What is UGC?
UGC (user-generated content) is content created by users, customers or the public rather than by the brand itself: reviews, posts, photos and videos. Today the term also describes a job: creators that brands pay to make videos that look like authentic customer content.
Updated:
The original definition
A 2007 OECD report on the "participative web" proposed three characteristics of user-created content:
- Publication: the content is published, on a public website or a social network. Private messages and email don't count
- Creative effort: the user adds their own value. Copying a clip from a TV show doesn't count
- Outside professional routines: it is usually created without a commercial context or an expectation of payment
Even then, the OECD noted that the third characteristic was getting harder to maintain, as more of this content was becoming commercial.
UGC vs UGC creators
This is the most common confusion. UGC in the original sense is a real customer sharing an experience on their own initiative. A UGC creator is someone paid by a brand to create content in a customer's style. By the OECD definition, that content no longer meets the third characteristic. It is an advertising format that looks like UGC.
An example
A client who writes a LinkedIn post about a project they did with a vendor, on their own initiative, is UGC. A sponsored video in which a creator talks about a product she received to film is UGC-creator content. Both can work, but they are not the same thing.
UGC in B2B and on LinkedIn
In B2B, the closest thing to UGC is content that employees and executives publish on their own profiles: experience, opinions, what happened on a project. People trust people more than they trust a company page.
To be precise: posts I write for CEOs, by hand and in their voice, are not UGC. That is ghostwriting, writing on someone's behalf based on their experience and opinions. Their value comes from the same place: a real person with real experience.
Frequently asked questions
What does a UGC creator do?
A UGC creator films or writes content in the style of a real customer, usually short videos, and is paid by the brand for it. The brand uses the content on its site, social channels or ads.
What is the difference between UGC and influencer content?
An influencer brings their own audience, and the content is published on their channel. A UGC creator supplies content, and the brand publishes it on its own channels. In UGC in the original sense, nobody was paid.
Does UGC fit B2B companies?
Yes, in a different form. Instead of product videos, it means posts by clients, employees and executives speaking from experience. On LinkedIn, that is the natural format.