What Is UGC? User-Generated Content Explained for Brands

Last updated: October 2026

UGC, short for user-generated content, is any content about a brand or product made by people outside the brand, such as customer photos, videos, reviews and social posts. In marketing, UGC also means paid, creator-made videos filmed in that customer style, which brands post on their own channels or run as ads.

This guide is for brands deciding how to use UGC, and for creators who want the brand's view. It covers the kinds of UGC, how it differs from influencer marketing, formats, rights, FTC rules and how to get it.

Need creator-made UGC for your next campaign? Jem's Influencer Finder lets you search UGC creators and influencers, send your brief, set usage rights per campaign and release payment from escrow only after you approve the content. Try it free for 7 days.

What is UGC? A plain definition

The idea is older than TikTok. A 2007 OECD report defined user-created content as content made publicly available over the internet, which reflects "a certain amount of creative effort" and is "created outside of professional routines and practices" (OECD, Participative Web and User-Created Content, 2007).

By that definition, a customer's unboxing video, a product review or a photo someone tags you in is UGC. A video you paid a creator to make is not, strictly speaking, because it was made as paid work.

Marketers now use "UGC" for both. A brand that needs UGC for ads usually means short, phone-shot videos made by a paid creator. The rights and disclosure rules differ, so know which kind you have.

Organic UGC vs creator-made (paid) UGC

Sort any piece of UGC into one of three groups before you use it:

• Organic UGC: made by customers on their own, with nothing from you in return, such as reviews, tagged posts and unboxing videos. It's the most believable kind and free to make, but you can't control volume, format or quality, and you don't own it.
• Incentivized customer content: made by real customers after you offer a discount, free product or contest entry. The FTC's Endorsement Guides list free or discounted products and the possibility of winning a prize among material connections (16 CFR 255.5(a)), so it needs to be disclosed when they post about you.
• Creator-made (paid) UGC: videos or photos you brief and pay a creator to make, with deliverables, deadlines and usage rights in a contract. You get control and rights in writing, but you pay for it, and you can't present the creator as an ordinary, unpaid customer.

UGC vs influencer marketing: content and rights vs reach

UGC isn't influencer marketing, and mixing them up wastes budget. The difference is what you're buying.

• What you pay for: with UGC, the content and the right to use it. With an influencer, distribution: a post to their followers.
• Who posts it: with UGC, you do, in your feed, ads, website or emails. With an influencer, they post on their own account.
• How you judge the creator: for UGC, the portfolio, the first few seconds and how natural they are on camera. For an influencer, audience size, fit and engagement.
• What drives the price: for UGC, the number of videos, variations, turnaround and usage rights. For an influencer, mostly reach, plus extra for any right to reuse the post.

Here's how the mix-up costs money (hypothetical examples):

• Paying for reach you don't use. A brand books an influencer at an audience-based rate because it wants a video for its Meta ads. It pays for a post to followers it didn't need, and ad rights come on top. Jem's Influencer Finder page notes that most creators on Jem offer Spark Ads, Meta whitelisting and general ad usage as an add-on.
• Expecting reach you didn't buy. A brand hires a UGC creator with a few hundred followers and judges the deal on their post's views, when the video's value was always as an ad or on a product page.
• Buying the wrong rights. A brand pays for an influencer post, then pulls the video into ads with no written license and has to negotiate rights after the fact.

Many creators do both. If one posts on their account and licenses the video for your ads, price each separately in one agreement. Our guide to finding and hiring UGC creators covers vetting and pricing.

Common UGC formats

The most common formats:

• Unboxing: what arrives and the first reaction.
• Review or testimonial: a person talking to camera about what they liked and why. Only someone who has used the product can honestly give one.
• How-to or demo: the product in use, step by step, from a skincare routine to an app.
• Problem and solution: a relatable problem in the first seconds, then the product as the fix.
• Before and after: a visible change over time. The Endorsement Guides say that if you can't show a result is what people will generally get, the ad should clearly disclose what they can expect, and you need proof for that too (16 CFR 255.2(b)). Take extra care with health and wellness UGC.
• Day in the life: the product in a normal routine.
• Comparison: the product next to an alternative. Keep competitor claims fair and provable.
• Photo reviews and star ratings: what customers leave on your site or on marketplaces.

In ads, the first few seconds decide whether anyone watches the rest. Our creative testing guide shows how to get several hooks from one shoot and test them.

Where brands use UGC

One video can work in several places, but each placement has to be covered by the rights you have.

• Paid social ads: brands run UGC-style videos on Meta and TikTok so the ad looks like the posts around it, from their own account or the creator's handle. The creator's handle needs permission: Meta says advertisers need permission from the partner whose handle a partnership ad includes, and partners can revoke it at any time (Meta Business Help Center), and TikTok's Spark Ads use a creator's post with their authorization (TikTok Ads Help Center). Keep text clear of the app's buttons with our Instagram Reels safe zone guide.
• Product pages: reviews, star ratings and customer photos sit right where people decide to buy. Northwestern's Medill Spiegel Research Center found that purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews was 270% greater than for one with none, and that it typically peaked at average ratings of 4.0 to 4.7 stars, then fell as ratings approached 5.0 (Spiegel Research Center, first published 2017). Perfect scores can look too good to be true.
• Email: customer photos and creator clips show the product in use in welcome, post-purchase and abandoned-cart emails. Check that your license covers email.
• Organic social: reposts show real people using what you sell and give other customers a reason to tag you. Ask first, credit the person and stick to what they agreed to.

UGC rights and permissions: what you can and can't use

Reposting a customer's post

Under US law, copyright belongs initially to the work's author (17 U.S.C. 201(a)), who holds the exclusive rights to reproduce it, distribute copies and display it publicly (17 U.S.C. 106). The customer who filmed the video owns it, not you.

