What is a UGC Creator? Steps To Become One + Examples

Making money on social media is a dream – that’s slowly but surely turning into a reality.

Selling online products/services, brand partnerships, subscription-based models, affiliate programs, influencer marketing, and monetizing off of user-generated content are all part of the UGC creator job.

Interested in learning how to become a UGC creator?

You are in the right place.

What is UGC?

Before explaining what UGC creator is – let’s cover some basics of what does UGC stand for:

UGC stands for User-Generated Content, a term that refers to a wide range of creative outputs created by everyday individuals rather than professionals.

User-generated content is content related to your brand but created by your real customers instead of employees.

UGC definition

If you are wondering why user-generated content instead of content created the usual way – UGC increases conversion by 10% in an online buying process.

This type of content includes text, images, audio, and video and can be found on numerous digital platforms.

The UGC meaning has become increasingly popular as it allows people to share their unique perspectives and talents with a global audience, often forming online communities and connections.

Furthermore, the growth of UGC has redefined content creation, making it more accessible and inclusive for people from all walks of life.

What is a UGC Creator?

Now, it’s only fair we move on to covering what a user-generated content creator is:

UGC creator is a content creator (as the name says it) who “specializes” in creating content that looks user-generated, personal, authentic, and unique to that person’s style – but of course, it’s sponsored (paid by a brand/company). This content is usually shared on the social media feeds of the creator, and it can be in the form of a photo or a video explaining the features of a certain product, its benefits, etc.

UGC creator definition

UGC Creators vs. Content Creators

In short, UGC creators are everyday individuals who create content to express their creativity and ideas, while content creators are professionals or semi-professionals who produce content to inform, entertain, or educate.

UGC creators primarily focus on building communities and connections, whereas content creators often aim to influence culture or promote brands. Here is a table with the main differences:

UGC Content Creators vs. Influencers

Often, these creators are confused with influencers who post on their social channels regarding certain products. However, the main difference here is where this content is posted.

Micro-influencers are getting paid to promote products to their target audience/ their community, influencing their purchasing decisions to buy that product. Additionally, brands are paying these influencers for their products to reach a broader audience (the one the influencer has).

UGC creators could create similar content even for that same brand, but the content will be posted on the brand’s channels. In this case, brands are not looking into raising awareness and higher reach of their products/services; instead – they are in it for the authentic feel of the content.

For example, we can take this reel posted on Sephora’s Instagram profile, where a fashion influencer explains her hair routine with versatile products and hair styling tools.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sephora (@sephora)

Benefits of working with UGC creators

As we’ve already mentioned – user-generated content increases conversions, and here are some UGC stats that confirm this:

• 75% of marketers claim that UGC makes the brand more authentic
• 31% of consumers say that ads containing authentic UGC content are more memorable than branded content ads; and that
• Consumers spend 5,4 hours a day with user-generated content.
• And finally, marketers don’t need to have a big marketing budget for UGC creation.

As you can tell, brands love user-generated content because it hugely impacts their marketing strategy – but why is that?

User-generated content is so impactful simply because it provides people with social proof. Social proof, on the other hand, works because people trust people and not brands directly. It’s as simple as when you get a certain recommendation from a friend about a certain product, and you’re instantly hooked and ready to try it out.

Content created by UG creators is more engaging, trustworthy, and with higher credibility.

Other than this, content created by UG creators will help you:

• save valuable time and money (content creation can frequently be expensive and time-consuming to create)
• showcase your brand is open to communicating with your audience (this type of content will help you create a stronger bond with your audience)
• personality-based original videos/content with real people are preferred by social media algorithms meaning this content will get a higher reach (get through to more social media accounts and profiles)

Now that we’ve answered the “what” and the “why,” – it’s only fair we move on to the “how” – how to become a UGC creator.

How to Become a UGC Creator? (5 steps)

Becoming a UGC Creator is fairly simple – a huge follower count is not required, nor high engagement levels.

Why? Simply because you’re not influencing people your audience but the audience of the brand you’re creating for (because the content will be published on their profile). Even more, you won’t need special equipment to create this content.

