What Does UGC Stand For in Marketing? All You Need to Know

What does UGC stand for?

That is a great question. And we could say something like, “It’s the thing your marketing has been missing!” or “It’s the best way to bring authenticity to your brand!”

But that wouldn’t be very helpful, would it? So, let’s start instead by answering it on the most basic level: What does the acronym UGC stand for?

What does UGC stand for?

UGC stands for user-generated content.

The “user-generated” part means that it’s created by actual users of your brand, often organically on social media. It’s not scripted or created by your brand or a big studio.

The “content” part can mean anything from written testimonials to images or videos of a product or service. Some definitions even include blog posts or podcast episodes.

But most of the time, when brands are looking for UGC, they’re looking for videos.

Check out this video from Skin Glo Collagen as an example of what UGC videos can look like. Of course, you aren’t limited to testimonial-style videos and can experiment with different formats that fit your brand’s vibe. (By the way, they got both videos on Clip!)

But a simple definition doesn’t tell you all you need to know about UGC. Let’s go deeper. ⬇️

Why is UGC becoming more relevant?

UGC is becoming more relevant due to how consumers react to it. Here’s why: UGC is essentially created by genuine fans of a brand. It’s considered more authentic than other promotional content.

And, let’s be honest–most of us trust what other customers have to say more than brands or influencers. By extension, we trust UGC more than other forms of advertising.

Simply put, we trust the recommendations of real customers, not the spin that marketing teams put on their product descriptions and ads.

You might like a company and believe they have good intentions, but you’re still going to trust another customer to give you the truth about a product more than you trust the people selling it.

For example, when Apple releases a new product, there are two kinds of people: those who rush to get whatever it is (Apple superfans) and those who wait to see what those people think of it before they buy. You can be an Apple fan, but you know that not all of their products are for you…yet.

Think of all the hype around the Apple Vision Pro when it was released. If you weren’t one of the first in line to get it when it came out, chances are you waited until after you could read or watch reviews online. Maybe you’re still waiting to buy one until they come out with the next version.

You probably *weren’t* spending a ton of time looking up ads featuring the Apple Vision Pro, but you might’ve waited anxiously to see what Marques Brownlee, CNet, and other tech reviewers said about it, right?

So, as you can see, UGC (especially when it’s organic and unpaid) has an air of authenticity that companies cannot duplicate.

Also, every corner of the internet has an ad with someone trying to sell you something. In response, customers have become more challenging to sell to.

They’ve developed a resistance to ads because they see them so often–and this is especially true if you have an overly polished, branded ad that’s easily recognizable as an ad. UGC can help your ads break through the noise again, especially if you’re featuring real fans of your brand.

Does UGC foster more trust than branded content?

In the last section, we touched on this a bit, but yes, in general, UGC fosters more trust than branded content.

This doesn’t mean you should shift all your marketing dollars to UGC. We’re just saying it’s smart to incorporate some UGC into your existing marketing strategy. And there are some pretty compelling reasons why.

Entribe found that 86% of people were more likely to trust a brand that publishes UGC. As a result, some companies have found that UGC drives 29% more conversions than campaigns or websites that don’t have it.

Where can I get UGC for my brand?

Great question! Here are some of our best answers:

UGC Platforms

UGC platforms like Clip are a great way to generate best-in-class UGC for your brand. We have thousands of home studio creators with varied interests–so your brand will easily find true fans! Use our platform to reach out, then send them a product. You'll get UGC that you can use in your ads or other marketing channels.

Customers

You can also use your customer base. Your customers are a GREAT source of UGC. Here are two ideas to get UGC from them:

Ask customers on your email list to write a testimonial about you in exchange for a discount or another perk. If you want to go further, you can even ask them to include a video or image–just make sure to reward them well if you’re asking them to put in that much work. Otherwise, you probably won’t have a lot of takers.

Another great idea is to start a contest or giveaway on social media with a really nice prize. To enter, ask customers to share stories of them using your products.

If you’d like to see an example of UGC from customers in action, check out our reviews page. See the reviews that contain images or videos? Those are from our customers, and they’re great examples of UGC.

Influencers

Finally, influencers can also generate UGC. This is the most expensive option because influencers aren’t just selling you the content–they’re also selling access to their audience. (Plus, they often charge licensing fees).

Influencers will give you a professional product and are generally great to work with. But they might be too expensive if you’re worried about your budget.

One alternative is to try gifted collaborations in addition to your UGC strategy. Use UGC creators for most of your content, and then add in some gifted collaborations with influencers to keep a steady supply of UGC flowing to your brand.

If you’re confused about the difference between UGC creators and influencers, don’t worry. Just read this next section. ⬇️

What’s the difference between UGC creators and influencers?

The difference between UGC creators and influencers is pretty straightforward:

Influencers usually have a social media following and some extra social media and digital marketing skills. They know how to grow an account, how metrics work, and other marketing hacks. They’ve usually monetized their following by promoting brands and products on their pages.

On the other hand, UGC creators are focused solely on creating content. Some might eventually aim to become influencers, but they don’t have a following big enough to monetize yet.

As we mentioned above, it’s usually a little more expensive to work with influencers than UGC creators because you’re paying influencers for the content and the marketing and promotion they’re doing on your behalf.

So, when should you work with UGC creators vs. influencers?

Budget will usually be your first consideration. But what if you can afford to work with both?

Here’s our simple rule: If you want UGC, hire UGC creators. Why pay more for basically the same content?

But, if you want to generate sales and brand awareness on top of UGC, hire influencers, too.

Where to start?

Now that you know what UGC stands for and how it works, how can you incorporate it into your marketing strategy? It might be the PERFECT time to start using it to promote your brand!

So many use cases show the impact of UGC, so if you need to see how other companies have benefitted from it, you can check them out! And, of course, you’ll want to look at examples and figure out what kind of video you want before writing your first brief.

If you want to talk to someone about UGC before you get started, book a demo with our team. We’d love to chat and answer your questions.