We run UGC strategy and paid social for a range of brands. Over the past four years, we’ve built a portfolio of 525+ vetted creators and a process that consistently matches creators with brands to generate content that actually drives profitable growth.

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Here’s how we handle sourcing, briefing, and quality control for UGC at our agency.

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How to Find UGC Creators

We’ve tested a lot of platforms to hire new creators, and the truth is, the best creators aren’t always sitting in fancy databases. We’ve had strong success sourcing from:

• Reddit: Surprisingly active communities of real creators (look for those who include usage rights and raw footage).
  
  
• Twitter (X): Creators often post their reels and portfolios using hashtags like #UGCCreator or #UGCAds. Generally, once a few creators comment on or share your post, tons of more creators find you.
  
  
• Upwork: Great for finding creators who are reliable, organized, and open to recurring work.

We use the acronym ABR - Always Be Recruiting. Our goal is to build a database of UGC creators so we can easily reach out to them when we need to work with them. This process is how we've built a CRM of 525+ vetted creators, and is especially helpful when clients need male or 40+ year old creators, both of which are harder to find. 

Our general process looks like:

Post on one of the places listed above -> Creators respond with their portfolios -> Review videos in their portfolio, and send them our onboarding form if they meet our expectations -> Completed forms create a card in our CRM database for the creator.

Our form asks the following questions (helping us filter search in the CRM to quickly find who we need).

• Full Name
• Email Address
• Age
• Gender
• Location (City, State, Country)
• Please provide a link to your portfolio
• Are there any specific niche(s) or business types you work with? (Select all that apply)
• What is your general turnaround time once you’ve received a brief?
• Please share your general rates for 1 UGC video with raw assets provided.
• At this time, we do not pay ongoing usage rights to use your content for paid media efforts. Please confirm you do not charge usage rights in addition to the rate provided above.
• Which platforms do you use to receive payments for your work? Paypal, www.wise.com, etc.
• Please share the mailing address you use to receive products.
• Please upload your top 2-4 UGC videos.

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When sourcing, make sure you’re clear on the difference between UGC creators and influencers:

• Influencers charge more because you’re paying for their reach and organic following.
  
• UGC creators are paid for the content itself, not their audience, ideal for paid ads.

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Setting Your Creative Direction Before Briefing UGC

At our agency, we start every new UGC engagement with Voice of Customer and Competitor Research. We analyze the client’s reviews, Reddit threads mentioning their product, and competitors’ reviews to uncover the rational and emotional motivators people use when talking about the category. This research forms the foundation for the messaging angles we include in our UGC briefs.

Next, we review the client’s ad account data by age and gender breakdowns to understand who Facebook is delivering ads to and which audiences are actually converting. This helps us match creators and hooks to the right demographics.

When we write briefs, we typically create one main brief with four hook variations to test. Adding hook variations gives you more videos from each creator and helps identify what scroll-stops best. Most creators will bundle pricing when you request multiple hooks in one shoot.

There are multiple variables specific to UGC that can impact performance: 

• Brief or messaging angle
• Hook
• Creator
• Video pacing

If a video doesn’t perform, it may be because the brief/hook was bad, or it could be because the wrong UGC creator was selected. To test this, we generally send one brief to 2 or more creators. If we are sourcing 10 creators, we would likely make 5 briefs. 

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How to Brief UGC Creators the Right Way

The best way to set creators up for success is to give them a clear messaging strategy, direction for the hook, and flexibility for personality in the UGC brief.

Here’s what we include in every brief:

• Product overview & positioning: What makes it different, and what emotion or outcome we’re trying to communicate.

• Messaging angle: Is this about quality, convenience, identity, or price?

• Hook variations (3–4): We always give creators multiple hooks to test so we can see what stops the scroll fastest. It’s more cost-effective to shoot all variations in one go.

• A voice note pronouncing the brand name: We’ve received UGC videos before mispronouncing the brand name. Don’t leave any room for error here. 

• Key points to hit: The must-say phrases or product benefits, written in a modular style (so editors can easily swap clips).

• Do / Don’t list: Examples of what works for the brand voice, and what to avoid.

• Example references: Past winning ads, or content we like from competitors for inspiration.
  
  

Here's a link to our UGC template for anyone that wants it.

With all of that being said, we do still leave room for creators to improvise their scripts. We’ve seen negative results with briefs that are word-for-word scripts. It sounds too manufactured. 

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UGC Contracts, QC, and Tracking Performance

Once we’ve selected the creators and sent briefs, we handle the logistics.

Contracts:

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We use simple open-ended 12-month agreements that outline:

• Flat rates per deliverable (with or without raw footage).
  
  
• Clear ownership of content for paid media usage (we don’t pay ongoing usage rights).
  
  
• Clauses for revisions and timelines.
  
  

Keeping contracts open-ended saves time; instead of renegotiating each project, we can easily rehire top-performing creators.

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QC process:

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Every deliverable is reviewed internally before it ever reaches the client.
We look for:

• Hook strength (is it scroll-stopping within 3 seconds?)
• Clear product showcase in the intro 
• Messaging accuracy
• Sound and lighting quality
• Brand name pronunciation
• On-screen text (if used) that aligns with the brand’s visual style
• Edit quality to ensure proper pacing (Not all UGC should be fast-paced, we’ve seen younger generations perform with fast-paced, but older generations with slower-paced videos.) 

If edits are needed, our Creative Strategist sends time-stamped notes directly to the creator. Once approved internally, the content is sent to the client for final approval.

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Tracking creator performance:

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This is where things get interesting. We name every UGC ad using a consistent structure to make reporting easy:
CR34 | Exploration | Video | Brief 12 | Solo UGC | Confidence | Face Cleanser | Ellen | New

Each section tells us something about the creative:
{CR#} | {Bucket} | {Format} | {Brief} | {Creative Theme} | {Messaging Angle} | {Product/Feature} | {UGC Creator} | {Iteration or New}

This way, when we review results, we can tell whether the brief, the creator, or the angle drove performance changes.

We built an internal tool to quickly view performance aggregated by category, such as UGC creator or messaging angle, before drilling down into individual ads. It automatically creates "Categories" based on the sections in our naming conventions, and a unique tag for each new thing it identifies in ad names. 

We are able to aggregate data for a creator's ads across an account, as well as average their data across multiple accounts to help us understand how a specific creator performs in a particular vertical, such as skincare or fashion. This enhances our chances of achieving success with new clients. 

That’s a high-level overview of our process. Click here if you'd like to learn more about our UGC services and schedule a call to work with Brighter Click.