In B2B, the role of the product manager has traditionally revolved around research, feature prioritization, and cross-functional coordination. But the best product managers today are extending their impact beyond these core responsibilities—by leveraging user-generated content (UGC) in strategic, often unexpected, ways.
Once considered primarily a tool for marketing, UGC is now being embraced by product leaders as a crucial input for building better, faster, and more customer-centric products. The smartest PMs aren’t just listening to their customers—they’re studying how customers talk about, demonstrate, and teach others about their products in the wild.
So, what are the best product managers in B2B doing differently with UGC? Let’s break it down.
1. They Use UGC as a Real-Time Insight Engine
High-performing product managers know that UGC offers a form of continuous, unsolicited feedback. While traditional methods like NPS surveys and user interviews are still valuable, they can be limited by sample size and timing. UGC, on the other hand, is happening constantly—across social platforms, forums, webinars, and product reviews.
Instead of waiting for structured feedback cycles, these PMs proactively monitor UGC for emerging themes. They use sentiment analysis tools or collaborate with marketing and support teams to track what users are organically saying. Are users consistently struggling with onboarding? Are they building unexpected use cases around certain features? UGC is often the earliest signal.
2. They Build Feedback Loops, Not Just Roadmaps
While many B2B companies still follow a quarterly or semi-annual roadmap cadence, top product managers are embedding feedback loops into their entire product lifecycle—and UGC is a big part of that. They release features to power users, encourage public feedback or walkthroughs, and use those outputs to iterate quickly.
This cycle of “build, observe, iterate” helps product teams stay agile and in tune with real-world usage. It also encourages community involvement, which builds a stronger sense of customer ownership in the product.
3. They Incorporate UGC into Feature Prioritization
UGC has become a factor in how great PMs rank and prioritize product improvements. If dozens of customers are creating videos or threads around a particular workaround, that signals a need that might not yet be on the official roadmap. If a feature is being evangelized through unsolicited LinkedIn posts or Slack group tutorials, it may deserve increased investment or refinement.
In some organizations, PMs are beginning to weigh the volume and sentiment of UGC as part of their decision-making framework, alongside more traditional data like usage metrics or revenue potential.
4. They Use UGC to Rethink Onboarding and Enablement
Today’s top B2B product managers recognize that traditional onboarding—PDFs, help docs, and guided tours—doesn’t always match how people learn. They’re now leveraging UGC from customers to support onboarding in more engaging, authentic ways.
This might include embedding a customer-led tutorial video into a feature tour, linking to a community forum post that explains a workflow, or highlighting a customer-created Notion template or Zapier recipe. When customers are helping other customers succeed, retention improves—and support load drops.
5. They Collaborate Cross-Functionally to Surface and Scale UGC
It’s not just about listening—great PMs also work across departments to elevate the best user-generated content. They share standout examples with marketing for amplification, with sales for enablement, and with customer success for training materials.
For instance, a product manager might identify a brilliant customer workaround and turn it into a co-branded webinar. Or they may partner with marketing to turn an unsolicited review into a case study or campaign. The result? UGC becomes a strategic asset that drives visibility and value across the business.
6. They Embrace UGC as a Competitive Differentiator
In saturated B2B markets, customer trust and community credibility often tip the scales. The best product managers know that UGC—authentic, unsolicited, and peer-created—can outperform polished messaging when it comes to influencing buyers.
By making UGC part of the product experience itself, whether through embedded video guides, customer stories, or shared templates, these PMs are building not just better products—but more trusted ecosystems.
UGC Is More Than Content—It’s a Strategic Advantage
As the lines blur between product, marketing, and customer experience, UGC is becoming a central thread that connects them all. B2B buyers today are savvy—they want proof, community, and value, not just features. The best product managers are meeting that moment by treating UGC not as a byproduct, but as a strategic advantage.
They’re using it to listen, to build, to guide, and to differentiate. And in doing so, they’re not just building products. They’re building movements. Reach out to MarketScale today!
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