Guide for Brands and Creators
What Is UGC? User-Generated Content for Brands, Explained
UGC (user-generated content) is photo or video content made by a person rather than by the brand itself. In marketing, “UGC” now usually means short videos a brand pays a creator to make in a personal, first-person style, which the creator may post on their own account or hand over for the brand to use.
Two Meanings of UGC
The term started with content customers post on their own: a review, an unboxing, a photo of a product in use. Nobody paid for it, and a brand that wanted to reuse it had to ask the person who made it.
Today most brands also use the term for commissioned work. A creator is paid to make a video that looks and sounds like something a real customer would post. The style is the same; the difference is that there is an agreement, a fee and a set of rights.
What Commissioned UGC Usually Looks Like
- Short vertical video for TikTok, Instagram Reels or similar feeds.
- Filmed by the creator on their own phone, often speaking to camera.
- Formats such as a product demonstration, a first impression, a before and after, a tutorial or a problem and solution.
- Delivered as a video file, as a post on the creator’s own account, or both.
How UGC Differs From an Influencer Post
An influencer post is paid for the creator’s audience: the brand wants the people who follow that account to see it. A UGC video is paid for the content itself: the brand may never post it on the creator’s account at all and instead run it on its own channels or in ads. Many agreements now combine the two.
What Brands and Creators Should Agree Before Filming
- The pay, and whether it is one total or per video.
- How many videos, for which platforms, and what each one delivers: a file, a post or both.
- The schedule: when each video is due and how long the brand has to review it.
- How many changes the brand can ask for.
- Who owns the finished video, and what the brand may do with it, for how long and where.
- Any caption, hashtag or disclosure requirements.
Most disputes over UGC come from one of these being left unsaid. Writing them down before work starts protects both sides.
How It Works on Canvas UGC Marketplace
Brands publish a campaign in five steps (campaign, creators, schedule, pay and rights, review). Creators apply with the accounts and videos they choose to share. Every offer states the pay, video count, platforms, schedule, review time, ownership and any reuse price, and both sides keep the same accepted copy. The campaign has to hold the money before a creator can accept.