What is the Difference Between UGC Creators vs. Influencers?
Reading Time: ~4 Mins | Written By: Mackenzie Mowat
The world of social media marketing hasn’t been the same since influencers entered the scene. As soon as consumers got a taste of organic lifestyle content brands were posting, we haven’t looked back.
More recently, a new type of content creator has risen to the surface, and that is the user-generated content creator (or UGC creator). Yes, this is different from an influencer! Let us tell you why.
The Influencer Breakdown
Influencers, also known as content creators, will use the products that they’ve also decided their audience will benefit from and promote them in a very authentic way via photos, videos, or whatever the agreed-upon form of content may be. From the brand side, there’s not much more you can do with this content. The hope is that your product or service resonates enough with the influencer’s audience that it translates into sales/clicks/etc. If a brand wants to further use the influencer’s content for social media, digital ads, print ads, or anything else, this would be worked into the contract as ‘usage fees’ and usually comes with a pretty hefty price tag.
In short, working with an influencer:
You research influencers that will suit your brand ➡ They agree to share about your product on their social feeds ➡ This puts your brand in front of their dedicated audience, and hopefully results in sales, but at the very least, builds brand awareness.
Mykenna for La Roche Posay
UGC Creator Breakdown
UGC stands for user-generated content. When a customer shares about their favourite brand on their personal social media page, said brand could reach out to this customer and ask to share their content on the brand page. Brands have realized that this type of natural and authentic feeling content generally resonates really well with their audiences, as it comes with a sense of build-in trust for consumers. The demand for this type of content has now grown to the point where brands will seek out and pay UGC creators to mimic this ‘authentic’ feeling ‘customer review’-type content to be shared directly onto the brand’s social media. This is how the ‘UGC creator’ came to be.
UGC creators do not need to have a certain amount of followers to be deemed ‘influential’, in fact, they don’t even need to have a social media profile at all! Their whole job is to create content for a specific brand’s social media and have it appear as a customer’s piece of content would. This type of content has seen a huge rise since TikTok has exploded and no user can go more than a few scrolls without hearing all about why X product is something they NEED in their life.
UGC creators will usually put together a portfolio to demonstrate previous work they’ve done and what they can offer brands going forward. Especially as they are growing as creators, they will reach out to brands and offer their skillset to build a portfolio. If the brand likes what they see and are in the market for incorporating UGC-styled content into its social media strategy, they will send products and/or product/service notes to the creator and both parties will work together to create the perfect piece of content.
Once the content is completed, it is sent to the brand and is now owned by the brand - typically worked into a working agreement or contract. The UGC creator can wash their hands of the project, and it’s on the next! The brand is able to share the content on its social channels, use the content as sponsored ads, or host it on their website.
In short, working with a UGC creator:
Either your brand has been contacted by a UGC creator, or you’re actively searching for someone on a platform (such as Popular Plays or Pixlee) ➡ You select a content creator with a skill set that fits your brand’s needs ➡ You work together to create the desired piece of content ➡ Once completed, the content is owned by the brand.
Ultimately, these two types of creators have different ways of going about helping accomplish your brand’s goals. Simply put: working with an influencer is to benefit from their existing audience and working with a UGC creator is to get unique content for your brand’s usage.
There may be instances where one type of content will work better for your brand than the other at any given time, but in a perfect world, you can fit both of these great content options into your marketing strategy.
