User-generated content (UGC) has become one of the most powerful tools for influencers who want to grow their audience, build trust, and collaborate with brands at a higher level. Whether you’re a seasoned creator or just starting out, understanding the different types of UGC – and how to leverage them – helps in various ways.
They can help you boost engagement, attract partnerships, strengthen your personal brand, and even turn your social media accounts into greater revenue streams. Before you can do that, however, you’ll need to know what UGC actually is, the benefits it offers, and how you can take advantage of it long-term.
What is UGC and Why is it Important for Influencers?
User-generated content (UGC) means any form of content created by real users instead of brands. This includes photos, videos, reviews, blogs, livestreams, and more. For influencers, UGC is a goldmine. It’s organic, authentic, and trusted by audiences far more than polished brand campaigns.
Why UGC Matters for Influencers
This can be vital for influencers for more than a few reasons, and this can be seen in more than a few ways:
- Builds Trust Faster – People trust people more than they do brands. UGC showcases real experiences, making your recommendations feel genuine.
- Boosts Engagement – UGC encourages conversations, reposts, and community involvement.
- Strengthens Brand Collaborations – Brands increasingly want influencers who can inspire UGC from their audiences. When your followers create content based on your recommendations, it signals authority.
- Provides Content Variety – Even if you post daily, UGC helps supplement your content so your feed stays fresh and authentic.
- Shows Social Proof – From product demos to before-and-after photos, UGC shows real results, something audiences value more than brand-created visuals.
With UGC becoming more of a cornerstone of modern marketing, influencers who can master it stand out in an increasingly competitive space.
But, the trick is actually mastering this. It seems like an overwhelming process, but it doesn’t need to be. Focusing on the right key areas is more than enough to help with this, with the process spanning a few different types of user-generated content.
User-Generated Photos: Harnessing Visual Power
Photos are the most common and shareable form of UGC. And, for influencers, they can be incredibly effective. These are images captured by your audience showing their personal experiences with a product, service, or event you’ve recommended. For example:
- A user recreating your makeup tutorial.
- A follower styling an outfit you recommended.
- A fan snapping an experience inspired by your content.
- Before and after transformations using products you featured.
This can matter for influencers for more than a few reasons, like being:
- Highly Shareable – These photos are easy to repost on Instagram and similar platforms.
- Visually Persuasive – Beauty, fashion, home décor, fitness, and food niches all thrive on visuals.
- A Low Barrier to Participate – Your audience can contribute using just a smartphone, so anyone can take part.
UGC photos can be more than appealing because of that, but you’ll still need to make sure you’re using them properly to increase your engagement rates and see other benefits.
How Users Can Leverage UGC Photos
Thankfully, using UGC photos doesn’t have to be too complicated, and there are more than a few ways you can try. Depending on your audience, they could boast different results, but they’re still worth experimenting with. They include:
- Featuring Photos in Your Feed – Sharing images on your feed encourages others to participate. Make sure to credit and thank followers for taking part.
- Creating Themed Photo Challenges – These boost virality and encourage followers to participate more and more, especially if it’s a weeks- or month-long challenge.
- Using Photos for Brand Negotiations – Highlighting UGC in your media kit shows brands you can influence your audience’s behaviour.
Then there’s the fact these UGC photos can be used across platforms, helping you nurture your community even more and encourage followers to find you on other platforms, too.
Videos That Engage: Embracing UGC Video Content
Video content is one of the most popular types of content for some time, and it was the fastest-growing content type for quite a while. UGC videos can be at the heart of building trust with consumers. With platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram reels blowing up, UGC videos offer influencers incredible opportunities.
You can take advantage of more than a few types of UGC videos, like:
- Unboxing Videos
- Tutorials or How-to Demonstrations
- Hauls
- Reaction Videos
- Before and After Clips
- First-Impressions
These work well for more than a few reasons. While they aren’t as polished as brand videos, they’re a lot more authentic and show off the reality of a brand or product instead of what a company wants to present.
Short-form video content, which many UGC videos are, also dominate attention, as they’re quick and easy to consume and fit seamlessly into social feeds. Brands and influencers can also see higher conversion rates because of this, as long as UGC videos show off a brand positively.
