On the contrary, I feel charged, energized, and exuberated. There’s something about human-to-human interaction in real-time, live settings that somehow electrifies me and those around me.

This brings me back to my current state of mind on the evolution of commerce, my role here at Bazaarvoice, and our vision of making shopping radically transparent. It all threads on a single premise — the power of the voice of the customer, your brand’s #bazaarvoice.

The original bazaar

Step into the original bazaar, a marketplace where vendors and shoppers convened. It was hustling and bustling. Think Istanbul. Think Marrakesh. Or imagine the scene in an Indiana Jones movie where Harrison Ford arrives at a buzzing bazaar where shoppers gather to find their next favorite thing. 

At the risk of dating myself, I grew up in the era of the traditional bazaar in Hong Kong where vendors and shoppers were face-to-face, conversational, and serious bargaining and exchanges happened in real-time and in person. Vendors shouted out to get shoppers’ attention. The voice that mattered was that of the consumer.

It was a simple, human-to-human connection. It was personal and experiential. And it was built on the power of the voice of the bazaar.

With the arrival of new media — newspapers, radios, and TVs — brands flourished with mass advertising in a one-to-many broadcast approach of informing shoppers about your brands and products. Commerce became segregated, channels became explicit, and brand monologue took over. Merchant and brand voices ruled in the era of mass marketing. Commerce became impersonal, and the power of the bazaar shifted back to merchants and brands.  

With no way to be part of the conversation, shoppers lost their voice. Until…

The new connected marketplace

Digital transformation accelerated the adoption of always-on digital marketing and e-commerce offerings eased shopping and purchases. All of a sudden, selling and buying are no longer confined by store hours or when agents are available to take calls. And, with the rise of the $1 trillion social commerce industry, the voice of the customer is returning in full force, creating a different and radically transparent commerce environment — the new connected bazaar. 

In this new connected marketplace, personal human connections and communications are back. Channels are blended. Commerce is everywhere and experiential. It’s where authenticity is practiced and shoppers have lots to say. Brands must now engage with real voices, in real terms, in real-time, in a consumer-to-consumer world.

In our Bazaarvoice Shopper Experience Index 2022, an annual, global report into consumer behavior, we asked over 7,000 consumers, “What advertisement would compel you most to purchase a product?”

• 32% said ads don’t work on them
• 22% find ads with a shopper’s review compelling
• 18% find ads with a shopper’s photo compelling

The truth is consumers are more effective in selling products than brands. And influencers and communities have become the centerpiece of effective online, offline, and in-store commerce.

As marketers, we’re biased toward creating branded content. We’ve spent a sizable percentage of our budget and time creating branded content. In 2021 alone, brands spent $7 billion on advertising to inform and influence consumer behavior.   

Yet, shoppers want to hear from other shoppers. 83% of shoppers surveyed in our Shopper Experience Index 2022 trust organic posts from influencers more than sponsored posts. And user-generated content (UGC) outperforms branded content on all counts, authenticity included.  

Commerce is continually evolving. With one constant: Direct human communication and connection is key.

Maybe it’s time for us to balance our content supply chain with a balanced mix of user-generated and branded content, meeting consumer demand for trusted, authentic content. 

Essentially, you have to find your bazaar voice.

Four reasons you need to find your bazaar voice

If you’re assessing the value of UGC and the power of your brand’s #bazaarvoice, you should consider the following.

1. Power of the voice of the customer returns in full force

The power of the voice of the customer has returned in full force — 78% of shoppers say product reviews from other shoppers are most influential to their purchases. Commerce is everywhere, and social natives are shaping the future of everything. Their voices are loud and clear, and they’re demanding more than ever before. They want brands to be more transparent, more responsive, and more authentic. And they’re willing to pay for it. Brands that don’t listen to their customers will be left behind.

And we see our own customers reaping the rewards of the connected marketplace. For example, since partnering with Bazaarvoice, Urban Barn, a furniture and décor company, has seen a:

• 270% lift in time on site
• 59% lift in conversion rate
• 29% lift in average order value

2. Commerce is everywhere 

Our point of view is that wherever there’s a shopper and there’s something that they want, there’s potential for commerce to happen. Commerce is everywhere, beyond digital, beyond social, and beyond stores. In our 2022 Shopper Experience Index, 64% of shoppers said a hybrid method of shopping (in-store and online) has been the primary way of shopping for the past six months. And 65% research online before entering a store.  