So, what exactly do you need? Here are the exact steps if you’re starting on:

1. Create your UGC-specific account
2. Understand the UGC landscape
3. Plan your UGC strategy
4. Create high-quality UGC
5. Build your UGC portfolio
6. Collaborate and reach out to brands

1. Create your UGC-specific account

Create an account on the platform(s) that align with your content goals. Choose a username that reflects your brand or niche, and complete your profile with a compelling bio and relevant details.

Creating a different account will allow you to separate your personal from your “brand” account for privacy reasons. Additionally, creating an account with UGC usage in the description and/or name will help brands discover you faster and easier.

Once you create your account, you can start following other creators sharing tips, knowledge, and experience about the creator economy, how to make contacts, and how to get your first earnings as a creator.

Don’t be scared to reach out to other creators, and engage with the UGC creator community – you never know with who you might start collaborating.

Skills you need to become a creator:

• Video and photo creation and editing skills
• Copywriting for writing cool captions and scripts for creating UGC videos
• Live communication
• Research Skills are always a plus
• Basic marketing knowledge (understanding how sales funnels work + e-mail marketing + how social media channels and algorithms work)

2. Understand the UGC landscape

Now that you have your account, it’s time to start thinking about what industry you want to work in.

Before diving into UGC creation, familiarize yourself with the industry and platforms you wish to engage with. Research popular UGC trends, target audience preferences, and the specific platform’s guidelines.

Surely, you’re starting something new, and it might be scary – but no need to; when we’re talking “industry,” we actually refer to your interests (other than your nine-to-five job). You might be interested in skincare, tech, fashion, wellness, food, sports, books, productivity and planning, and so much more! The options are truly endless!

Once you write down your interests – go a step further, and think about brands you would like to collaborate with. Who are they – do write them down too. Now that you have your potential brand list – it’s time for some research.

Go into these brands’ social accounts and see what type of content they are posting, whether they include UGCs, what’s their most common content format, who their audience is, and how you can improve their content strategy.

Here is a list of niches you can consider:

Cooking / Recipes – do you have a cooking talent? You can consider creating your profile around a specific cooking niche, like vegan, food for kids, etc. The key here is to choose a very narrow topic that you are good at but is not very competitive.

Fitness / Wellness – of course, this is a very broad industry, but what about fitness for mums, fitness in the morning, and 10-minute fitness, try to research and see if any of the fitness alternatives are worth considering.

Skincare – is another super popular and demanded sector, and it might be perfect for you if you are on a certain skincare path, have a certain skincare issue, and you’re learning to cope with it with the right products/treatments/lifestyle, and even if you don’t have a skin issue – the industry is so large there’s space for every skincare enthusiast.

Fashion – passionate about dressing up? Do showcase your daily combinations, what you would wear on certain occasions, your favorite shopping hauls, seasonal wear, and must-haves for every season, and share comments on famous people’s combinations – experiment with content and find that thing that works for you and land those collaborations and paid content creations!

Books – regardless of how strange it might look – if that’s your interest, yes! There’s even space for such niche communities about people reading certain types of books, writing and sharing reviews, and sharing that unique book aesthetics (with underlined pages, side notes, and drawings on pages).

Productivity / Work Motivation – maybe you’re good at explaining to others how to excel in their career, be more productive, structure their day, prioritize their tasks, etc. Maybe this is something you’ve been working on yourself for years – and now it’s the absolute best time to literally make a living out of it (out of everything you’ve learned in your spare time).

Do stick with us – we will cover some helpful examples too 🙂

3. Plan Your UGC Strategy

Define your content objectives, themes, and posting frequency. Consider the interests of your target audience and craft content that resonates with them.

Planning ahead ensures consistency and a steady stream of engaging UGC.

4. Create high-quality UGC

Now that you have your main interests written down – you need to think about the type of content you want to focus on.

Focus on producing unique and high-quality content that captivates your audience. Use a variety of formats, such as photos, videos, or written posts, to diversify your content and cater to different preferences.

