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What is a UGC campaign?
A UGC campaign is a planned effort to collect or commission user-generated content for a goal, such as a product launch. It can mean inviting customers to post with a hashtag, hiring several creators to film from one brief, or launching a batch of UGC-style ads to test different hooks and angles.
Three kinds of UGC campaign
- Customer-content campaigns: a hashtag challenge, review drive or contest that invites customers to post. The goal is volume and social proof.
- Creator campaigns: several creators film from one brief, often through a marketplace. The goal is a batch of usable videos.
- UGC ad campaigns: a set of UGC-style ads launched together in Meta or TikTok to test hooks and angles. The goal is finding winners.
How to plan one
- Pick one goal, such as finding a winning ad for a launch, or collecting 50 customer videos for product pages.
- Define the angle: the problem the product solves and the customer who has it.
- Write the brief or the prompt customers or creators will respond to.
- Agree rights up front: where the content can run and for how long.
- Set the measure of success before launch: for ads, cost per purchase; for organic, posts collected and permissions secured.
Common mistakes
Asking for "content" without a single message, forgetting usage rights until after the videos arrive, and judging an ad campaign on likes rather than sales. Paid or gifted creators also need to disclose the relationship when they post on their own accounts.
ScrollStop Labs scripts and produces UGC-style video ads with AI presenters for DTC brands. You can see spec examples, with the hook behind each one, on our work page.