Forget about the notion of digital commerce, social commerce et al. There’s only “commerce.” 

Commerce is anywhere your products are and wherever consumers can find you, so the shelf is “everywhere” in that sense. 

3. Rise of the Authenticity Movement

Consumers are 2.4x more likely to say UGC is more authentic than branded content. That’s why UGC delivers uplift to sales that we see today. And Bazaarvoice’s own research tells us that visitors who engage with any UGC see conversion lifts of up to 144%.

But our customers also know that authenticity is sacrosanct.

One of the things we are not willing to sacrifice is authenticity…

Alyssa Thomas, Director of Product, Content as Commerce, Walmart.com

In order for UGC to play a meaningful part of the shopper journey it has to be authentic. Anything else won’t do. If customers believe that the photos, reviews, or questions and answers on your products are fake, then you run the risk of losing trust. Which is why we all invest in reviews and this kind of content in the first place.

And actually why Bazaarvoice exists.

4. Social natives are shaping the future of everything

Social natives are shaping the future of everything, and their voices are being heard loud and clear. Nearly 50% of Gen Z individuals like to contribute to product reviews. I know because I have two of them at home. They’re comfortable communicating in a way previous generations are not. They tell me everything. And they love to share their opinions and experiences online. 

Champion authentic voices of the marketplace

Businesses need to seize the power of their customers’ authentic voices in order to stay relevant and continue to thrive. Those who don’t will quickly find themselves falling behind in today’s competitive landscape.

So supercharge your commerce engine by finding your bazaar voice. And reap the benefits of the new connected marketplace.

Now learn more about where brands and retailers should lean in next as I breakdown the Shopper Experience Index 2022. Or read the full report for yourself below.

FEATURED RESOURCE

Bazaarvoice Shopper Experience Index 2022

Read now

In recent years though, Pride has become synonymous with brands changing their logo to a rainbow logo on social media and doing little else. But it should be so much more than that.

B:You

We recently established a number of employee-led resource groups (ERGs) at Bazaarvoice because diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI) isn’t just something we stick on our website, it’s woven through who we are as people, and as a business. Our ERGs are there so all employees, whether part of a community or an ally, can feel welcome, supported, and involved. 

“DE&I initiatives at Bazaarvoice run throughout how we operate as a business and have improved everything from morale and camaraderie to business policies and employee retention.”

Keith Nealon, Bazaarvoice CEO

With that, I’m proud (pun intended) to introduce our ERG for the LGBTQ+ community — B:You! B:You was established to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace, and promote an understanding of the unique issues facing the LGBTQ+ community. The group is open to everyone interested at Bazaarvoice, including LGBTQ+ identifying colleagues, allies to the community, and anyone interested in learning more!

This year’s Pride Month was the first since B:You was established so we had to make sure it was extra meaningful, and extra exciting. We reached out to other ERGs, both community members and allies, for ideas, events, and resources (listed below). We thought up engaging events, as well as the following weekly communications model to celebrate and acknowledge the history and culture of those that represent Pride to our ERG members:

1. LGBTQ+ history
2. LGBTQ+ arts
3. LGBTQ+ icons
4. LGBTQ+ activism
5. LGBTQ+ culture

How did Bazaarvoice celebrate Pride?

We based each week on a different contribution the LGBTQ+ community has made to society, and provided resources to read, watch, and listen to. Not to mention special events like drag bingo and a talk on why pronouns matter!

Week 1: LGBTQ+ history

The LGBTQ+ community has an inspiring, and sometimes heartbreaking, history. While many countries provide equal rights today, it wasn’t always the case. The Stonewall Riots in New York City, the Gay Liberation Front in the UK, civil rights marches around the globe — it’s taken years of fighting and dedication to get where we are today. So for week one we wanted to honor that!

