UGC has become an integral part of content marketing strategies in recent years, mainly due to customers trusting content made by other consumers like them rather than traditional advertisements. Our State of Marketing Report 2024 found that 56% of brands are shifting their attention towards UGC. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the top UGC platforms to step up your content marketing efforts.
While some of the UGC platforms on our list solely provide influencer and UGC marketing services, others are full-service agencies, with UGC as one of their offerings. Either way, these UGC agencies have a history of exceeding client expectations and providing stellar results with their curated UGC campaigns.
Our Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report identified TikTok as the natural home for user-generated content. Moreover, generating UGC was stated as the main reason for influencer marketing in 45% of cases.
So, let’s dive into our selection of the best UGC platforms for businesses.
What is User-Generated Content?
User-generated content (UGC) is any form of content—photos, videos, text, reviews—that was created by real people rather than brands.
In turn, this provides a great opportunity for brands to then re-share that content on their own social networks to engage their audiences and provide a real-life look into their products/services.
Bringing UGC into your social media content strategy is a great way to make your feed feel more realistic, rather than including only staged photos or photos of models.
For example, Allbirds uses UGC to show its shoes out and about on real customers.
Having content like this helps give each marketing channel a more authentic feel. But again, it can take time compiling all of this content for your strategy.
This is where UGC platforms come in.
Top UGC Platforms for Brands in 2024:
Best UGC Platforms to try Today
Let’s take a look at some of the best UGC platforms for brands to try in 2024. Each tool has its own features and offerings, so know your requirements before you take your pick.
1. Brandwatch Influencer Marketing Software
Channel integrations: Brandwatch supports major social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, and TikTok.
Brandwatch, while not solely an influencer and UGC marketing platform, is a great resource for finding both creators and brand ambassadors or advocates. The platform assists you throughout the process of finding and working with influencers.
From the get-go, you can find influencers with the help of Brandwatch’s search engine. Next, the platform offers a suite of influencer relationship management tools that help you engage with these creators throughout your campaigns.
Key Features
Brandwatch’s search engine is the first thing you’ll notice about the platform. Here, you can find creators or customers who are already talking about your brand.
Brandwatch search engine
You don’t have to work with the first creator that pops up in your search. The tool allows you to filter the results based on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube.
Further, you can decide how big or small a creator’s following should be. With the trend towards working with small follower counts on the rise, this is an important feature. Nano-influencers can produce UGC that hits the mark since they have an engaged following in your particular niche.
Besides platform and followers, Brandwatch also allows you to filter ambassadors based on their engagement, the topics they create posts about, their location, the language their audience speaks, and the age demographics of their followers.
With a selection of 30 million+ global ambassadors and creators, you won’t be short of options on Brandwatch.
Post influencer selection, you can send them a contract through the platform without the need for a third-party tool. Influencer campaign management and post scheduling are also available within this platform.
Brandwatch influencer management
Regardless of the number of ambassadors you’re working with, Brandwatch offers a single dashboard view of all your campaigns. The dashboard shows you if your UGC campaign is meeting the key performance indicators (KPIs) you set as benchmarks.
Brandwatch influencer analytics
The reports are available for all platforms, including Twitch and X.
For brands in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance, working with laypersons may not be the best option since people are skeptical about taking medical or financial advice from non-experts. Brandwatch resolves this issue by helping you identify thought leaders in your industry.
Brandwatch thought leadership search
Brands can research their industries and key audiences to find trusted experts, journalists, employees, and influencers to amplify their message.
Brandwatch is also a TikTok marketing, LinkedIn marketing, and Meta Business partner.
Brandwatch partnerships
Brandwatch in Action
Brandwatch doesn’t only show brands the people who are talking about them but also the conversations they are having. The tool helped Base Beauty peek into the minds of its consumers by analyzing social media conversations around skincare and makeup products.