Are you more interested in creating photos, personal short-form videos, or short-form reels for both Instagram and TikTok? Think about this, take some courses to educate yourself if needed, and start creating.

Although it might be scary, starting to create authentic content and simply “being out there” is essential to becoming a creator. Creating content will help you with the next step, building your UGC portfolio.

5. Build your UGC portfolio

Compile your best UGC pieces into a cohesive portfolio. Showcase your creativity, skills, and unique perspective. This portfolio will serve as a compelling representation of your capabilities when collaborating with brands or seeking opportunities.

Creating a portfolio will help you showcase who you are, what you do – your previous work, and how you could help brands with content.

Here are a few resources to help you create your portfolio:

• how to create your portfolio in Canva
• what to put in your UGC portfolio
• an example of a portfolio,
• some common mistakes to avoid.

If you want to find more tips about your portfolio, make sure you follow the hashtag #ugcporfolio.

6. Do brand outreach

You have your preferred industry (and brands you want to work with) and your amazing portfolio – now you’re done with the last step – doing outreach.

Establish connections with brands and explore partnership opportunities. Leverage your UGC portfolio to demonstrate your value and expertise. Initiate conversations, engage with brand campaigns, and build mutually beneficial relationships.

If you place UGC in your description and user name, brands will eventually reach out to you for collaborations, but surely that won’t happen at the beginning since the competition is so high. Therefore, it’s why doing outreach is needed.

If you’re scared, here’s how to start with brand outreach with these useful TikToks:

• Write an e-mail outreach
• how to avoid your e-mails landing in the spam
• some additional tips.

6. Cultivating a community of followers

As a UGC (User Generated Content) creator, your number of followers is crucial for your online success.

Building a dedicated and engaged audience ensures that your content reaches the right people, which can lead to exciting collaborations with brands and businesses.

Moreover, a strong follower base enhances your credibility as a marketer, allowing you to promote products and services on various social media platforms effectively.

To begin building a community, inspire with some examples of successful UGC creator communities:

1. The #VanLife community: UGC creators focusing on living and traveling in vans have built a thriving community on platforms like Instagram and YouTube. This community shares tips, experiences, and stories about life on the road, fostering a sense of camaraderie among its members.
2. Bookstagram: UGC creators in the literary world have fostered a vibrant community on Instagram, where they share book reviews, reading recommendations, and creative photos of their favorite reads. Bookstagrammers often participate in reading challenges, buddy reads, and bookish discussions, connecting with like-minded individuals who share their passion for literature.
3. Studyblr: This community, primarily based on Tumblr, brings together students and learners from various academic backgrounds. UGC creators in this niche share study tips, resources, and motivation, fostering a supportive environment where members can exchange ideas and help each other succeed academically.

7. Embrace feedback to improve and grow

Receiving and implementing feedback is a vital step in the journey of becoming a successful UGC creator. Feedback from your audience helps improve your content and strengthens your relationship with your community. By actively seeking feedback and using it to refine your work, you can establish your career and yourself as a creator who values your audience’s opinions and is dedicated to delivering the best content possible.

A great example of a UGC creator on Instagram who uses constant feedback to improve their content, grow their following, and collaborate with brands is Jera Foster-Fell, a fitness influencer and content creator.

Jera started her Instagram journey by sharing her personal fitness transformation and workout routines. Throughout her growth as a creator, she has consistently engaged with her audience by responding to comments, asking for feedback on her content, and interacting with her followers through Instagram Stories and direct messages.

This constant feedback loop has helped Jera refine her content strategy, enabling her to better cater to her audience’s preferences and needs. As a result, she has amassed over 150,000 followers on Instagram, and her community continues to grow.

UGC Creators on Social Media Platforms

Examples of UGC creators on Instagram

We will cover and showcase some “official” user-generated content creators on Instagram, but before doing so – we would like to show you how to do a creator’s research on your own.

In the search bar on Instagram, you can type in the hashtag UGC (#UGC) and go into the “Accounts” tab. Here, you will find different accounts/people who placed UGC in their profile description, meaning they offer such services.

