Choosing the Right Creator for UGC Ad Campaigns

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In a dynamic digital landscape, the role of Freelance UGC (User-Generated Content) creators is increasingly crucial. We dive into a conversation with Creative Director Ali, Creative Manager Casey, and Freelance Creative Strategist & UGC creator Sonya. Together, they share valuable insights on the critical characteristics required for success in the freelance UGC world and shed light on the intricacies of UGC campaigns.

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Top 5 Characteristics for Freelance UGC Creators

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Discipline

You're not under anyone's orders; it's an army of one to make the money roll in, and that one person is you. Whether it's getting X, Y, and Z done or doing extra research on a particular area of expertise, you always need to be on top of your game because there's someone else out there who's putting in the work.

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Effective Communication

With everyone having an online presence, it's important to remember to streamline communication and constantly touch base. There are usually no in-person meetings anymore in this all-digital world. It's easy to forget to reply to an email or misinterpret something a client or co-worker has sent, so always double-check.

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Being Open Minded

In this industry, so many things are constantly changing. What was successful and working for brands six months ago won't necessarily work now. What you think will work well for one brand might not work as well as it did for another. Along with the constantly changing algorithms, it's essential to maintain that student mindset and always be open.

Ali adds that having content creators who are confident in creating videos across multiple niches is crucial and something that agencies like Bambassadors look for.

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Organization

Casey mentions how vital organization is for a UGC creator's success. Working on so many different campaigns at once, it's important to remember who needs what when. In the world of virtual deadlines, excellent communication and organization are crucial for success in this industry.

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Grit

Staying focused and positive while riding the business's highs and lows is crucial to surviving the low periods. It will certainly pay off when the fourth quarter rolls around.

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What Is a Typical UGC Campaign Like?

Sonya says it can vary per client. Typically, what happens is that, using Bambassadors as an example, the client or agency reaches out, and you look at the product and company to see if you want to work with the company or not. She states she usually says no to products she doesn't like and says yes to clients she wants to work with because it makes the creative process ten times easier. Once you say yes, you will receive the brief or brand guidelines, or you can send out a questionnaire to receive information surrounding the content creation process. You go on to sign the contract and other papers. Then, you do creative research on the company. Reviews and looking into competitors are the best and the easiest way to find valuable information.

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Once you've gathered all your information and are ready to film, you look at the type of video you want to create. This can vary from your typical testimonial problem-solution video to a TikTok response, hook, green screen, listicle (five reasons why), us-versus-them, etc. These are the standard videos that seem to perform the best.

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Plug in the information you gathered from the brand/agency and research, add your concepts, and then send them to the brand/agency for approval. This will minimize any revisions you have to do later. Sonya likes to include a visual column along with a script so you can really visualize the video she is about to make.

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How Did You Get Into UGC?

Before UGC, Sonya ran her own business and was a personal trainer. What made her shift gears and transition into the UGC side of things was she saw a video by JT Barnett on TikTok, and he mentioned how much of a market there was for UGC creators for brands. She made the switch, swapped out her personal trainer information and started her own portfolio with her domain name. Working with brands that already aligned with her personal beliefs was an easy start, as she already had previous knowledge in that area. It makes it easier to understand the behavioral psychology behind ads and why they work. Nobody buys the actual product for the product; they're buying it because they want to feel, think or be seen in a certain way.

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Mashups and Iterations

It is so powerful to take a video and essentially make five to ten other videos out of it. Many brands are just starting to discover this, and it is becoming the new normal.

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Casey says that it starts at the creator stage when they first reach out and send those initial briefs over. Bambassadors requires quite a bit of bonus footage when we have our video creators submit things. We require different hook variations, around five from each creator, and a ton of usable B-Roll. You can take one video with all those extra assets and hook variations and switch out what you see visually throughout the video. Doing this at the beginning of the creation process can lessen the chances of revisions and overall nitpicking from the client.

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Sonya mentions it's always beneficial for the brand to get the raw footage or additional footage to make mashups between influencers because they tend to perform a lot better than just having one creator in the video. Often, brands will just ask for raw footage, and the brand will take care of it afterwards. Some creators fear sending the raw footage over because it allows the brand to exploit them and use the footage repeatedly, which isn't the case at all. The average ad shelf life is 1-2 weeks unless it performs amazingly. If brands only get clipped footage and not all the raw footage for B roll and other things, you're doing your brand a disservice and essentially wasting money that could be better utilized.

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Success Stories

Lumen

Sonya's Ad for Lumen performed incredibly well. A brand found a winner and has been using it for months. The particular assets she did for them were skit-based, which she usually doesn't like to do. Most skits can be viewed as cringe if not executed correctly.

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Some brands benefit from a cringy skit; this was one of them. It benefited the company because it wasn't a standard testimonial or a how-to video. It involved real questions people have regarding fitness and health, and was able to turn that into an entertaining video.

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Brass

Casey mentions Brass was super successful for three specific reasons that can apply across all UGC content.

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Relevancy

The videos were unseasoned to start. If you can, hone in on something relevant to the time. For Brass, it was fall, and we could show that in the assets. It worked out really well. Try to launch the campaign right before the season or holiday happens, not when it's happening already because then you'll be too late.

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Show me!

Casey always preaches, "Show, don't tell. " There is such power in showing rather than just saying, "I love this, and it's really great," while holding it. Visually showing the product or service on-screen improves the whole video.

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What Can It Do

The video should show off all the products' capabilities, trying to leave the consumer without questions. Taking the time to fit multiple things in one video.

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Underoutfit

Ali talks about another company they worked with for their new bra campaign, Underoutfit. They did videos with a creator named Logan, who is phenomenal, but the videos at the time were just okay. They felt they could do better in terms of ad performance. They added a controversial clip at the beginning of the video to hook the consumer's attention. It was a clip of Logan saying that she was a 34 triple D in bra size, which got the comments going.

"No way, no, you're not a 34 DDD."

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The comments made the video blow up. Obviously, never take it too far, but it can be a powerful asset to add to your videos. Some people have even started making spelling mistakes on purpose to get people to comment.

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