B:You’s chosen resources for the week:

1. READ:
   • Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin
   • Famous LQBTQ+ Quotes
   • The Queens’ English, by Chloe O. Davis
2. WATCH:
   • American Experience: Stonewall Uprising on PBS
   • The Danish Girl (Netflix or Prime Video)
   • A Secret Love (Netflix)
3. LISTEN:
   • Let’s take it back a few decades: Disco Forever playlist
   • Harvey Milk – The Hope Speech (1978)
   • Angela Eagle LGBT speech – “We aren’t getting back in the closet”

Week 2: LGBTQ+ arts

I think it goes without saying that the LGBTQ+ communities contribution to the arts has been huge, to say the least. It always has been, and likely always will be. Music, film, TV, radio, literature, you name it. They’ve all been dominated by the LGBTQ+ community over the years.

B:You’s chosen resources for the week:

1. READ:
   • The Naked Civil Servant, by Quentin Crisp
   • Broken Horses: A Memoir, by Brandi Carlile
   • Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance, by Richard Bruce Nugent
2. WATCH:
   • Paris is Burning (Watch the Trailer) (Full documentary streaming on Netflix and Apple TV)
   • Love, Victor (Hulu)
   • Heartstopper (Netflix)
3. LISTEN:
   • B:You’s Pride Month Spotify Playlist 

Week 3: LGBTQ+ icons

We’ve all heard phrases like, “Omg he’s such an icon,” or, “She is just so iconic.” But what does this actually mean? A gay icon is someone who is recognized as a cultural icon by members of the LGBTQ+ community, though they don’t have to be a member of the community themselves. Think of Judy Garland, Princess Diana, and Lady Gaga as prime examples!

The icons of the LGBTQ+ movement have spanned a variety of backgrounds, geographies, and identities. Whether it’s a politician who paved the way for LGBTQ+ rights or one of the biggest pop stars in the world advocating for the community, an icon can represent many facets of the community.

Being an icon isn’t exclusive to the arts either, and includes athletes and even fictional characters (Xena: Warrior Princess, anyone?).

B:You’s chosen resources for the week:

1. READ:
   • Alan Turing: The Engima, by A. Hodges
   • Angels in America, by Tony Kushner
   • Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History, by e. Patrick Johnson
2. WATCH:
   • The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Netflix)
   • Love Me Like You Should: The Brave and Bold Sylvester (Youtube documentary)
   • MILK (Amazon Prime)
3. LISTEN:
   • Lady Gaga Stonewall speech (starts at minute 1:12)
   • Jimmy Sommerville, Smalltown Boy
   • Making Gay History (podcast)

Week 4: LGBTQ+ activism

While we’ve acknowledged the history and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community, we’re very aware the fight is far from over. Even as rights have improved for some members of the community, there’s still existing legislation that’s harmful to other members of the LGBTQ+ community within the USA and many other countries around the world.

We still have a long way to go, and it’s important for our community and our allies to recognize the ways in which we have fought historically to gain equal protection, and what we can continue to do for members of the community.

The future isn’t fixed and progress isn’t guaranteed — the overturning of Roe vs Wade has highlighted that. It’s devastating news for women, and also possibly opens the door for a revert of LGBTQ+ rights. Week four was to highlight that the fight continues, and how we can continue to be good allies.

B:You’s chosen resources for the week:

1. READ:
   • The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World, by Mason Funk
   • Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, by Joey L. Mogul
   • The Guide to Being a Straight Ally (PDF) or The Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Non-binary Youth (PDF)
2. WATCH:
   • Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (Documentary, Netflix)
   • Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness: Can we Say Bye-Bye to Binary? (Netflix Series) P.s. check out the podcast series too!
   • ALOK: The Urgent Need for Compassion | The Man Enough Podcast
3. LISTEN:
   • Angela Eagle LGBT speech: “We aren’t getting back in the closet”
   • Queer AF (podcast)

Week 5: LGBTQ+ culture

Last but certainly not least — LGBTQ+ culture! We wanted to end on a fun note, but also highlight that queer culture is more than asking, “scene or not scene?” Culture is different to different members of the communities — there’s subcultures within the overarching rainbow of the community and it’s always evolving!

So we wanted to highlight what makes LGBTQ+ culture so special, through the programs, stories, podcasts, and topical stories that make our culture so unique. The more we see members of our community shine, the more that our subculture will continue to be embraced and championed by community members and allies alike. Go us!