Now, let’s dive into some of these profiles and see some details.

1. Lauren – The CovetCo

As Lauren’s description says – she’s a self-proclaimed UGC creator who can create content around beauty, wellness, and skincare. Additionally, she shares her location, e-mail address, and link to a website.

Another important thing, in her highlights, we can spotlight a “previous clients” highlight, which serves as her portfolio and showcases brands she previously worked with. Lastly, if you want to take your research next level, you can go into the “tagged” part of her profile, where you can see some published projects (UGC content) for versatile brands.

2. Esra – EsraBrekelmans

The main difference between the first and second Instagram profiles is their niche/industry, Lauren was a skincare creator, and Esra is a fashion creator.

Besides this, both of them have a similar bio, description, and information (e-mail address and a link to relevant website).

3. Kim – Kim_bulan4

And lastly – a food/travel vlogger and creator with similar information to the previous accounts. A statement of what he does, promoting his other TikTok profile, sharing that he’s open to collaborations, and a link to his latest vlog.

How do Brands utilize UG Content?

Moving on from Content Creator’s profile to versatile brand’s examples of how they utilized UGC in their content strategy.

If you want to see even more content examples – here are some user-generated content campaigns created by brands.

Examples of UGC creators on TikTok

Now that we’ve covered Instagram, we’re moving on to showing you some TikTok examples.

If you’re wondering why Tiktok? To put things in perspective – we’re placing some screenshots with much-needed data.

1. Ang Wells – UGCang

With almost a million likes, Ang Well Tiktok’s profile is available for UGC brand partnerships and is here to raise awareness about this type of content and educate other fellow creators.

In her description, she’s transparent about collaborations and sharing a single link to her offers, such as UGC Creator Course, an Inquiry submission for brands, and personalized consultation.

She teaches other people how to become UGC creators, and she shared her opinion on the topic: 

Even if you buy the best UGC course out there, if you do not hone in on your skills and practice, you will not see results. And basically, that course will be useless. That right there is the truth. Brands want to work with good creators, so you have to become a good creator, and that takes time to build that skill. 

Anyone can do it, but everyone’s journey will be different. 

But no matter what, if you have someone teaching you, you’re going to get there quicker than if you’re figuring it out all on your own using trial and error. 

That is not to say you need a course to succeed. You don’t need to buy anything. It just depends on how you want to spend your time.

Ang Wells, UGC creator and mentor.

2. Diaryofaugccreator

Our second example is a UGC creator from Germany who has more than a million likes and almost 200k followers.

Besides her location, she also has a short list of her interests (lifestyle, digital diary, and cats), an e-mail address for contact, and a link to her page.

3. Sociallydani

Our third and last Tiktok example is SociallyDani, both content creator and coach. With almost 30k followers and 250k likes – here’s what her profile description looks like.

In her description – she has her unique selling proposition, a mail you can reach out to, and a link to a gree UGC guide.

Examples of UGC Creators on Instagram and TikTOk

Ashley Yi

Ashley Yi, also known as @ashyizzle on TikTok, and @ashyi on Instagram is quickly becoming one of the most entertaining and relatable creators on social media platforms. With over 5.6 million followers on TikTok, 400K on Instagram, Ashley’s content features everything from hilarious skits to heartfelt moments with her friends and family.

One thing that truly sets her apart from the rest is her ability to be transparent about her own struggles and insecurities, and many times in a very hilarious format. Whether she’s sharing a funny moment or discussing a serious topic, she always manages to make her viewers feel like they’re right there with her. So if you’re looking for a breath of fresh air be sure to check here out.

Here is an example of recent UGC content she created for @baskinrobbins and their new flavor of the month:

You can read below the script of here UGC video:

Chicken and waffles, but make it ice cream.

Chicken and waffles. Ice cream is Baskin Robbins newest flavor of the month. So you know, I had to run over and get my brunch on ice cream style. Oh, look at that swirl. Oh, this tastes exactly like a buttermilk waffle. By the way, there is no chicken in this ice cream.

