UGC means user-generated content: material made by users and customers instead of the brand itself. The label now covers two economies: the organic posts brands beg for, and the paid UGC-creator industry, where people are hired to make content that LOOKS user-made for ads.
UGC carries what polished brand content can't fake: a real person showing the thing actually working. Reviews, unboxings and tagged posts convert because they read as testimony, not advertising.
It's social proof in content form. Reposting customer content is also the cheapest content pipeline a brand can run, which is why "tag us" sits in every brand bio.
Demand created a profession: UGC creators make native-looking videos sold directly to brands for their ad accounts. The brand runs the content as ads; the creator's own audience size doesn't matter.
That decoupled the job from follower counts, which made it the accessible entry into the creator economy: a portfolio of good videos beats a big account. In practice, a credible-looking profile still wins pitches, because brands check the person behind the portfolio.
Makes product content (mostly short video) that brands run in their OWN channels and ads. The creator sells the content, not access to an audience.
No, that's the point: brands buy the content. A convincing portfolio and a professional-looking profile do the selling.
No. Influencer marketing rents a creator's audience. UGC buys content for the brand's audience. Same creators often sell both.
Every definition lives in the full glossary, and the services behind the vocabulary are on the services page.