How Hey Doodle Went Global Through Smart Social Media Marketing and Niche UGC

When Melbourne-based company Hey Doodle launched its range of reusable silicone colouring mats for kids, the idea was simple: create something fun, educational, and sustainable. What wasn’t so simple was how to grow the brand in a crowded e-commerce space. But instead of throwing money at traditional advertising or following cookie-cutter marketing trends, Hey Doodle tapped into something far more powerful: user-generated content. More specifically, niche user-generated content.

Through smart, targeted engagement on Instagram and TikTok, Hey Doodle worked with parenting influencers and encouraged everyday customers to share their own content. They turned a small online shop into an international success story, with social media marketing becoming one of their biggest sales drivers.

So what can business owners learn from this?

Plenty.

The way Hey Doodle approached content creation, audience engagement, and brand growth offers some surprisingly practical lessons, no matter your industry.

Authenticity Beats Perfection

Many small businesses feel pressure to have perfect content with glossy photos, studio lighting, and impeccable video edits. But perfection can sometimes distance you from your customers. Your audience connects better with what feels real.

Consider a living room with a toddler drawing on a mat while a baby naps nearby and laundry in the background. It isn’t perfect — but it’s real.

Customers relate more to videos and images that show people who look and live like them. That’s the power of niche UGC. It strips away the performance and gets to the heart of the product experience. When businesses adopt this approach, their social media marketing becomes more relatable and far more effective.

You don’t need a huge budget or a big production team to do this. You just need to encourage your community to share how they genuinely use your product or service, and make it easy for them to do so.

Encourage User-Generated Content Without Being Pushy

Getting your customers to share content doesn’t mean constantly asking them to. Instead, make it feel natural. Highlighting other customer stories is an effective approach. When people see others being featured, they’re often happy to join in.

Hey Doodle regularly re-shared videos from parents using their products, sometimes even turning those into mini interviews or behind-the-scenes stories. This created a small spotlight for their customers and showed appreciation, rather than expectation.

Offering a gentle prompt can also help. A simple thank you email after a purchase, with a note saying “We love seeing our products in action, tag us if you’d like to be featured!” works far better than a generic “Thank you for your purchase. Give us a 5-star if you love it.”

The key is to make people feel part of a conversation, not just a campaign.

Find the Right Platform for Your Audience

One reason Hey Doodle’s social media marketing worked is that they didn’t try to be everywhere. They focused on the platforms where their ideal customers were — Instagram and TikTok, both popular with young parents.

This is an important point. You don’t need to cover every social media platform. Choose one or two that match your audience’s habits. Then, spend time understanding what types of content work there. TikTok, for instance, isn’t just for dance trends. It’s full of parenting hacks, small business stories, and product reviews. Instagram leans into visuals but also supports detailed captions and conversations.

Let Go of Control (Just a Little)

One challenge with UGC is that you don’t get to direct every aspect of it. Someone might show your product in a cluttered kitchen or use it in an unexpected way. That’s OK. In fact, that’s part of the charm.

By letting go of strict brand control and embracing a more open, flexible approach, you’ll find that customers actually become more creative and more loyal. After all, they’re not just buying a product; they’re joining a community where their voice matters.

Hey Doodle embraced this by celebrating even the quirkiest posts. A toddler drawing upside down? Great. A travel video with the mat spread out on a plane seat? Even better. The more variety they showed, the more uses other customers could imagine, and that widened the product’s appeal.

From Local to Global: The Unexpected Bonus

One of the unexpected benefits of niche UGC is reach. Hey Doodle started by targeting Australian families, but the universal appeal of their content caught the eye of overseas audiences. Parenting is a shared experience around the world — and visual, authentic posts don’t need translation.

Soon, international distributors began reaching out. And because the product already had real-world examples of use, trust was easier to build. The brand didn’t need to convince people. It simply showed them what others were already doing.

This proves that starting with a clear niche doesn’t limit you. In fact, it gives your social media marketing the clarity to scale globally.

Implement Niche UGC in Your Social Media Marketing

If you’re wondering how to apply these lessons to your own business, begin with one question: Who is your niche audience? Not your general customer, but the specific group who needs what you offer most.

Once you know that, do your research.

• Find out where they spend time online.
• Watch the kinds of content they engage with.

Next, reach out to a few customers personally. Thank them, ask for feedback, and see if they’d be happy to share their experience. Then start sharing that content yourself. Not just to promote your product, but to show what’s possible with it. Invite others in. Celebrate the diversity of stories. Be human.

You don’t need to go viral to succeed. You just need to connect with the right people in the right way. And as Hey Doodle shows, social media marketing powered by community can take your brand far.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on a clear niche to make your social media marketing more effective.
• Authentic content outperforms polished ads.
• Make it easy for customers to share — celebrate their stories.
• Choose platforms wisely and tailor your content to how people use them.
• Let go of perfection and embrace customer creativity.
• Local success can naturally lead to global reach.
• Your community can be your strongest marketing team.