B:You’s chosen resources for the week:

1. READ:
   • Queer Love in Color, by Jamal Jordan
   • Drag: The Complete Story (A Look at the History and Culture of Drag), by Simon Doonan
   • What does it mean to be camp? BBC News article
2. WATCH:
   • RuPaul’s Drag Race (Netflix and Hulu)
   • The Birdcage (Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, Apple TV)
   • Eurovision 2022 (On-demand videos from this year’s contest)
3. LISTEN:
   • Do I sound Gay? (Documentary found on Amazon Prime, AMC+, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, YouTube, and Google Play)
   • LGBTQ&A Podcast: The Most Interesting People in the World are Queer (Apple Podcasts)
   • Keeping it Queer, with Navin Noronha and Farhad Karkaria (Apple Podcasts)

What’s next?

• Pride London and Pride Austin
• Fundraising opportunities
• A presentation on LGBTQ+ history
• Exploring volunteering opportunities in our communities
• Providing our ERG members with mentoring and development opportunities

B:You will continue to encourage acceptance, foster a safe work environment, raise awareness of issues affecting our community, and provide counseling and support for our members. While having fun along the way! And Bazaarvoice will continue our commitment to championing DE&I initiatives through our ERGs, and beyond.

Check out our dedicated DE&I webpage to learn about the rest of our ERGs!

Do you want to join a company that not only champions diversity, but believes success is dependent on it? Be your authentic self at Bazaarvoice. See job openings here.

As a young center, we’ve been able to grow from 0 to 100+ team members in just over two years, and have been delivering incredible outcomes for our customers along the way. This recognition is a testament to the fact that we have been able to create those results the right way. By ensuring Bazaarvoice India is a psychologically safe, inclusive, respectful, fair, and fun workplace, where each team member is allowed to learn and develop professionally. 

What our team members say about their experience at Bazaarvoice 

“Bazaarvoice India is a great place to work. The culture is transparent, every employee, irrespective of their position, is given a chance to be heard, and there are ample opportunities available to those who want to build a career here. Great opportunity to work with colleagues across the globe. Flexible working hours have given me time to focus on work as well as family.”

“BV India promotes client focus by taking care of the employees! Happy employees, happy clients”

“BV is a great place to work because of the decisions made around employees. During the pandemic, they have supported many employees with their best capability. Even when we were returning back to the offices and the third wave started, they took back that decision and allowed the wave to settle down. Now even with the hybrid model they are flexible on time hours and focused on the work you do rather than the number of times you are coming back to the office. Management is quite understanding in nature and always helps in keeping our private life in balance with work.”

More to come

While this is a massive accomplishment, it’s just the beginning. We are continuing to grow and want to make Bazaarvoice India the best place it can be. Want to join our team? Check out our job openings here. 

Rather than respond to each request individually (of which there’s obviously millions), we decided to consult internal experts and put together this best practice guide instead.

Chapters:

1. What does a UGC content manager do?
2. Key traits to look for
3. Interview questions to ask candidates
4. A UGC refresher

If you’re like most business leaders today, you’re struggling with employee turnover and keeping up with hiring and retention. Tons of people are changing jobs, retiring, or quitting work altogether — over 4 million every month since July of last year. The great resignation is truly here.

And hiring in the semi-niche industry of user-generated content (UGC) manager roles? Even harder.

If you’re not a UGC expert yourself, it’s hard to know what to ask. That’s why it’s so important to ask the right interview questions and be able to identify great responses. Before your next UGC content manager interview, read this guide we created with help from industry professionals.

What does a UGC content manager do?

UGC content managers lead marketing teams on a comprehensive UGC strategy. They need to demonstrate a working knowledge of all forms of UGC — ratings and reviews, shopper photos and videos, and questions and answers.

While UGC may have previously been part of other roles like social media or e-commerce managers, it’s increasingly a role and focus in its own right. 

A UGC content manager is usually responsible for:

• Collecting and managing UGC
• Distributing UGC across websites, retailers, social channels and search
• Collecting the associated customer data
• Conducting influencer campaigns
• Overseeing sampling campaigns from beginning to end
• Analyzing metrics and revenue generated
• Communicating insights to stakeholders

Key traits to look for in a good UGC content manager

Hiring content teams in today’s competitive and title-bloated market isn’t just challenging; it’s excruciating, says Joe Manna, Content & SEO Manager at Alyce, a corporate gifting platform.

