User generated content (UGC) is rapidly increasing in popularity in the marketing world, and lots of people are wanting to get involved. Whether it’s by purchasing UGC or creating it yourself, this field is still fairly new so there’s lots of opportunities to dip your toes in.
In our last blog we discussed the background of influencer marketing and how that has shifted into UGC from “regular” people, who don’t have public profiles. In this blog we’ll be talking about how you can get started in selling your own UGC. And the good news is, if you have a phone and yourself, you’ve pretty much got all you need to do it!
How to get Started
A lot of people who make UGC also work part time or full time jobs, so it can be a great side hustle and for some it’s even a full time career! There’s many ways to get started, but the most important first step is to build your portfolio.
Filming Example Content
If you’re reading this, we’re guessing you are new to the world of UGC creation and are asking “how do I build my portfolio if I don’t have anything to put in it?” Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have any previous UGC to show, you can improvise at first!
One way you can do this is finding products (similar to those of brands you wish you work with) that you own, and film content with them. It’s good to have around five videos and photos of yourself reviewing and using them, and make sure to include a hook, problem, solution and call to action.
Building your Portfolio
A portfolio is your place where you store all your information regarding your UGC. This ranges from documentation of content you’ve made, to prices, to social media strategies. A portfolio can be displayed in lots of different formats. The most common ones we’ve seen are on websites, Instagram accounts and Canva presentations.
Try to make your portfolio as organised and easy to understand for potential brands you want to work with as possible. Template by UGC Creator and Marketing Consultant, @CreativelyLinda (on TikTok), has a great example of a website portfolio that a lot of her students use as inspiration when creating their own.
Following in a clean structure, Linda’s portfolio starts off with her name, headshot and some general information about her services and values. She then separates her UGC services into categories, and closes with details on services and the call to action to reach out to work with her. All of this information can easily be skimmed in under 20 seconds, which is vital in a world where there’s so much going on in the digital space and brand PR representatives are often very busy, so can’t spend a long time looking over portfolios.
Make sure your portfolio reflects your personality in some way. Include your favourite colours, interests and an overall tone that gives brands an idea of who you are so they can see if you’re a good fit from the get-go. This also can influence your niche and the types of content you create. UGC is all about authentic media and oftentimes brand audiences want to interact with content that is realistic and from someone they can trust.
You can categorise footage of your content into sections. These can be organised into different topics, some examples include:
- Health and wellness
- Fashion and makeup
- Food
- Plants and gardening
- Accessories
- Technology
Of course, depending on which platform you use to document everything, the way you set this out will be different. On websites you can embed hyperlinks to different pages, and on Instagram you can put them into highlights.
While organisation is key, we also recommend spicing your portfolio up. No brand wants to invest in content that is bland and unaesthetic, so your visuals matter just as much as the information it provides.
Drafting a Pitch
Now it’s time to work out how you’re going to sell your services to your dream clients. Less is more with your pitch.
Important things to include:
- Introduce yourself.
- Tell the brand how your services can benefit them.
- Attach your portfolio.
- Have a call to action.
Remember to sound professional, but still like yourself. It’s important to ensure your pitch’s tone focuses on what the brand can get out of your services, rather than explaining in detail your experience and skill set. Copy and paste the same pitch, changing details where applicable, to make the process of reaching out to clients quicker.
Reaching out to Brands
A great way to start searching for clients is to simply search which brands are currently looking for UGC creators. Use social media as well as their websites as a tool for this, because a lot of them will enquire using these platforms.
While your actual pitch should be short and sweet, successful UGC creators suggest that “more is more” with the amount of businesses you reach out to. Popular brands in particular would go through a lot of emails per day, not to mention a lot of content creators who want to work with them. It’s important to stay consistent in the process and don’t get your hopes down if you don’t hear back from everyone you reach out to.
This being said, there are some tips to help in pushing your pitches up in the queue. Once you find a brand’s email, you can validate it using Chrome extensions so they don’t go to spam. This is because different brands have different allowances on how many emails from external sources can come in. Research to find out what words are typically flagged as spam, so you can know which to avoid, which is particularly relevant in your subject line. These aren’t guaranteed to avoid emails hitting spam, but they can help.
Another thing to consider is what time you’re sending your pitches out. Most businesses’ inboxes are fuller in the mornings at the start of the week, so it’s a good idea to send them out on a Thursday or Friday afternoon, so you’re more likely to get a reply!
While emails are the most common method of reaching out to clients, you could also contact them using LinkedIn, Insense or BeeRoll.
Consistency
While maintaining a consistent social media platform isn’t a necessity, it’s still important to stay up to date in shooting content, looking for brands to work with, updating your portfolio and more. But don’t worry, depending on the amount of time you want to invest into your UGC, this is quite manageable and doesn’t take long.
If you choose to display your portfolio on social media, you can get creative in the ways you stay consistent in posting. It’s unrealistic that when you’re starting out, that you’ll have heaps of brand deals and UGC to share, but you can upload anything to do with your journey. This is an excellent way to connect with fellow content creators, and also show brands your understanding of how the social media world works. Record behind the scenes of you shooting content, your step by step processes, tips for fellow creators and more, to reveal different sides of your work.
Hot Tips
Here are some extra tips which might also help you on your UGC journey:
- Use X to network in the #UGCCommunity with other UGC creators.
- Start a separate email address for UGC.
- Follow a specific weekly plan to get you results, and stay consistent in it.
- Make sure to record every step in the process physically, and sign an agreement with brands to ensure everything is fair and documented in case you face any issues.
Ready to see the Benefits?
It’s clear that UGC is here to stay, and more and more creators are loving the benefits it provides them! Saying this, it is still a highly competitive market and one’s success all comes down to their strategy and what they offer being of value to brands.
If you’re a budding digital creator or a business owner thinking of working with UGC creators, we’re here to help you with everything from strategies to content. Reach out to us for a 30 minute strategy call and we can answer any questions you have about marketing strategies.
