UGC Campaign: How to Run a Hashtag Campaign and Get Rights

A hashtag gets you posts. It doesn’t get you permission.

That’s the step most brands skip. They launch a hashtag, collect hundreds of great customer photos, and then drop them into ads and product pages without asking anyone. Every one of those posts still belongs to the person who made it.

A UGC campaign asks your customers to create and share content about your brand, usually under a branded hashtag.

Running one well takes six steps: set a goal and a hashtag, launch, collect, moderate, get the rights, and reuse.

Here, I walk you through each one, with the exact EmbedSocial setup I use to go from “people are posting” to “we can legally use this.”

What is a UGC campaign?

A UGC campaign is a planned push to get customers, fans or employees to create content about your brand. Think photos, videos, reviews and Reels, tagged with a hashtag or your handle so you can find them.

There are two kinds:

Organic campaigns invite real customers to post.

Paid campaigns hire UGC creators to make content on order.

This guide covers the organic, hashtag-driven kind, because that’s where rights get messy.

If you’re new to the concept, start with what user-generated content is. For inspiration, we’ve collected 21 user-generated content examples from brands that ran successful UGC campaigns, and 10 that failed.

Why UGC campaigns work

Shoppers trust other shoppers more than they trust you. In a Bazaarvoice survey of more than 8,000 consumers, 62% said customer photos and videos make them more likely to buy.

A campaign turns that trust into a steady supply of content. You get proof for your product pages, creative for your ads, and a list of your most active fans, who are often your best future creators. Our UGC statistics roundup has more numbers if you need to sell the idea internally.

1. Set a goal and a hashtag

Every UGC campaign needs one goal. Pick the one the content will serve, because it decides what you ask people to post.

• Product page conversions: ask for photos of the product in use.
• Ad creative: ask for short vertical videos.
• Awareness: ask for something fun and shareable, like a challenge.
• Community: ask fans to share a moment, not a product.

Then write down the number that tells you it worked. For example, 150 usable posts in 30 days, or 40 posts with approved rights for the spring collection.

Choose a hashtag campaign name that works

Your hashtag is the campaign’s address. Get it wrong and your posts get lost in someone else’s feed. A good hashtag campaign name passes four checks:

• It’s unique. Search it on Instagram and TikTok first. If strangers already use it, pick another.
• It’s short. One to three words people can type from memory.
• It carries your brand. #ShareACoke works because the brand is inside the tag.
• It’s easy to read. Capitalize each word (#MyBrandMoments) so it can’t be misread.

One technical note: the Instagram API lets a business account query up to 30 unique hashtags in a rolling 7 day period. One campaign hashtag plus a backup is plenty.

For more inspiration, look at these 11 hashtag campaign examples and our full Instagram hashtag campaign guide.

2. Launch it, or run it as a contest

A hashtag nobody knows about collects nothing. Tell people what to post, where to tag it, and what happens next. Put that ask everywhere your customers already are:

• Packaging inserts and order confirmation emails
• Your Instagram bio, Stories and pinned posts
• Product pages and the checkout thank-you page
• In-store signage and event screens

Add one line that sets expectations: “We may ask to feature your post.” It makes the rights request later feel expected, not creepy.

Turn it into a hashtag contest

If you need volume fast, add a prize. A hashtag contest gives people a reason to post today instead of someday. Our guides on Instagram giveaways and social media contest ideas cover the rules, prizes and legal basics.

Just remember: entering a contest isn’t the same as granting usage rights, unless your contest terms say so clearly.

3. Collect hashtag and mention posts automatically

Don’t screenshot posts by hand. It doesn’t scale, and screenshots lose the creator’s handle, caption and link.

Use a social media aggregator to pull campaign posts into one place automatically. Here’s the setup in EmbedSocial:

1. Create your account. Sign up for a free trial and follow the account setup steps.
2. Connect your Instagram account. Every Instagram source starts there. See how to connect a source.
3. Add a hashtag source. Click + Add source, choose Instagram, select #Hashtags posts, and enter your campaign hashtag. One source can track several hashtags, separated by commas (docs).
4. Add a mentions source. This catches posts where people tag your handle but forget the hashtag (docs).
5. Add standout posts by URL. Found a great Instagram post or Reel that missed both? Use Add post via URL to pull it in by link, up to 10 links per source (docs).

Official tutorial: Connect an Instagram hashtags source →

Note: URL posts are available from the Pro plan, hashtag and mentions sources from Pro Plus. New posts sync automatically, from every 3 hours on Pro Plus down to every 30 minutes on Premium. Read more.

Running the campaign on other networks too? EmbedSocial also tracks YouTube hashtags and X hashtags. TikTok works differently: its API doesn’t support hashtag sources, so use TikTok social listening to catch mentions instead.

One thing to plan for: rights requests in EmbedSocial work on Instagram posts only (more on that below). If you’ll reuse content from other networks, ask those creators for permission yourself and keep a record of their reply.

Want to catch brand conversations beyond your campaign tag? Social listening for Instagram tracks hashtags and mentions, and the wider social listening tool covers other networks.

For more collection tactics, see our guide on how to collect UGC and how to monitor Instagram hashtags.