How Influencers Should Use UGC Video Content
How UGC videos are used also plays a vital role in whether brands or influencers will see any kind of success with them. You can do this in several ways:
- Showcase Real Users Reacting to Recommendations – If you share a skincare product and followers send clips in of them using it, compile them into a montage. Both followers and brands love these kinds of clips.
- Encourage Video Replies or Duets – TikTok’s duet feature makes it easy for users to interact with your videos instantly, which helps your engagement rates and overall social media reach.
- Integrate UGC Clips with Paid Collaborations – Many brands let influencers submit UGC-based videos as part of deliverables because they convert well in ads.
Remember to get your followers’ permission before using any UGC videos they’ve sent in. Making this as part of the terms and conditions of a video-based content is a great way of doing this.
Reviews and Testimonials: Building Trust with UGC
Reviews and testimonials are incredibly persuasive, especially when your audience sees real people advocating for a product you’ve recommended. Types of UGC reviews you can highlight and work with include:
- Instagram Captions
- TikTok Reviews
- Blog Comments
- Before and After Testimonials
- Email Feedback
- Amazon-Style Customer Reviews
These are effective for more than a few reasons, both for brands and influencers. Some of the more notable of these are:
- Providing Social Proof – People feel more comfortable buying something that others have reviewed well.
- Building Authority – Your audience becomes a part of your brand story.
- Gaining Insights – Real reviews give you key insights into products or services, what they do well, and where they need to be improved.
As long as you’re using these UGC reviews properly, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t see these benefits more and more in time.
How Influencers Can Use UGC Reviews
Speaking of which, there are more than a few ways you can do this, each of which can offer their pros and cons. Some of the more helpful of these are:
- Share Testimonials in Your Stories – Instagram Stories and similar areas are ideal for reposting written or video UGC reviews without cluttering up your main feed.
- Add Reviews to Highlight Reels – Create a dedicated highlight bucket so followers can find all of your UGC reviews in one place.
- Use Testimonials in Brand Collaborations – Brands are always looking for influencers who inspire real customer feedback from their followers.
- Turn Reviews into Case Studies – These are especially useful for niches like fitness, skincare, coaching, and productivity.
Encourage detailed feedback when you’re asking followers to post any reviews. Get them to include what they loved, if there were any negatives, what surprised them, what results they saw, and anything else related to what they’re reviewing.
The longer and more specific a review is, the more it’ll build trust among readers and followers.
Tapping into User-Generated Blogs and Articles
While not as common as other types of user-generated content, text-based UGC is extremely powerful for influencers with a loyal audience. This UGC spans multiple areas, with some of the more common being:
- Blog Posts
- Guest Articles
- Email Submissions
- Tumblr Posts
- Medium Articles
These can also form different types of content across each of these areas, depending on the specific situation. Followers could create:
- A detailed review of your recommended skincare routine.
- A blog featuring their results using your workouts.
- A long-form tutorial inspired by your content.
These can boast a lot of value. They’ll have a relatively long shelf-life, for example, with blog posts ranking on search engines for months or years after they’ve been published. This can domino into your SEO strategy, if you have one, helping you boost your results. You’ll even become a more credible source in your niche because of it.
How to Leverage UGC Blogs and Articles
Naturally, you’ll need to be able to use text-based UGC properly to see each of these benefits. This doesn’t have to be nearly as complicated as you’d expect, and there are more than a few ways you can do this, like:
- Feature Them in Newsletters – If you have a newsletter, your subscribers will appreciate deep, authentic stories from other followers.
- Add Them to Your Website – Showcase audience-created content on your website to encourage community involvement and earn more trust.
- Use Snippets in Social Content – Turn a paragraph into a carousel or quote graphic so you can share it on various social media platforms.
These can all offer more than a few benefits in themselves, and they shouldn’t even have to take too long to take advantage of. You might even be able to create a few templates to help make it easier for yourself.
Innovative UGC: Podcasts and Live Streams
As content formats evolve, more and more innovative UGC pops up, with podcasts and live streams being some of the more notable of these. With user-generated podcasts, listeners can:
- Share voice messages.