“At my previous company in the cloud communications space, the desire to hire someone ‘right now’ sometimes superseded hiring the right candidate. This impatience resulted in unfit leaders who later brought on unsuccessful candidates. What followed? A complete turnover of the communication and content teams. To avoid this disaster, evaluate EVERY potential content marketing producer by drilling deeper.” — Joe Manna

To identify a truly great UGC content manager candidate, look for these key traits:

• Emotional intelligence. All good leaders — and good marketers — need to empathize and understand emotions. To be effective, a UGC content manager needs to empathize primarily with users.
• Time management and proactiveness. UGC content managers need to manage multiple projects and deadlines. Someone in this role often juggles projects from influencers, contributors, and internal creators. All in tandem with broader marketing campaigns or product releases.
• Creativity and wit. To thrive in the social media space, UGC content managers need to have a friendly and humorous tone of voice. They also need to balance that creativity with a sense of responsibility to the brand’s reputation.
• Critical thinking and resourcefulness. Since it’s an emerging field, UGC content managers need to be confident decision-makers who can think on their feet. And also take swift action if necessary.
• Flexibility. UGC content managers need to be able to quickly adapt to different audiences, topics, and customer pain points. As well as manage different personalities.
• Technical skills in writing, editing, SEO, and online marketing analytics are a must. Also helpful is the ability to create GIFs, memes, videos, and other visuals.
• Business acumen to contribute to the larger goals of a company.

Top interview questions to ask a UGC content manager candidate

Ask open-ended questions to identify an interviewee’s skills and talents for a UGC role as well as a leadership position.

Below are some of the top questions to ask a UGC content manager during an interview, along with ideal responses.

“Can you provide examples of how you move users to take action?”

Get specific with examples. Ask job candidates to tell you about times they’ve had a great marketing idea that moved users to take action, recommends Makenzie Rath, President at Talent Plus, a global human resources consulting firm. This type of question shows resourcefulness and critical, out-of-the-box thinking.

Evaluate responses based on how specific they are. If the interviewee answers with vague, jargon-heavy platitudes, they’re probably not qualified for the role. Or, they don’t know how to communicate effectively, which in itself could be difficult to overcome in a marketing position.

“What are the most important things to consider while planning a UGC marketing campaign?”

Answers to this question speak not only to technical skills but also to a candidate’s business acumen. Also whether they know how to contribute to a company’s larger goals or not.

“UGC managers must have the necessary ability to understand and explain the business value of your content marketing efforts to the company,” says Deni Ivanov, Digital Marketing Director at Royal Cleaning, a London-based cleaning company.

Responses should indicate how candidates structure and prioritize work and show care for the target audience’s needs. Can they look at the bigger picture?

“Knowing a goal of a campaign and making sure we understand it is a must,” says Agata Szczepanek, Community Manager at MyPerfectResume. Candidates should also demonstrate how UGC interacts with a brand’s image, values, and tone.

“How do you increase team member engagement?”

If your UGC leader will manage people, then asking about team engagement will help you understand their leadership style and empathy. You’re looking at more than technical skills since those can be learned. Reading between the lines, you’re actually asking: “Are they human-centered and responsible as a leader?” Szczepanek advises.

This question will also help you determine if a candidate is a good cultural fit with your brand. “If you bring in someone unable to connect with people, embrace constructive conflict, and roll their sleeves up and work,” says Manna, “you’d be spending thousands of dollars every week for someone to move Asana tasks around.”

Whether your role is people manager or a project manager, candidates still need to have high emotional intelligence. This question helps answer that. Emotional intelligence is important for UGC content managers because it means they can show restraint and handle social media crises with grace, says Padmaja Santhanam, Growth Manager at FirstPrinciples.

“Tell me about your day-to-day responsibilities.”

The title “content manager” and “content marketer” seem similar but have vastly different experiences and duties. To avoid hiring someone without the necessary expertise, Manna recommends asking interviewees to tell you about their daily responsibilities.

“Have them talk through the types of campaigns, challenges, or ‘fires’ they had to resolve,” says Manna. “Ask for samples, even redacted ones, and get extremely clear about this person’s SPECIFIC responsibilities. Did they concept, write, edit, proof, publish, and promote the piece? Or were they spectating?”

