With the proliferation of online channels in addition to those of traditional marketing, there’s a constant battle for the consumer’s attention. Rather than rely solely on a creative team to produce content, your brand should consider turning to your own customers.

Putting in the time and effort to develop customer relationships typically means that your social media program will consume a large share of your marketing budget. For this reason, you may be asked to justify spending by providing concrete social media ROI. It’s true that it’s difficult to measure the business value of a like or a shared post, but you cansuccessfully run social marketing campaigns and see real returns for your efforts.

Take a look at how these five brands successfully launched and managed user-generated content campaigns across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

1. 1. Turn Fans Into Product Models

Charlotte Russe ran an exceptional social media contest to showcase the #CharlotteLook (how influencers were styling their clothes). Instagram users were asked to upload their favorite Charlotte look and to use the campaign hashtag in their posts. The company selected the most on-brand user-generated content from the campaign and displayed it on their homepage. Charlotte Russe linked each winning photo to the product page of the item that was featured in the photo. As a result, viewers who engaged with the customer photos were 28x more likely to end up on a Charlotte Russe product page.

1. 2. Reward Your Fans

6 Pack Fitness launched its #LeadThePack campaign with a weekly bag giveaway. They asked customers to submit a photo for a chance be featured on the website and win a bag of their choice. The brand’s social media marketing strategy included displaying the best customer photos featuring their bags on the company’s product pages. 6 Pack saw an immediate impact in their e-commerce performance. Customers who interacted with one of these customer photos on its product pages were 2.7x more likely to purchase and had 12% larger order sizes.

1. 3. Build on Local Pride

The Breckenridge Colorado Tourism Office ran a successful social media campaign that asked: Why do you love Breckenridge? Fans were asked to share their thoughts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Under the tagline #BreckBecause, fans formed an online community that showcased the authentic Breckenridge experience. As a result of this campaign, GoBreck.com increased web traffic from social media by 841% and increased Instagram followers by 93%.

1. 4. Celebrate Customer Stories

Ahnu has a base of active adventurers wearing their shoes. The brand launched its #Ahnu campaign to collect photos of all the cool things and places that its fans were doing and visiting. The company displayed #Ahnu campaign submissions on their Facebook page, and viewers could vote on their favorite content. The users who engaged with these customer photos were 12x more likely to end up on the Ahnu website.

5. 5. Tap Into Customer Lifestyles

Clearly Kombucha wanted to increase brand awareness about their Kombucha flavors on social media. Under the hashtag #EatSleepBoochRepeat, fans were asked to post photos of themselves and their drinks. The best photos were displayed on the Clearly Kombucha website, and the photos reached over global 2 million impressions online.

User-generated content campaigns are a great way to monitor and participate in social conversations as they develop and evolve.

Visual user content can increase the ROI from social media campaigns. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but through trial and error, it’s possible to get the most out of your campaign content and celebrate your most loyal customers.

This post was originally posted on Social Media Examiner.