- Record their own opinions on topics you cover.
- Create entire episodes reacting to your content.
You can then repurpose this audio into content for Instagram Stories, Reels, and a whole lot more. Then there are live streams, which offers more than a few other opportunities, like:
- Viewers joining your Instagram Live.
- Followers going live to review a product you’ve recommended.
- Twitch or TikTok live responses to your content.
These formats can matter for influencers for more than a few reasons. They feel a lot more personal than many other types of UGC content, let you engage your followers on a more personal level, and allow for real-time interactions.
How Influencers Can Leverage Audio & Live UGC
Using these live formats properly is key to making sure you can bring in quality UGC content while seeing each of the benefits above. There should be more than a few options for this, many of which could be great options for your followers. Some of the more helpful are:
- Inviting followers to co-host on Instagram Live.
- Running themed weekly Live rooms.
- Encouraging voice-note reactions to your recommendations.
- Reacting to audience live streams or podcasts.
- Repurposing clips for short-form content.
These interactive experiences strengthen your relationships with your followers and help to attract more UGC naturally.
Leveraging UGC Across Social Media Platforms
Different platforms offer unique opportunities for influencers to amplify UGC. You can make the most of each one in various ways. With Instagram, for example, you could:
- Repost Stories featuring your recommendations.
- Create UGC highlight reels.
- Share photo challenges.
- Use hashtags to track submissions.
Then there’s the likes of TikTok, which has more than a few features to take advantage of. Encourage followers to take advantage of duets, stitches, and challenges with your content to improve your engagement rates and generate more impressions long-term. You can even create remixable content and host live Q&A sessions with followers.
Pinterest, on the other hand, could take an entirely different approach. To see success with UGC here, you could:
- Build UGC-driven inspiration boards.
- Pin transformation photos.
- Share follower DIYs or beauty routines.
Facebook can also be one of the more engaging platforms to take advantage of, especially with some of its more distinctive features. You could feature fan posts in groups, host live rooms with audience participation, build community contents, create user polls, and much more.
You’ll find more than a few unique features on each social media platform you could use. Get creative with these to encourage your followers to create content you can share and highlight with your account.
To maximize the impact you see with UGC content, you’re better off sharing it on various platforms. You might need to make a few adjustments from platform to platform, but the results it offers should be more than worth it.
How to Encourage Your Audience to Create UGC
All of this naturally begs the question of what you can do to encourage your followers to create UGC you can use. This seems like a tricky process, but doesn’t need to be. Taking a few steps should be more than enough to get this done:
- Create UGC-Friendly Prompts – These actively encourage users to create something and share it with you. Even simple prompts like “try this trend and tag me” could be more than enough to get the ball rolling on this.
- Run Giveaways – Rewarding participation in UGC campaigns is always a great way to encourage followers to get involved. Offer rewards for the likes of the best or most entertaining video and similar UGC, and you shouldn’t have a problem.
- Build a Community Hashtag – Create a personalized hashtag to track and follow your UGC when you need to. This helps you track submissions a lot easier than it could’ve been.
- Ask Questions – Sometimes, the easiest and most obvious ways to get something done are the most effective. Asking questions and encouraging followers to respond with specific types of content could be more than enough to get started.
- Respond to User Content – Followers are much more likely to engage with your account and create UGC if they feel seen. The best way to do this is to respond to user content regularly so they’re much more likely to create more of it.
While it might take some time to get the ball rolling on this, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t pay off more and more in time. Once you’re highlighting some user-generated content, it should be a whole lot easier to get your followers to create more as time goes on.
Taking Action: Start Incorporating UGC Today
UGC isn’t just a trend. It’s a core part of marketing’s future, especially when it comes to influencer marketing. From photos and videos to testimonials, blogs, and live content, user-generated content helps influencers build trust, strengthen their brand partnerships, and create more dynamic, engaging feeds.
The key to this is simple:
- Pick the right types of UGC for your niche.
- Encourage UGC through prompts.
- Showcase and celebrate contributions.
- Repurpose UGC across platforms.
This takes time to pay off, but there’s no reason why starting with this shouldn’t pay off dividends for your career as an influencer as time goes on.