“Tell me about our target market and current content marketing efforts.”

Asking interviewees about your brand’s marketing can help you figure out if they are serious about your company, according to Ivanov. Are they critical thinkers? Are they prepared for this position? Their response should demonstrate that they’ve done their own research about your company, target audience, and competitors. It will also show you how they process information and make recommendations.

“The candidate’s answer will provide an insight into his research skills and how well he understood the company’s target market,” says Ivanov. “I will be most impressed with answers that not only cite our target market correctly but also share insights on what we should be doing to improve our current content marketing efforts based on the candidate’s research.”

“Tell me about any one of your most successful campaigns.”

This question will help you gauge a candidate’s experience and how they define a campaign’s success, says Ivanov. The best candidates, according to Max Benz, Founder and CEO at BankingGeek, will also be able to show you high-quality, error-free, engaging samples. Candidates should be able to provide clear explanations of the campaign’s objectives, details of the approach, and quantitative and qualitative measures they used to determine success.

For example, according to Ivanov, a stellar response might be something like this:

“Last year, one of our clients required us to generate buzz for their newly launched makeup line. We developed a campaign that encouraged customers to post and share vlogs using our products for a chance to be hired as a featured model. And we saw an immediate increase in our engagement. By the end of our six-month campaign, we successfully exceeded our revenue goal by 150% thanks to the increased attention brought by user-generated content promoting the new product line.”

“How do your favorite brands use UGC?”

This is another great way to evaluate a candidate’s critical thinking skills and preparedness for the position. Look for specific examples in their responses, especially if they can tailor their response to your industry, says Holly Landis, SEO & Digital Marketing Consultant.

Candidates should be able to grasp a brand’s voice and persona, and how UGC has honed and expanded it, says Santhanam. “The UGC manager should be capable of focusing on grabbing audience attention while maintaining the business discoverability.”

This means candidates should demonstrate they have a deep understanding of what makes UGC content good, as well as fluency in using terms like customer/follower engagement, account click-through rate, site referrals, or, according to Landis, “anything that could point to how the UGC benefited the bottom line of the business.”

“How would you use different social platforms for our brand’s UGC?”

Asking this question will show you if candidates are aware of the social media landscape and how each platform works for different industries and audiences, according to Landis. This shows “a deep familiarity with the options for gathering content and permissions for reposting or sharing on each of the platforms that they’re discussing.”

“At minimum, I would want them to talk about demographic breakdowns generally across different platforms, e.g., having a good understanding that beauty/apparel/home goods, etc., would likely work well on TikTok or Instagram with younger audiences,” says Landis. “If paid advertising is something that you’d be looking for too under this role, I’d want to hear mention of TikTok Spark influencer advertising and Instagram whitelisted campaigns to get UGC in front of new audiences.”

“What metrics would you track to extract knowledge about our current social media strategy?”

Santhanam recommends asking candidates this question to help you get an overall idea of their qualifications and knowledge for the job. You could also ask what tools they would use to schedule posts, which would be more role specific. You need to know if they’re adept at social media and familiar with collecting, curating, and promoting UGC, says Benz.

“In marketing, setting up KPIs and tracking metrics is vital to measure the campaign’s performance,” says Santhanam. “So the response should include the ideas and metrics to measure the success in all social media campaigns mingled with creativity into effective strategies to promote the brand. The candidates’ responses also should include the plan to manage day-to-day social media accounts and engage your target audience in the long run.”

“What will your strategy be to keep our organization on top of new trends and features?”

This is a behavioral question, says Santhanam. You could also ask how they have raised brand awareness using social media in their previous positions. According to Santhanam, qualified candidates will mention updating the news feed, trade journal subscriptions, networking, and engaging with potential customers.

Here’s a good response, inspired by Santhanam’s advice:

“I managed a brand’s Twitter and Instagram accounts in my previous role and stayed abreast of industry trends by reading social media news feeds, joining groups like [Name of Group], or following experts like [Name of Expert]. I also subscribed to trade journals like [Name of Trade Journal]. When planning posts, I put my own spin on trending topics, so it ended up being 50% brand voice and 50% trend. To get real-time updates on brand mentions and customer sentiment, I engaged customers in comments and relied on X tool to monitor brand mentions.”