Platform terms don't give you those rights either. Instagram's Terms of Use say Instagram doesn't claim ownership of users' content, and users grant the license to Instagram itself. TikTok's US Terms of Service (last updated July 15, 2026) say users own their content and bar using another user's content for commercial purposes unless that user permits it. Downloading someone's post for your ads, website or emails needs their permission.

The person on camera has rights too. Some states restrict using someone's name, photo or likeness in advertising without consent. In California, anyone who knowingly does so is liable for damages (California Civil Code 3344).

To get permission, message the person, say exactly where you'll use the post (feed, ads, website or email) and for how long, and save their written yes with the post link and date. Credit them where you use it. For ads, use a short signed release that covers the content and their likeness, and replace any music that isn't cleared for ads.

Paid creator content

The same law applies when you pay. By default the creator owns the video they made for you (17 U.S.C. 201(a)), and a transfer of copyright ownership must be in writing and signed (17 U.S.C. 204(a)). Most brands don't need ownership. They need a written license that names the channels, the duration, whether you can edit the video and whether you get ad access from the creator's handle. Jem's free UGC contract template covers usage rights, FTC compliance, IP and payment terms. This isn't legal advice, so have a lawyer review your template once.

FTC disclosure rules for UGC

• When a customer or creator posts on their own account: if you paid them or gave them something, they need to disclose it. The FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says a material connection includes a brand paying you or giving you free or discounted products, and that in a video the disclosure should be in the video itself, not just the description. Put the wording in your brief.
• When you run the content yourself: it's your ad. The Endorsement Guides say an endorser presented as using the product must have been a bona fide user when they gave the endorsement, and ads presenting "actual consumers" should use actual consumers or clearly disclose that they aren't (16 CFR 255.1(c) and 255.2(c)). Don't script a paid creator as a long-time customer.
• When you ask for reviews: incentives are allowed if they aren't conditional on a positive (or negative) review, but not disclosing them could violate the FTC Act. FTC staff say asking only customers you think are happy could too (FTC rule Q&A).

Fake UGC and the FTC's fake reviews rule

The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials took effect on October 21, 2024, and lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations (FTC). The parts that matter most for UGC (16 CFR Part 465):

• Fake or false testimonials: a business can't write, create or sell a review or testimonial that misrepresents that the person exists, that they used the product or what their experience was, or spread one it knew or should have known was fake (465.2).
• Buying sentiment: no incentives conditioned on reviews expressing a particular sentiment, positive or negative (465.4).
• Fake social proof: no buying or selling followers, views or likes you knew or should have known were fake to misrepresent influence for a commercial purpose (465.8).

FTC staff's questions and answers apply the rule to UGC-style marketing directly:

• Hired creators: a hired influencer's post touting a product is a testimonial, and your business could be liable if it knew or should have known the creator misrepresented using the product or their experience. Don't provide testimonial text without a reasonable basis to conclude it's true to that person's experience.
• AI avatars: there's no blanket ban, but an avatar testimonial is prohibited if the underlying testimonial is fake or false, and avatars could also be deceptive under the FTC Act. The same goes for actors portraying customers.
• Reviews in ads: featured in your ads, customer reviews become testimonials, and using unrepresentative ones could be deceptive.

In practice, ship product early enough for creators to really use it, brief topics instead of scripting experiences, label dramatizations, and log who made each piece and what they were given.

How to get UGC: three ways

1. Ask your customers

Send every buyer a review request once they've had time to use the product, with the option to add a photo or video. Ask everyone, not just customers you think are happy. If you offer an incentive, offer it for any honest review and disclose it. Ask separately before you reuse a review in ads or email.

2. Run a branded hashtag

Pick a short, specific hashtag and give people a reason to use it, such as a prompt or a monthly feature on your account. Put it on packaging, in emails and in your bio. A hashtag helps you find content, but it isn't permission, so ask each person before you reuse their post. If you add a prize, the chance to win is a material connection entrants should disclose (16 CFR 255.5(a)), and contests have their own legal rules, so have a lawyer check yours.

3. Hire creators

When you need a set number of videos in specific formats, by a deadline, with rights in writing, hire UGC creators. Our UGC creators guide covers finding, vetting, pricing, briefs and contracts. Jem's free campaign brief generator drafts the deliverables, content direction and FTC disclosure for you.

On Jem, you can search 30M+ creators, send briefs, set usage rights per campaign and pay from escrow after you approve the work, per Jem's Influencer Finder and pricing pages. As of October 2026, the plan is $69/mo at the current promotional price (regularly $99) after a 7-day free trial, a card is required to start, and creator fees are separate.

If you're a creator reading this

Brands hiring for UGC are buying your content and the right to use it, so your portfolio and rights terms matter more than your follower count. Price usage rights as their own line, and disclose paid or gifted posts on your own account. To find paid work, see our guides to UGC jobs and the best UGC platforms for creators. On Jem, a creator profile is free, and Premium is $20/mo if you want to pitch brands directly (Jem for creators, as of October 2026). Create your free creator profile.

Start using UGC this week

1. List the UGC you already have and note whether you have permission to reuse each piece.
2. Ask for written permission on your five best posts, naming the channels and how long you'll use them.
3. Set up a review request that goes to every buyer, with no strings attached to the rating.
4. Pick two UGC formats you need for ads this quarter and write one brief that covers them.
5. Add disclosure rules and usage rights to every brief and contract.

Ready to get UGC with the rights in writing? Search UGC creators on Jem, send your brief, set usage rights per campaign and pay from escrow only when you approve the work. Start your 7-day free trial of Jem's Influencer Finder.