Wow.

The crispy chicken and waffle bites is a little salty, and the bourbon Maple syrup is sweet, so it’s like a perfect match. Also, I just found out there’s a secret 31 in the Baskin Robbins logo, which represents Baskin Robbins iconic 31 flavors. Basically, you can have a new flavor of ice cream every single day of the month.

Chicken and waffles ice cream.

It’s so good.

Ashley Yi, TikTok UGC video example

@ashyizzle

Ice Cream for brunch? Count me in! Check out @baskinrobbins new March Flavor of the Month, Chick’n & Waffles at a shop near you for a limited time #BaskinRobbinsPartner

♬ Acoustic cool jazz guitar ad-lib(861511) – ricca

Is There a Tool to Generate UGC?

Tool to generate user-generated content

EmbedSocial is a complete user-generated platform that helps creators and brands aggregate UGC across all major social media networks, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube, Twitter, Vimeo, and Google Business profiles. It is one of the best UGC platforms for creators because it has direct integrations with the major social media networks that enable users to generate content in just a few clicks and automatically.

The content that can be generated includes reviews from Facebook and Google, Instagram stories, Instagram feed from mentions, hashtags, or accounts; Twitter feeds from mentions and accounts, YouTube video channels and playlist feeds, and similar.

UGC creators can use UGC platforms like EmbedSocial to help brands aggregate all the content that mentions their brand on social media or post by using a specific hashtag that can be relevant to the brand’s sector.

To summarize, here is what UGC creators, together with brands, can do with a platform like EmbedSocial.

• Discover similar content that other creators do for the brand – at scale. Just add a hashtag the brand uses and see what type of content can be generated.
• Provide the brand with a UGC widget for their website with the content you and other people create for their specific hashtag, or if you get permission to access their account, you will be able also to fetch the Instagram and Twitter mentions and help them create widgets with the content posted by the people.
• You can also help the brand create a competition where people will post photos with a specific hashtag to win prizes. This is a great way to increase engagement and get more content for the brand.
• Last but not least, you can use EmbedSocial’s platform to monitor the performance of the content on the brands’ websites by also adding an additional layer of purchase by tagging the UGC content with shippable links.

Tool to send automated Social media Newsletter for UGC creators

Feedlink has a built-in tool that will help you create your subscriber list and engage them by sending them a digest with your latest Instagram and TikTok posts. It is one kind of social media newsletter tool that will give you a powerful benefit against other creators in your niche. You can start a free trial and connect your TikTok and Instagram profile to use it.

The newsletter works automatically, and once you activate it, it will automatically start sending every week to your subscribers, including images and videos from your profiles with the added links from your Link in bio page.

Ideas to start creating authentic user-generated content

There are a few ideas you can get to start creating UGC for your favorite brand.

• Find out what kind of content the brand usually posts and try to recreate it.
• Start a conversation with their marketing team or directly with the brand on social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram.
• Engage with the brand’s target audience and get to know what they like.
• Look for opportunities to attend events related to the brand.
• Take advantage of user-generated content platforms such as EmbedSocial.
• Try to be creative and come up with your own ideas that the brand may like!
• And most importantly, you really like and actually use the brand, so you can create an organic UGC that is highly authentic.

Good luck!

FAQs by Content Creators

Key takeaways

We hope that in this UGC creator blog post, many entrepreneurs or marketers can leverage social media platforms to build their business and marketing strategies as UGC creators,

By producing engaging content such as videos and tutorials, you will be able to can attract followers, subscribers, and, ultimately, customers for the brands you work with. The post emphasizes the need for brands to develop a strong relationship with their target audience, building relationships with relevant creators who can uplift their communities around the brands’ products and services in order to increase their consumer base.

The most important skill for newcomers is naturally establishing themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries.

This can be achieved by actively engaging with people, seeking feedback from audience members, and refining their content based on the needs and desires of their communities.

By doing so, you, as a new UGC creator, will foster one brand’s customer loyalty and catch the attention of other brands and marketers looking for potential collaborations.