Cloudinary Blog

Did you know that five billion users of the top five social apps post 41.6 million messages a minute? Or that three billion JPEG images are created every day?

Not only does this tremendous volume of peer-to-peer activity profoundly affect our social lives, it has also revolutionized the way shoppers navigate the purchase journey. How? By reading unbranded feedback and the like from other users, shoppers can avoid marketing hype and make purchase decisions based on what they often consider to be objective, honest opinions on the merchandise.

Part 1 of this series highlights the basics of user-generated content (UGC) and its benefits for e-commerce. Part 2 describes how to leverage UGC images in e-commerce and efficiently upload, transform, and deliver them with Cloudinary. Part 3 focuses on videos in UGC and the many related management capabilities offered by Cloudinary.

Currently, Cloudinary boasts a customer base of 7,000, with 800,000 users managing visual media on our AI platform. A remarkable trend indicator is that, between April and June, the overall video platform’s bandwidth grew by more than 140 percent. Many brands, such as Bleacher Report, Mediavine, Nintendo, Fiverr, Guess, Hinge, Finalsite, Outbrain, Salsify, and Taboola, are interacting with their audiences in a more in-depth and authentic manner through video. Of significant help is AI, which greatly simplifies cross-channel, resource-intensive workflows and collaboration in real time.

In today’s digital world, engaging online content is key for catching audience attention. At ImageCon 2020, Cloudinary’s annual conference, Yaron Reichert and me, Jackie Rosenzveig, hosted a session titled ’Handling Media at Scale Using Automation and AI’, which delved into the following:

The health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic continues to transform the e-business landscape. Jointly with Internet Retailing, Gary Ballabio, Cloudinary’s Head of Technology Partnerships, recently moderated the webinar Navigating the New Normal of Digital Commerce. Panelists from Wunderman Thompson Commerce and Incisiv spoke to the emerging and evolving trends along with a focus on three themes:

As we spend more time at home, many of us are adopting pets for the joy, companionship and a surprising range of health benefits. In Australia, where our nonprofit customer PetRescue is located, there’s a shortage of pets to adopt. Last August, the Guardian reported that dog shelters in Australia emptied and adoption fees for puppies were running as high as $AUS1800.

A product’s benefits and usage, including its value proposition, features, and instructive details, are best demonstrated through video. Product-video types vary, depending on the funnel, channel, and audience, the most popular ones being demos, reviews, installation, and how-tos.

E-commerce is a dynamic business. Shoppers are constantly browsing sites for the best deals or for the latest of their favorite products, adding to wish lists, and exploring product recommendations from friends and influencers. On the other hand, online vendors are always on a tear to try to draw in shoppers and convert clicks to cash with various techniques, such as by reducing page-load time, posting compelling product images, and aggressively targeting ads.

Measuring the level of interest your videos generate helps you produce compelling content. The measurement and optimization approach must, however, address the various aspects of each video, including the A/B test hypothesis and iterations. A high engagement rate spells effective videos; a low engagement rate calls for content improvement.

Part 1 of this series highlights the basics of user-generated content (UGC) and its benefits for e-commerce. Part 2 describes how to leverage UGC images in e-commerce and efficiently upload, transform, and deliver them with Cloudinary. In part 3 we will address videos in UGC and the many related management capabilities offered by Cloudinary.