“How do you manage competing priorities and deadlines?”

Any manager has to tackle multiple projects simultaneously, says Logan Mallory, VP of Marketing at Motivosity, an employee recognition platform. And in the fast-paced world of internet marketing and UGC, it’s important to get a sense of how candidates manage their time, how productive they are, and how well they stick to deadlines.

Ideal responses should speak to how candidates distribute and prioritize tasks. According to Szczepanek, candidates should be able to show “flexibility to switch between different audiences, topics, occasions, etc., and to manage different types of people effectively.”

“Can you perform a compensated project?”

This last question (and the resulting project) will help you understand how candidates approach their work. “Give them a REALISTIC — not fictional — campaign scenario and brief with a few requirements,” recommends Manna. “You’re not asking for a week’s worth of work, but just several hours. Pay them 2x the market rate given the turnaround time. It’s well worth paying someone $1,000 [rather] than losing so much more on a bad hire.”

In their completed project, you’ll be able to evaluate their writing, editing, and technical skills, as well as their curiosity, creativity, and interest in the job. Szczepanek points out that candidates should demonstrate industry knowledge, wit, a friendly tone of voice, and broad knowledge of pop culture. Santhanam’s advice follows suit: look for candidates that show a sense of humor and creativity that can differentiate your brand in a saturated space.

In addition, a completed project will show a candidate’s actual productivity and critical thinking skills in real life. Manna says that candidates should be willing to “take the time to understand the market, the opportunity, and the novel ways for the brand to stick out and how you’d piece the campaign together and execute it.”

It is important to note that if a candidate turns in a great project, it’s still theirs. “Don’t steal a candidate’s ideas,” advises Manna. “Even if they turned down the job (or you rescinded it), it’s extremely poor form.”

Fill your UGC content manager position with top talent

Getting qualified, willing candidates to the interview is half the battle. Once you’re there, make the most of your time (and your candidate’s time!) by asking the right questions. Now that you know which questions to ask and what to look for in the responses, you can fill your open position with the best.

And remember to provide a great interview experience for job candidates, says Rath. “Even if they cannot join your team now, they can still be a potential customer, user, or referral source for your business now and into the future.” 

If you’re unsure of what a UGC content manager should know, read up on our guide to UGC. Or feel free to check out the rest of our Long Read content for more UGC best-practices!

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7 UGC examples and why they work

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Bazaarvoice University, or BVU as everyone (just us) is calling it, is our one-stop shop for your Bazaarvoice platform education. From beginner tips and tricks to advanced skills, check out our bitesize classes to get up to speed with everything about managing the Bazaarvoice platform.

This year, 89% of our American employees said Bazaarvoice is a Great Place to Work — 30 points higher than the average U.S. company.

This is a testament to the hard work we have all put in to make Bazaarvoice a welcoming, respectful, and fair workplace, where we can feel a sense of camaraderie and pride. This is thanks to all of our employees and everything that they do, day in and day out, that enables us to tell the world what we already know: Bazaarvoice is a Great Place to Work.

Great Place to Work certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike as the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. We’re humbled to know that our employees have agreed that we deserve this designation for the second year in a row, despite all of the hardships and uncertainty that we’ve all faced over the last two years.

There’s no way we would be able to make it so without all of their hard work, support, empathy, resilience, and positivity. 

Want to join our team? Check out our open positions.  

To do this, members of the DE&I taskforce came up with several initiatives that took place throughout February to help us learn more about Black history and Black culture, as well as support and honor Black communities. Our theme for this year’s Black History Month was belonging, empowerment, community, and intersectionality. 

Just like the initiatives held, our communications on social media focused on Black History Month were employee-led. The month is about celebrating and learning about Black history, not our company messaging. We wanted our social activity to reflect that.

To reinforce this, our company’s social channels simply amplified the voices of our employees who led the charge and shared the reasoning behind why we chose particular initiatives, and what it meant to them.

