In consumer marketing, user-generated content (UGC) has long been the gold standard for authenticity. But what began as a grassroots movement on social media is now reshaping how global enterprises build trust. From the boardroom to the LinkedIn feed, B2B brands are learning that credibility isn’t bought, it’s earned through the voices of real users.
Across industries, user-generated content is emerging as one of the most effective ways for B2B brands to build credibility, authority, and lasting relationships. While B2C brands have spent the last decade mastering the art of authenticity, B2B marketers are now realising that human-centred storytelling is just as powerful in professional spaces, and perhaps even more so.
Why B2B Buyers Are Looking Elsewhere
Business decision-makers have grown wary of overproduced brand narratives. The volume of polished content, often driven more by performance metrics than by genuine value, has created fatigue and scepticism. A recent 2025 B2B Marketing Benchmark study by LinkedIn found that 94% of marketers now view trust not simply as a value, but as a core driver of performance. In that same study, video and influencer-led content emerged as the two most effective tools for earning that trust.
As buyers spend more time conducting independent research, the content they find most persuasive isn’t brand-authored thought leadership, it’s authentic experience shared by peers. A separate LinkedIn report, Trusted Voices, Trusted Brands: How B2B Influence Powers Buyer Confidence, revealed that 67% of B2B tech buyers say content from industry experts helps build trust and raises awareness of new solutions.
What UGC Means in B2B Contexts
In B2B, UGC goes beyond testimonials or thought-leadership pieces. It is content driven by real users such as clients, partners, employees who share their challenges, lessons, and outcomes. A CFO describing what implementation really felt like, an engineer sharing how a product behaves under pressure, or a consultant unpacking earlier missteps and how a vendor helped overcome them. These are raw, often messy but compelling stories that reflect reality, and this authenticity is where UGC shines in B2B.
Where traditional brand content once held the centre stage, studies now show influencer-led or user-generated content is doing much of the heavy lifting. In LinkedIn’s ‘Trusted Voices, Trusted Brands: How B2B Influence Powers Buyer Confidence’ more than half of B2B marketers report working with influencers to build authenticity, defining authenticity and credibility as among the top criteria when choosing influencer partners.
Another striking statistic comes from that same group of tech buyers: 67% say that content from industry experts helps build trust in a brand and raises awareness of different products or solutions.
How UGC Builds More Than Just Interest
UGC does more than generate clicks or impressions, it reduces perceived risk and builds confidence. When someone in the buyer’s shoes shares a real-world use case, it feels less like marketing and more like professional advice. The dynamic shifts: buyers no longer feel they are being sold to, but understood and reassured by those who’ve been there before.
This emotional resonance is especially critical in long sales cycles, where trust accumulates through repeated validation. A single, authentic customer story can reinforce months of marketing. Moreover, formats such as short-form video, co-authored case studies, employee posts, and partner collaborations allow brands to connect with multiple decision-makers simultaneously, each with distinct priorities. The technical lead, the finance officer, and the procurement executive all see different angles of the same story, told by peers they respect. UGC, in this way, doesn’t just enhance messaging, but actually diversifies it.
Elevating UGC from Idea to Engine
Turning UGC from idea to a strategic asset requires cultural, tactical, and measurement shifts. Culture must change so that clients, partners, and internal experts feel invited to contribute their stories. Tactically, brands need to facilitate storytelling, therefore making it easy for customers to share insights, for teams to record real feedback, and for collaborators to co-create.
On the measurement front, success is now being defined in terms of trust, awareness, and conversion in meaningful ways. LinkedIn’s benchmark survey revealed that brands with structured video and creator strategies (UGC-adjacent content) are 2.2x more likely to be seen as “well trusted” and 1.8x more likely to be “well known.”
UGC as a Core of B2B Content Strategy
User-generated content is becoming central to B2B marketing strategy rather than a fringe experiment. As more buyers expect genuine voices and as younger generations join the buyer base, bringing with them different expectations around content and authenticity, the role of UGC is only going to become more significant.
Brands that already lean into this by elevating practitioner stories, embracing imperfection, distributing authentic content in video and collaborative formats, will not just stand out, they will build the kind of trust that sustains growth over long cycles. In B2B, reputations are built in the real stories of people who have chosen to trust you, and then tell others.