4. Moderate UGC before it goes live

A hashtag feed pulls in posts from accounts you don’t control. Some will be off-topic, low quality or plain spam. Moderation keeps them off your website.

Manual moderation

Approve or hide posts one by one. You can switch between manual mode (nothing goes live until you approve it) and auto mode (new posts flow straight to your widget). For a new hashtag campaign, start manual. Switch to auto once you trust the feed.

Keyword filters help too. Show only posts that mention your product name, or block posts containing words you don’t want next to your brand.

5. Get UGC rights before you reuse anything

This is the step that separates a UGC campaign from a legal risk. Collecting a post and showing it on your site are two different things.

Why a hashtag isn’t permission

When someone posts a photo, they own it. Using your hashtag tells you they’re a fan. It doesn’t give you a license to put their photo in an ad, an email or on a product page.

That’s what UGC usage rights are: the creator’s explicit OK for you to reuse their content, and how. Our glossary explains UGC usage rights in more depth, and our guide to UGC rights management covers the full theory, including what a good request message says.

Here’s the practical part. EmbedSocial’s UGC rights feature lets you request and track rights without leaving the platform. It currently works with Instagram only, on three kinds of posts:

• Posts from your Instagram hashtag sources
• Posts from your Instagram mentions sources
• Instagram posts you added manually via URL

For content from any other network, ask the creator directly. Rights management is available on the Premium plan and higher. Read more.

Install the Rights Management Chrome extension.

Official tutorial: How to request rights on your Instagram posts →

Request rights via Instagram comment

A public comment is the fastest route. The creator sees it as a notification on their own post.

1. Go to Rights in the left menu (under Widgets). The Rights media tab lists every collected post and its rights status.
2. Find the post and click Request rights.
3. Under Post comment from, choose the Instagram account that will comment. Log into that same account on Instagram first.
4. In Request type, select Post comment.
5. Edit the pre-filled text if you want. It tells the creator to reply with the approval hashtag and tag your account.
6. Click Request rights.

Official tutorial: Ask via Instagram comment.

Request rights via Instagram DM

When you add an Instagram post by URL, you can now request usage rights from the creator with a direct message.

A direct message is more private, which some creators prefer. The trade-off: if your account doesn’t follow them, the DM lands in their message requests folder, so replies are slower.

1. Open Rights > Rights media and click Request rights on the post.
2. Choose the sending account and make sure you’re logged into it on Instagram.
3. In Request type, select Send direct message.
4. Edit the message if needed, then click Request rights.

Official tutorial: Ask via Instagram DM.

My rule of thumb: use comments for everyday customers and DMs for creators with bigger followings, who often prefer to talk terms privately.

Track approvals in one place

Every request shows up in the Rights media list. The Rights status moves from Unrequested to Pending to Approved, and the Reply, Approved on and Request date columns fill in as creators respond.

Your default request texts live in the Message settings tab, so the whole team sends the same wording.

The best part: in your widget, turn on the filter “Only posts that have approved rights.” Now nothing reaches your website until the creator has said yes.

Since rights cover Instagram posts only, use this filter on Instagram widgets. On a widget that mixes networks, it would hide every non-Instagram post.

Note: This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check usage terms with your legal team before running paid ads with UGC.

6. Display and reuse approved UGC

Approved posts are your campaign’s payoff. Put them where buying decisions happen.

• Your website: embed a UGC widget, an Instagram hashtag wall or an Instagram feed widget on your homepage and landing pages. EmbedSocial offers several widget types, from grids to sliders. See how to embed UGC on a website and our hashtag feed tutorial.
• Product pages: make posts shoppable with a shoppable widget, so shoppers can buy the exact product in the photo (docs). Here’s how shoppable UGC increases sales, and more on social commerce.
• Email: add customer photos to newsletters and post-purchase flows. Here’s how to embed UGC in email.
• Social: reshare approved posts with the UGC repost tool. Our guide covers how to repost UGC across networks.

Keep the library organized as it grows. Our guide to UGC management covers tagging, storage and reuse.

Measure UGC campaign results

Measure the campaign at each stage, not just at the end. That’s how you find the step that’s leaking.

Stage	Metric	What it tells you
Collect	Posts per week, unique creators	Is the hashtag spreading?
Moderate	Approval rate	Is the ask clear enough?
Rights	Rights approval rate, time to reply	Is your request message working?
Reuse	Widget visits, post clicks, CTR, conversions	Is the content paying off?

For the reuse stage, EmbedSocial’s widget analytics track widget visits, post clicks, link clicks and CTR for each widget, and UGC analytics tie it all together. For hashtag reach beyond your own feed, see our hashtag analytics guide.

A low rights approval rate usually means your request sounds like legal fine print. Rewrite it to sound like a fan, not a lawyer, and test again.

Conclusion: launch your first UGC campaign this week

A UGC campaign isn’t finished when people start posting. It’s finished when you have approved content working on your website.

So keep it simple. Pick one goal and one hashtag. Collect posts automatically, moderate before anything goes live, and request rights on every Instagram post you plan to reuse. Then put the approved posts where your customers decide to buy.

Ready to run it? Start your free EmbedSocial trial and connect your first hashtag source today.