The brand was ready to try different strategies including graphics, UGC, lo-fi reels, professional photography, and more. Through Brandwatch, Base Beauty was able to “engage with notable people and categorize these conversations through comments, DMs, and beyond,” according to the senior digital marketing strategist at the company.
The brand could then
“look at data and engagement rates for every individual piece of content. We could determine what our audience loved, what they liked and could be improved on, and also what wasn’t working.”
Another example is the University of Connecticut, which originally used Brandwatch to manage its four social media pages. But when the pandemic disrupted on-campus tours, UConn used Brandwatch’s Listen tool, a social listening feature, to find content created by the university’s existing students.
The university then reposted this content on its social media pages to give prospective students and their parents an idea of what the UConn campus life looks like.
Another opportunity presented itself for the university, when its alumnus Bryan Jackson (@Bpenfield) posted on X that he would take a shot of hot sauce if the university’s team won against Marquette. After his team won, he stayed true to his word and posted a video of himself taking a hot sauce shot. The post immediately got viral, starting the “Hot Sauce Challenge,” which people outside UConn also jumped on.
https://t.co/LcezPctOjv pic.twitter.com/gysIhdzY4b
— Penfield Muse (@BpenfieldJ) January 6, 2021
Thanks to Brandwatch’s social listening tool, which notifies clients about brand mentions, UConn was quick to repost the videos made around this challenge. This way, UConn established its association with the challenge, even getting the university President on it.
The campaign, which Brandwatch’s tool brought to light, gave UConn’s social media team a ton of UGC to report. With 31.1M impressions, these videos were a major success.
Insta360, a camera company, took it a step further by leveraging social conversations to find the right people to speak about the brand. The company worked with 4,000 creators to get the word about its products.
Key Features: Global Influencer Payment, Influencer Discovery, Influencer directory management, Creation of private influencer network, Campaign management and reporting, Broad platform coverage, Automated reporting,
Channels: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, TikTok, Shopify
2. VN Secure
Channel integrations: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat
The influx of content creators has flooded social media platforms with tons of UGCs. Sifting through them to find quality ones can be time-consuming and stressful if you don’t use the right tools. VN Secure helps you quickly screen millions of posts using its AI-powered technology so you can filter the creators who don’t match your brand standards.
Viral Nation, an award-winning influencer marketing agency, developed the tool to help companies protect their brands by preventing collaborations with influencers who made offensive posts in the past, or those who might create damaging content in the future. The tool assigns a risk score for each influencer based on a brand’s selected criteria so they can decide if a creator is worth the partnership or not.
Key Features
VN Secure has a straightforward function: scan an influencer’s entire content history from the very first social media post they made on any platform. The scan involves videos, texts, images, and audio posted across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, and X.
For audio files and videos, it will transcribe the audio to look for keywords related to your risk categories. VN Secure can also scan video-in-text and small texts in the background, ensuring every aspect is covered.
VN Secure influencers profiles
Every influencer on your list is vetted for past risky content. Alerts are issued for such posts, enabling you to review them. For videos, the tool specifically highlights the exact moment of the questionable content, offering precise oversight.
You can then decide if the influencer is still worth a shot or not.
When it comes to risk parameters, VN Secure goes further than the usual “brand safety” feature of other platforms. You can customize 10 categories with a tolerance score from 0% (low tolerance) to 100% (high tolerance). This helps you set priorities for what the platform considers offensive.
For example, one of the categories is Gambling. If you’re tolerant of user-generated gambling content, you can assign this category a higher tolerance score. However, if you don’t want to be associated with user-generated Explicit Nudity content, you can assign this category a lower tolerance score.
This means that the tool will accept posts related to poker (gambling content) but will send out alerts for posts on strip poker (gambling with nudity content).
VN Secure global template
Since VN Secure doesn’t assign moral scores, you can also use the tool to discover social mentions of your brand and competitors. You can add your brand name, CEO name, or competitor to the list of “offensive/profanity” words so you get alerted every time a creator mentions them or creates user-generated content around them.