Activities and initiatives 

• A curated Learnerbly playlist, comprised of Black authors and their work.
• A Spotify playlist, filled with music from foundational, influential, and immortalized Black artists spanning several decades and genres. 
• A virtual cooking class, held by Chef Steven Gillam, the owner of the Cajun Skillet, which serves authentic New Orleans cuisine. 
• An external speaker session, led by Jelani Cobb, an author, writer for the New Yorker, and a professor at Columbia Journalism School. Jelani spoke on the enormous complexities of race and inequality in America, while offering guidance and hope for the future.
• Lists filled with black-owned businesses in the US cities in which we have Bazaarvoice offices, as well as several European cities.

We’re very proud of all of the work our DE&I Taskforce has done this Black History Month, and continues to do. This month was informative, reflective, inspiring, and, most importantly, joyous! We hope that our teammates use the information and inspiration they gained to continue educating themselves going forward, and speaking out on systemic oppression that continues to exist in America today. 

We’ll continue to highlight and educate our employees on Black History well past this month, and throughout the entire year.

The goal of the scholarship is to empower the next generation of female tech leaders who are pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in a technical field of study.

We’re passionate about helping to tell the stories of women in professional industries, and want to raise awareness of gender inequality in STEM fields. The academic scholarship is valued at $2,000 for the Spring 2022 semester. 

Today, we’re thrilled to announce this year’s winners of the Bazaarvoice Women in STEM Scholarship Program!

The 2022 winners

Join us in congratulating the scholarship winners!

Alexandra Moreno 

Beauty Kolade

Hannah Norbeto 

Jailene Ramos 

Jamilia Thompson 

Megan Wang

Rebecca Beswick 

Veronica Parra 

The application process

We received countless applications from women passionate about studying STEM. 

Applicants were asked to answer essay questions explaining their interest, such as: 

• Who or what inspired you to pursue a STEM career?
• What do you plan to do in your career and why?
• What are your ideas to bring more women into the STEM field? 

Applications are reviewed by Women in STEM leaders at Bazaarvoice across the entire organization, including engineering, product, client success, and more! 

Are you interested in applying for a Bazaarvoice Women in STEM scholarship? Please do! Applications open July 2022.

Within hours of reading about the vulnerability, we mobilized Bazaarvoice’s security and engineering teams to respond to the threat. First, a comprehensive assessment of all our products was performed to determine where this vulnerability may exist, and, once identified, teams swiftly applied the appropriate resolutions to address it. 

In addition to this, we leveraged several of our security partnerships to assist with its efforts. This included deployment of firewall rules to identify and block traffic associated with the vulnerability, as well as signatures used by solutions to identify activity on hosts or cloud infrastructure which could be associated with an attack. 

We’re continuing to reach out to partners who use Bazaarvoice products and services, so we can assess their response and determine if steps need to be taken to address potential risk.

At Bazaarvoice, we value the trust our clients place upon us and we work hard everyday to earn that trust. Rest assured that we will continue to closely monitor this situation and take the steps necessary to ensure the products and services we provide, and data we are entrusted with, remain well secured. 

As always, inquiries about this or any other security related matters can be directed to security@bazaarvoice.com.

Thank you — the Bazaarvoice team.

That’s why this past month, 15th September — 15th October, Bazaarvoice we were proud to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! We wanted to ensure we recognized not only our wonderful Hispanic colleagues, but also the wider contributions of all Hispanic Americans.

To kick things off, we created a Learnerbly playlist highlighting Hispanic and Latinx contributions to American culture and society in celebration for Hispanic Heritage Month. Hispanic Heritage Month. The educational playlist contains articles, videos, and podcasts, specifically curated to expand your knowledge on Hispanic communities, and how you can be a better ally. To compliment this, we also created a document filled with all of the incredible Hispanic/Latinx owned businesses, restaurants, brands and museums in every BV-hub location!

We also hosted our first (of many) HHM trivia! While the results were hotly-contested, we can safely say everyone had fun and learned a lot!

Employee Spotlights

A large part of Hispanic Heritage Month is being able to provide a platform for people to tell their stories. That’s why we delivered a series of BV employee spotlights, so our wonderful Hispanic colleagues could educate others about what this month and share what their identity means to them.

That’s a wrap on Hispanic Heritage Month 2021! But keep an eye out for more fantastic life at Bazaarvoice content coming soon. We bring our whole selves to the our Bazaarvoice mission and find value in diverse perspectives.

As a strong company, we build a stronger community. Learn more about Bazaarvoice culture here.