UGC stands for User-Generated Content. It refers to any content—such as videos, images, reviews, text posts, and comments—created and shared by users on online platforms rather than by the companies or professionals that run those platforms. This type of content is commonly found on social media sites, forums, and product review sites. UGC allows users to express their opinions, share their experiences, and contribute to the digital community. It plays a significant role in shaping brand perception, influencing consumer behavior, and providing authentic insights into user experiences. Due to its genuine and relatable nature, UGC has become a valuable asset for marketing strategies, enhancing engagement, and building trust with audiences.
UGC and authenticity
One of the main benefits of UGC content for brands is authenticity. This content is made by real customers so that it comes across as genuine and soulful. It hasn’t been produced as part of a carefully crafted and expensive advertising campaign by PR executives, nor is it promoted by influencers. It’s more like the recommendation of a friend or colleague than a commercial proposition. This feeling of authenticity is vital when it comes to marketing. Research by Adweek has shown that 85% of consumers consider UGC more influential than brand-produced content.
Now that UGC is being used more broadly, it has opened itself up to a more professional dynamic. Brands are hungry to share content that looks and feels like it’s been made by real users with style. It’s organic but with charisma. Find the right brands, and as a creator, you can benefit from payment for your content, brand collaborations, affiliate marketing opportunities, and monetization options.
How to become a UGC creator
Find a niche
If you’re keen to embark on a UGC career, it’s important for you to identify the niche where you’d like to concentrate. After all, UGC is about authenticity. Your content will likely be more compelling and engaging if you are genuinely committed to and passionate about the products or services that you’re promoting.
Think about your particular interests and where you have any expertise. For example, you might be a keen cook. This allows you to make content around ingredients, styles, or types of cooking, cookware, and tableware. Now, consider which types of brands you might want to collaborate with.
You must identify your target audience from your niche and preferred brands. Your content must resonate with the right people to generate interest. If you don’t know who they are and how they think, you won’t be able to create content that appeals to them. Your target audience can be people very similar to you, but that won’t always be the case. For example, keen gardeners are not always homeowners with extensive flowerbeds. They might live in a flat and have perfected container gardening. Or they could be vegetable growers with an interest in community gardening.
Create content
Creating UGC isn’t just about picking up a camera and shooting. When you’ve found your niche, you need to do a little more planning and research.
Develop a unique style
When you’ve identified your niche and considered the brands you’d most like to work with, it’s time to define your style. Consistency is key to UGC marketing, meaning you need to work on a particular look and feel for your content. In part, this will enable you to produce reliably high-quality content. Still, it’s also about making something that brands can depend on and their customers, potential or existing, can relate to.
Pick your platforms
While you might be able to create content for a few different social media platforms simultaneously, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to service Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube simultaneously. Instead, you must be selective about where to upload your content.
First, consider where the brands you want to engage with have a social media presence. A high-class milliner might not have a TikTok account. Where you share your content needs to mesh with their aims and values.
Similarly, where do the consumers you’re trying to appeal to spend their social media time? It’s no use making Facebook videos if they prefer Instagram.
Finally, where will you want to hang around? While being a UGC creator doesn’t demand an enormous social media following, you need to dedicate time to engage and interact with followers and be present. If TikTok doesn’t do it for you, you’re going to struggle.
Analyze and iterate
When you’ve started sharing content to promote a product or brand, you must analyze its performance. What are the viewing figures? How much engagement does each post generate? Do particular types of content resonate more with different demographics? By conducting analytics on your content, you will be able to ascertain what works for your chosen audience and what doesn’t. You might even be able to identify an unexpected target audience. This will guide you in your content creation and give you real insights and authority when you start negotiating with brands to create content specifically for them.
Make use of Motion Array
Whatever stage you’re at in your UGC journey, your output always needs to be high quality. If you realize that a particular vision just won’t happen because you don’t have the necessary resources to make it to the standard you’d like, don’t be deterred. Motion Array has thousands of videos, templates, and graphics that you can use to create content exactly as you need. If you can’t get to Paris, download footage of Paris. If you need a litter of puppies, Motion Array has you covered.
Build a portfolio
While you don’t need a huge social media following to become a UGC creator, you do need to build a content portfolio. Your portfolio is there to act as a resumé for your UGC career. It demonstrates the type of content you create and showcases it to brands. It should be a selection of your best work, curated to reflect you and resonate with your desired commercial partners.
If you work within several different niches, you might find that having multiple portfolios, each tailored to those specific niches, is ideal. While a brand will want to see that you can create a range of content, it needs to be assured that you know how it operates.
It’s important that your portfolio is up-to-date, diverse, and high quality. While a brand might find you through Instagram, you need to be able to share a body of work with it that is thorough and beautifully designed. Motion Array has a vast range of templates that will enable you to produce something professional but unique.
Finally, remember to keep your portfolio fresh. Marketing is very trend-driven; if your portfolio only shows fashionable content five years ago, it will look as if you’re out of touch.
Make connections
If brands always came to you and asked you to collaborate with them, that would be absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the chances are that you will need to do a lot of pitching and might well receive plenty of knockbacks as you manage your UGC creator career.
As part of defining your niche, you would have identified brands that you would have wanted to work with as a content creator. These types of companies align with your values as an individual and create products you want to use and, therefore, market. These brands are always going to be your first point of contact when pitching for UGC creator roles.
Find their PR contact details and craft a short but informative email, attaching your portfolio or at least a link to it. Come straight to the point, demonstrate that you know and understand their brand, and be enthusiastic. They might not respond immediately, but they should not be afraid of following up after three or so days.
Cold outreach can be highly effective, and remember, the worst that a company can say is no. Don’t be afraid of trying it. But if you are struggling to make inroads like that, look at Upwork or Fiverr: there will be brands within your niche looking for creators. Be brave!
Wrapping up
UGC is worth your consideration for any content creator who enjoys making social media content that speaks to people. It’s a way to make money by promoting something you enjoy or care about and engaging with companies that align with your interests and people who share your values. And with Motion Array’s help, you can easily create professional and unique content that will catch the attention of brands and consumers alike.
