One of the reasons we’re passionate about connecting brands and video creators is that UGC works. It’s one of the best ways to reach an audience and make sales. But not all UGC is created equal.
To get UGC that converts, you’ll have to be able to:
- KNOW what you need from UGC,
- Be able to communicate what you need in a way creators can understand and
- Attract the right creators to implement your vision
This article will teach you how to do all of that. Let’s get right to it!
Understand how your audience looks & pick creators accordingly
Ideally, you’ll pick creators who look like your target audience and can talk about how your product has improved their lives.
Why?
Because people are more likely to buy from you if they see someone who looks and acts like them recommending it.
A great example is this brand that helps people find part-time jobs or gigs to boost their income. Look at the best-performing video in their campaign–it’s one of quite a few they’ve used from that creator that has performed super well for them.
They’ve found a great creator for their brand. But why do his videos outperform the rest? I think it’s because he’s similar to their audience. Many middle-aged men have a family and extra expenses they need to cover and are looking for additional income–or maybe even a new career–to pay some bills.
Sure, there are other factors involved, like the fact that he’s a great creator and that their website is good at selling their product. But people even decide to visit the website because they see someone who looks like them talking about something he’s used to boost his income. It’s a great match.
Now, I’m NOT saying that you should only hire one type of person for your brand–chances are, you’ll have a few different audiences you’re trying to reach, and you should keep experimenting and figuring out what works for each.
(Plus, experimenting with your marketing is always a good idea. You might uncover your brand's next biggest sales opportunity!)
How to do it
This one’s pretty straightforward: pick UGC creators who look, talk, and act like your audience.
If you haven’t developed audience avatars yet, look at who you’ve already sold to–that’s a great place to start.
But don’t stop there–look at who follows you on social media and check out their profiles. Check your audience insights on Instagram or Facebook to see how old they are, their gender, where they live, and possibly even their interests.
Take all the information, and pick people who match the common themes that you see.
Then, once you’ve nailed that, take some time to experiment and see if you can reach new audiences! 🎉
Know the different types of videos and how to utilize them
This one might be obvious, but it’s still worth mentioning: not all UGC videos serve the same purpose.
Take as much time as you need to understand each type of UGC video. And I’m not just talking about knowing your options. Anyone can spot the difference between unboxing and testimonial videos, right?
But unless you’ve spent a lot of time working with the various types of videos, it takes time to understand the best way to use each. For example, unboxing videos are GREAT for ads, but they waste space on product pages. If someone wants more information about your product, you want to show them something that helps them understand how to use it (like a how-to video) or convince them it’s amazing (like a testimonial video).
How to do it
Spend some time learning about the different kinds of UGC videos and figuring out which ones you need for your current campaign. The blog posts we linked to above are a great place to start!
Craft a polished brief
You have to complete those first two steps before you can create a brief. But once you know your audience and the type of video you need, the next step is the brief.
On Clip, we call the brief “Mentions & Scenes” (soon to be changed to simply “Briefs”) to help you think about how you want the video to be composed. Here are the things all great briefs include:
Context or an objective
Include 1-2 sentences at the beginning where you describe your goal: What are you trying to do with this video?
An example might be, “I’d like you to create an unboxing video for me to use in an Instagram ad.”
Keep this simple and short–the more you overthink it, the harder it’ll be for creators to understand.
Creative direction
Next, say what you’d like them to talk about. This might be features of your product you’d like them to highlight, your unique selling points, or how they felt before and after using your product. Basically, if you know the direction you want this video to go, let them know what you’re looking for.
A good brief always includes some form of creative direction. Sure, you can leave some or most of the ideation up to the creators, but they’ll still need guidance on talking about your brand.
Also, if you have specific scenes or scenarios in mind, this is where to tell them. For example, you might say, “Go to your backyard and use our product when the sun is bright.”
We’ve written a whole other article about writing a brief, so check that out if you need some ideas.
Brand guidelines
Finally, if there are words they cannot say or topics you’d rather they avoid, make sure to mention this here and not when you receive the video. If you wait until after they make the video, you’ll have to request an edit. Edits aren’t bad, per se, but they waste everyone’s time if there’s something you don’t want to see, and you could just tell them ahead of time.
A/B test and iterate
Creating great UGC videos isn’t a one-off task–it’s something that you have to build and improve over time.
When you first start using UGC videos in ads, they might not perform well. Hopefully, that’s not the case for you, but it might be.
So once you get your first batches of videos, see what performs well and what doesn’t, and adjust your strategy for the next round.
Ads are a great place to learn what works with UGC videos. Say, for example, that you run ads and don’t get any purchases. Bummer, right? But what can you learn?
Maybe you see that one of the videos has a great hook (with around a 20% hook rate) and also has a good click-through rate (above 1%) compared to the other videos in your campaign.
What does that mean? If the hook and CTA are good, use them again with a different creator. But, since you didn’t make any sales, you know something is still missing to bring a conversion.
What might that be? 🤔
You can learn a LOT about how to sell your product by using UGC videos. As you use them more, you’ll see more success because you’ll have a better idea of what works.
The same thing applies to creators. For every 10 you collaborate with, you’ll probably find 1 or 2 that make high-performing videos for your brand. When you find them, give them more projects and angles to discuss your product because they resonate with your audience.
How to do it
Use every video or batch to test and compare messaging, hooks, calls to action, and the other elements at play. Dialing in your messaging, customer personas, and briefs will make a BIG difference in the long run.
Offer more incentives for creators
At Clip, we pay our creators for each video and add-on, but generosity is still the best policy. The more enticing your offer is, the more creators will apply to work with your brand.
While you must ship the products you want them to use for free and allow them to keep them, can you offer more? Can you bundle some products to send to them? Or can you provide a higher-value product for them to use and test out?
Bottom line: more compensation means more applicants.
Conclusion
Getting the best UGC for your brand takes time, knowledge, and money. It won’t happen overnight, so be prepared to spend money to experiment. That’s how you’ll get results.
To put it in perspective, about 90% of the videos brands try to use in ads don’t work. But, the 10% that overperform the rest more than make up for what you spend on the failures.
If you’re ready to start, check out our article, which guides you step-by-step through writing the perfect brief to attract applicants.
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