Content moderation is crucial for any business that depends on user-generated content. It can build or break a brand. Authentic photos of products can encourage users to interact with a brand, while toxic UGC will cause them to leave in droves.

Businesses must have a scalable content moderation strategy to ensure that their UGC is high quality and follows legal standards. This article will cover six questions that brands should ask about their UGC moderation process.

Content Quality

UGC moderation is the process of ensuring that all images, video, text, and audio content submitted by users to a company’s website, community forums, or social media accounts meets the standards of the business. This is often done by a team of human moderators or an automated software program.

Toxic UGC, fake or dishonest UGC, and content that violates a company’s policies can damage the brand’s reputation and hurt customer loyalty. These negative experiences will cost a company money and time to repair.

To mitigate these risks, a company should have a clear and transparent policy regarding what types of content can be shared. This can be as simple as a few words or as detailed as a series of steps for users to follow. The key is to create an open environment that empowers the user while also protecting the company. Relinquishing control to the user can enhance dwell time and improve SEO, but it’s important to keep a close eye on what is being posted.

Timeliness

UGC moderation includes a process for quickly reviewing, and if necessary, removing content that violates your company’s policies. This can include anything from photos and videos to text content and comment threads. The goal is to keep your site as clean and safe as possible so you can attract and retain customers, grow your community, and achieve your marketing goals.

Many companies employ a team of humans to review UGC before it goes live. However, this approach is expensive, especially if your business is experiencing a spike in the volume of new UGC to review and process.

A more cost-effective solution is to use pre-scanning software to detect any UGC that could contain negative or dangerous elements. This system checks the content for specific words or phrases, and then either flags it for further human review or rejects it. This method enables your company to provide a more streamlined experience for your community members while also saving on employee costs.

Community Safety

When brands encourage UGC, they need to be prepared to handle anything that might be posted. This can include images, video, text and other content that could potentially be harmful or violate community guidelines.

A brand can take steps to prevent this by implementing pre-moderation. This ensures that UGC is not released to the public until it is screened for harmful material, safeguarding the brand against legal ramifications.

This can be done using automated tools or by human moderators. The latter is preferable because they can be more efficient and can use their training to recognize dangerous patterns in images faster than machines.

Many brands also rely on reactive moderation, which allows community members to flag content they find offensive by clicking on a reporting button. While this is a great method to protect the community’s safety, it can be time-consuming and may not catch every instance of harmful content. A hybrid system of AI and human review is a necessity for effective UGC moderation.

Reputation Management

User-generated content is valuable for marketers as it creates a direct connection with consumers and increases the likelihood of making sales. However, these platforms can also expose brands to risk and damage their reputation. When users see explicit videos, fake reviews or other inappropriate UGC, they can have a negative view of the brand and even lose trust.

One way to deal with this issue is through proactive moderation. With this method, community members can flag content that is offensive using a reporting button. This approach aims to prevent UGC from going live without being reviewed by a team.

However, this type of moderation can be time-consuming and difficult to scale. Furthermore, AI tools can sometimes get it wrong by detecting offensive words and phrases in context or missing the meaning behind a post. This can lead to a large volume of flagged content that human moderators must review manually. A well-trained team can handle this workload effectively while still ensuring high-quality and accurate results.