Latest / Social Media Marketing with Fexingo: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Platform Strategy / Why Brands Are Turning Social Comments Into Paid Ads
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're scrolling through Instagram or TikTok, and you see a brand's sponsored post — but the caption does not sound like the brand. It sounds like someone's mom. Or a teenager. Or a random guy in a Midwestern basement. Luna: Right, and half the time the handle is something like 'user738291'. Lucas: Exactly. You are looking at a paid ad built from a user comment. And it is one of the fastest-growing creative strategies in social media marketing right now. Brands are taking organic comments — from their own posts, from influencer content, from Reddit threads — and turning them directly into paid ad creative. Luna: We have seen this a lot with DTC brands, especially in skin care and supplements. But I've also spotted it on LinkedIn for B2B. What's driving it? Lucas: Two things. First, ad fatigue is real. The average user sees hundreds of polished, professionally-shot ads every week. They tune them out almost instantly. But a comment — something that looks like a real person typing on their phone — cuts through because it feels unsolicited and honest. Luna: Second thing is performance. Brands are seeing lower cost per click and higher conversion rates when they use comment-based copy versus their standard agency-written copy. Lucas: Exactly. There is a case from a DTC skincare brand — I will call them Glow Theory, though the real name is different — who ran a campaign last summer. They took a comment from a customer who wrote, 'I have tried every serum on Sephora and this is the only one that stopped my breakouts.' They ran it as the primary text in a Facebook ad. That single comment-generated ad drove two point two million dollars in attributable revenue over six weeks. Luna: That is insane. But it also makes perfect sense because the comment contained a specific claim — 'tried every serum on Sephora' — that signals authority and comparison shopping. That is way more convincing than a brand saying 'our serum is the best.' Lucas: Precisely. The brand voice is inherently biased. A customer comment carries third-party credibility. And when you run it as a paid ad, you are effectively amplifying word of mouth at scale. The key is that the comment has to feel genuine. If it is too polished or too obviously scripted, it backfires. Luna: I want to talk about the legal side. Because if I am a brand and I take someone's comment and turn it into a paid ad, do I need permission? What about FTC rules? Lucas: Short answer: yes, you need permission. The FTC's endorsement guidelines require that if you are using a consumer's statement in paid advertising, you need a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the comment is being used with their consent. And ideally you get written permission — even if the comment was posted publicly on your own page. Luna: A lot of brands are handling this by including a checkbox at checkout or in their post-purchase email that says 'may we use your review in our advertising?' Lucas: And that is the cleanest way to do it. You build a library of consent-granted comments. Then your social team can pull from that pool whenever they need fresh ad creative. On the creative side, the format varies by platform. On Instagram, you often see a screenshot of the comment itself — sometimes with the profile picture blurred, sometimes not. Luna: On TikTok, brands will stitch or duet a video where a user says something positive about the product. Then they run that as a Spark Ad — the original creator gets credited and the brand pays to amplify it. Lucas: LinkedIn is interesting because the comment thread itself can be the ad. I saw a B2B SaaS company — let's call them WorkFlow — run a sponsored post that was literally a screenshot of a comment thread under one of their organic posts. The top comment was from a VP of operations at a mid-size company saying 'We cut our onboarding time by 40 percent using this tool.' Luna: And that comment was not even directed at the brand — it was a reply to someone else asking 'does this actually work?' Lucas: Right. So the ad is essentially social proof within social proof. WorkFlow told me that comment-based ad had a click-through rate of 34 percent, compared to their average of around 2 percent. That is a massive lift. Luna: But not every comment is ad-worthy. How do brands decide which comments to elevate? There has to be a filter. Lucas: There is. Brands I have spoken to look for three things. One: specificity. A comment like 'This changed my life' is too generic. 