If you’ve been online in the last year, you’ve probably seen hundreds of videos of people talking about their days, using products, and sharing their experiences. This kind of content is called user-generated content or UGC content, and the people who make it are UGC creators. UGC content is an umbrella term for anything made by individuals, rather than companies, for commercial or promotional purposes. If you’ve ever seen someone unboxing a new backpack they bought on YouTube or someone vlogging about their new tennis shoes for vacation, you’ve seen UGC content.
Anyone can become a UGC creator because all it requires is creating content that’s not made by the brand itself. However, a UGC creator ends up being someone who spends a lot of time dedicated to producing original videos, images, reviews, comments, or other forms of media—and are often paid to do so. Let’s dive into more about UGC creators and why they’re so sought after.
How Does a UGC Creator Differ from an Influencer?
A UGC creator can technically be anyone creating their own promotional content for a company while an influencer will have a contract to work with a particular brand. However, the distinction can get a little muddy when you add in that some UGC creators also have contracts with brands and are paid to create content. The main difference between those types of UGC creators and influencers is that brands love the authenticity of a UGC creator and the audience of an influencer. Influencers typically have a high amount of followers, and half of the reason why a brand would partner with them is to reach that group—not just for the content itself. This is why UGC creators are often seen as sitting at the forefront of the new era of influencer marketing.
A brand will partner with a UGC creator more to get the unique benefits of UGC content, rather than to reach a particular audience.
Why Brands Want to Work with UGC Creators
UGC creators are in high demand for a few reasons:
- People trust them. Consumers are going to trust their peers more than companies when it comes to product recommendations. In fact, 88% say they take recommendations from people they trust more seriously than any other kind of marketing material. UGC creators can become trusted sources in people’s lives, and that makes their content more trustworthy and reliable to your potential customers.
- They’re relatable. In an age of lo-fi content where low quality and high relatability are crucial, UGC creators make content people want. That relatability and authenticity people crave can then help them trust and be more likely to convert to the products and brands the creators showcase.
- It’s more cost-effective. It’s much more expensive to spend all the time and money creating branded content—or shelling out to hire a big name celebrity. In reality, a brand’s potential buyers could be converted by having a regular person create relatable content, and that saves businesses a lot of time and money on marketing.
- Cross-platform content is easy. UGC creators are on social media like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, as well as blogs and forums. Because they’re already creating content for nearly every platform, brands can easily create extensive content strategies and collaborate with multiple creators to cover all their bases.
- They produce high-conversion content (that can go viral). Over 50% of marketers believe that UGC videos yield a higher return on investment than professionally made videos. These creators are making content that helps companies get more while spending less. And the content has much more potential to go viral than professionally curated content.
How Do You Become a UGC Creator?
UGC creators are changing the marketing landscape, especially when it comes to video content. People are more drawn to content they consider authentic and real, so companies are partnering with more UGC creators to help make that happen.
If someone wants to become a UGC creator, how do they do it? There are a few steps to becoming a regular UGC creator:
- Find your niche. There are a lot of creators out there already, so you’ll want to focus on something specific that you have experience with.
- Reach out to brands. A lot of companies want to work with UGC creators—even those with lower follower counts. Create a portfolio of great content and start sharing your experiences with products about certain companies. Chances are, at least one of those companies would be interested in your content.
- Stay consistent. While UGC creation doesn’t need to be your full-time job, you should be willing to work at it and post regularly.
Make Filming UGC Content Easy with BrandLens
Whether you’re a company looking to partner with UGC creators or an individual ready to become a creator, you’re going to need video tools that make content creation easy. BrandLens can help you with videos. It’s essentially like Canva but for videos—tons of customizable templates that make it easy to set up a niche or apply brand guidelines. Plus you don’t have to download an app to use it. It’s guided, easy, intuitive, and powerful.
Schedule a demo today to get started filming UGC content!
