How to Write a UGC Video Brief: Tips and Examples

Your UGC brief is an unsung hero. When done well, it helps you communicate efficiently and clearly with creators, including with the ones from our platform.

So it’s worth knowing how to write a killer brief.

We’ll outline the elements that every good brief should include, show you some examples, and discuss a few things outside the brief that are also worth considering.

Let’s get to it! ✍️

What to include in a brief

We’ve seen a LOT of briefs. Some get tons of applicants, while others languish behind the scenes. The difference?

It’s often how the brief is written.

(By the way, if you’re writing your brief on Clip, we call it “Mentions and Scenes” to remind you of the things you’ll need to let people know. At least for now, but we might update it soon to “Briefs”)

One thing to keep in mind before you get started is that it’s SUPER important to keep your brief as, well, brief as possible. Avoid unnecessary information. We can’t tell you how often brands have come to us complaining that they don't have enough applicants for their campaigns, but we look at their postings and realize their briefs are longer than the Amazon River. 🙄

We’ve touched on this in another article, but we’ll go in-depth here. Here’s what you’ll want to include in your brief:

Objective/Context

Set the stage for your creators. What are you planning to do with this campaign or video?

In one or two sentences, explain your goal or the context of where you’ll be using the video so the creator understands how you’ll use the final product.

Creative direction

This is where you’ll tell creators exactly what you want them to cover in the video.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to make sure you’ve covered everything:

• What product features do you want them to highlight?
• What sets you apart? What’s your unique selling proposition, and would you like the creator to mention it?
• What’s the way you hope people feel after trying your products? Do you want your creators to mention how using your product makes them feel?
• Do you want any before and after shots?
• What kind of UGC video do you want them to make? This is highlighted when you pick the type of video, but you can emphasize it if you’d like.

And although it’s not necessary, you can also go deeper and map out what you’d like the entire video to look like. Split it this way:

• Hook: The first few seconds of the video, but never more than 5 seconds. What hook do you want them to use here? Do you have some phrases or questions that captivate viewers and encourage them to watch the entire video?
• Body of the video: The longest part of the video. This is where they’ll focus on your features, USPs, and other ideas.
• Call to action: This is the last few seconds of the video. Again, it should never be more than 5 seconds. How do you want this video to end? What action do you want to encourage people to take?

Again, this isn’t necessary, but we recommend getting this specific if you plan to use the video to run ads. You’ve probably learned what hooks do and don’t work for your brand. The same goes for calls to action and features.

Or, if you haven’t learned yet, this would be a good way to do it.

A good brief will include some or all of this creative direction. You can leave it up to the creator or ask them to review your website and social media profiles to develop their ideas. But we’ve found that in those cases, there’s usually a mismatch between what the creator believes the brand wants them to talk about and what the brand wants, so we don’t recommend it.

Also, if you have specific requests or shots you’d like the creator to make, include them here. For example, specify that here if you want creators to use your product in their back garden during golden hour or in their living room while eating dinner.

Bottom line: If you want something included in the video, just say that now. You’ll save yourself and your creators a lot of headaches.

Brand guidelines

Finally, if your brand has any existing brand or style guides, giving your creatives a rundown of the things that apply to them is a good idea. This might include:

• Words you don’t want them to use
• Topics you’d like them to avoid (for example, if you have a skincare product that doesn’t help people with eczema, you might want them to avoid talking about eczema)
• Specific words or phrases you DO use to describe your product

Inspiration

You might do the world’s best job explaining your video, but having examples for your creators to watch will make a BIG difference. This is crucial to writing an effective brief. Sometimes, people understand better when they can watch something and visualize it instead of just reading about it.

Inspiration can take many forms–try including a video that’s performed well for you or pulling examples from social media or ad libraries.

On Clip, once you know what videos you want to use for inspiration, you can add it one of two ways:

• Upload videos to your inspiration tab directly from your computer, then add them to your campaign.
• In your brief, include links from the campaign as inspiration. This is easier if you’re trying to link to something on social media or an ads library.

Example briefs

If you’re wondering what this looks like when you put it together–we have some examples of great briefs that got responses. Some of these are our own, and others we’re featuring with permission from brands on our platform.

Feel free to copy these formats and adapt them for your brand. 😄

Don’t forget

A few things that can make or break your UGC video aren’t included in the brief. They are:

Picking the right creators

In a previous article, we mentioned how important it is to pick creators who match your current audience or an audience you’re trying to reach. Check why that’s important–and I’m not talking about just gender and age. It’s about how they behave, talk, and dress… All of that convinces people that creators are–or aren’t–like them.

On Clip, you can see all the creators who apply to work with you, including their interests, portfolios, and intro videos. Choose wisely.

Add-ons

On Clip, you can also select whether or not to get various add-ons, such as captions, music, or video variations (different calls to action, hooks, etc).

It’s a really good idea to consider whether you want any of these. Captions will often boost your watch time because people who are watching your video on their phones with no sound can still understand what’s going on. Music helps set the vibe of your video. Video variations can allow you to more accurately A/B test different video ad formats.

Conclusion

That’s all you need to know to write the perfect brief–one that makes creators hit that “apply” button quickly and gets you the UGC you’re looking for.

The good news is, it’s not hard.

Just make sure you keep your brief as short as possible. Long, restrictive briefs are off-putting for content creators, and in many cases, they won’t serve you well, either. Be concise, include only the necessary guidelines, and avoid adding too many do’s and don’ts.

You got this! All you have to do is keep your brief clear and provide some stellar examples–that will do nicely.