'This helped me lower my A1C by two points in three months' is specific and credible. Two: emotional language. Words that convey genuine surprise or delight — 'finally', 'actually', 'I can't believe' — those outperform neutral language. Three: the comment should read like a person, not a testimonial template. Luna: There is also a risk of overusing the strategy. If every ad from a brand is a screenshot of a comment, users start to catch on and the authenticity effect fades. Lucas: That is the big caveat. The strategy works precisely because it is not the default. You need to mix comment-based ads with other creative formats. Use them as a performance lever, not the entire campaign. And always test. A/B test the comment copy against your standard copy. Do not assume it will work for every audience or every product. Luna: I think there is also a cultural shift here. Users are savvier about advertising than ever. They know a brand wrote the caption. But when they see another user's words — especially if the username is visible — there is a layer of trust that is hard to replicate with polished copy. Lucas: Exactly. And if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — a new approach to your social strategy, a specific tactic you tried — that is exactly the kind of real-world application we hope for. The way these episodes stay ad-free and focused on actionable ideas is through listener support. If today was useful, you can contribute at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it is a small way to keep the conversations going without sponsors dictating the content. Appreciate everyone who chips in. Lucas: Alright, back to comments. Let's talk about tools. There are a few platforms that help brands aggregate and manage user-generated comments for advertising. Tint and Yotpo are the most common. They allow you to pull in reviews and social comments, get permissions, and export them into ad platforms. Luna: Are brands also using AI to identify high-potential comments? I imagine you could train a model to score comments on specificity and sentiment. Lucas: Yes, some are. I know of a fashion brand that built an internal tool using GPT to flag comments that contain product mentions plus emotional language. It cut their manual review time by 70 percent. But they still have a human sign off before anything goes live, because AI can miss nuance — like sarcasm. Luna: Sarcasm in a comment turned into an ad — that would be a disaster. Lucas: Absolutely. 'Yeah this product is GREAT if you want to waste money' — not the vibe you want. So human oversight is critical. Another thing: the comment should ideally be recent. Using a comment from three years ago can feel dated, especially if the product has been updated or the user's context has changed. Luna: What about negative comments? Some brands have turned a complaint into a clever ad by showing how they fixed the issue. Lucas: That is a higher-risk play but it can work. I saw a mattress company that took a comment saying 'this bed is too firm for me' and ran an ad saying 'Not firm enough? Try our soft-top model.' It was a direct response to criticism and it actually performed well because it showed they listen. But you need thick skin and a good product. Luna: Let's talk about measurement. How do brands know if the comment-based ad is actually driving incrementality versus just cannibalizing organic conversions? Lucas: Good question. The best practice is to run a holdout test. Take a segment of your audience and show them the comment-based ad. Take another segment and show them your standard ad. Measure the lift in conversions and new customer acquisition. Many brands using this strategy see a strong lift in first-time buyers — the comment adds social proof for people who are on the fence. Luna: So it is particularly effective at the consideration stage, not just bottom of funnel. Lucas: Exactly. At the top of funnel, you are building awareness and trust. A comment from a real user can be the nudge that gets someone to click. At the bottom, it reinforces the decision. I think we will see more brands building dedicated comment to ad pipelines in the next year. Luna: What about smaller brands that do not have thousands of comments? Can they still use this strategy? Lucas: Absolutely. You do not need volume. One great comment can carry an entire campaign. In fact, smaller brands often have more engaged communities where comments are more detailed and personal. A local coffee roaster I know uses a comment from a customer who said 'this is the only coffee that doesn't give me acid reflux.' They have run that as their top-performing Facebook ad for months. Luna: I think the takeaway is that brands should start proactively collecting permission. Include that checkbox in your post-purchase flow. Encourage reviews and comments. Then when you find a gem, you can move fast. Lucas: And when you do run the ad, give credit where it is due. Some brands tag the original commenter or send them a small gift. That builds goodwill and encourages more people to leave detailed comments in the future. Luna: It is a virtuous cycle. Good comments lead to good ads, which lead to more engagement, which leads to more comments. Lucas: Exactly. And that is the kind of social media strategy that actually compounds over time — instead of burning out on ever more polished creative, you let your customers do the talking.