This feature helps you check if an influencer posts negative or positive sentiments about your brand, even after the engagement concludes. You can also check if they’ve worked with a competitor in the past before working with them.
VN Secure also introduced its impersonation detection feature to help clients identify and report fake accounts. It leverages a proprietary multi-AI analysis technology to perform ongoing, simultaneous searches using identified keywords across various social media platforms and perform deep analysis to expose impostor accounts. It also reports takedowns to these platforms so these fake accounts can be decommissioned.
This gives you an automated way to protect your brand from any impostor content and verify that you’re only working with legitimate content creators.
VN Secure in Action
Viral Nation revealed that, with the help of VN Secure, a major brand client managed to save time reviewing content from over 70,000 influencers. If the client’s staff had to watch all of the influencers’ video content, it would have taken them almost 23 years. However, VN Secure processed all of the data in just six months.
The AI algorithm didn’t just detect words, it also processed visual elements and looked at correlations for hate speech, nudity, violence, and other offensive terms.
During the 2024 SXSW Innovation Awards, Viral Nation won the Innovation Award for Social Media for their work on VN Secure. The award-giving body recognizes innovative companies across various industries and winning it is a testament to their expertise and commitment to creating a social-first and safe marketing industry.
Key Features: Influencer Analysis, Moderation Tolerance Feature,
Channels: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
3. LTK (formerly rewardStyle)
Channel Integrations: LTK integrates directly with Shopify and seamlessly extends to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, blogs, and the LTK App for comprehensive influencer marketing across various channels.
LTK, previously known as rewardStyle, is a technology platform that connects brands and retailers with top global influencers. The platform drives more than $4 billion in annual sales by bringing creators, brands, and shoppers on the same page.
In 2011, the platform began as a place to help lifestyle creators and brands monetize the digital world. Since then, LTK has grown to a team of 700 members with 7,000 retailers and 1 million brands in more than 160 countries.
LTK reach
LTK has created a proprietary ecosystem where technology, global brand partnerships, growth consulting, shopper access, and data intersect. The app shows pictures of creators wearing the clothing items with links to buy them.
Unlike e-commerce sites where models showcase these clothes, making buyers wonder how the items would look on them, LTK uses UGC creators, who are real people with different body types, to entice buyers into clicking the shopping links.
LTK shop
Key Features
Speaking of the platform itself, LTK facilitates influencer discovery with the help of AI. Brands can use Match AI, the platform’s intelligent technology, to find and collaborate with UGC creators who align with their vision and needs.
LTK Match AI
Influencer discovery is further supplemented by LTK’s analytics and reporting features, culminating in the platform’s tool called LTK 360. It’s the one-stop solution for marketers to track influencer performance, measure ROI, and gather valuable audience insights.
LTK 360
Brands that feel the need to add a little more to their UGC campaigns can run social media ads by repurposing the creator-generated content, too. LTK Boost primarily supports TikTok and Instagram, augmenting the impact of their content.
Alternatively, LTK also runs ads within its own platform. Brands that want to supplement the organic reach of their LTK content can choose from various ad formats, like product tags and sponsored posts.
LTK has also branched into Connected TV. Creators can make content with branded assets for Connected TV spots. These spots are then distributed to streaming services like Hulu and Roku.
LTK Connected TV
Small business users can save a ton of time and money by accessing all these features in the same place. One small business owner says,
“I love how it’s all there for you: the Influencers, the data, the payment system. It makes it really easy to use!”
Other business owners also feel the same, with one noting that
“LTK makes it so easy to search for and connect with content creators that are excited to use and promote the products we offer. It was difficult to connect prior to using LTK, and we appreciate how streamlined the process is with them.”
LTK in Action
While larger brands have also worked with UGC creators and influencers using LTK, we’ll focus on some examples of small businesses to highlight the versatility of the platform.
Warehouse, an apparel brand, worked with influencers from LTK, which resulted in the company increasing its year-on-year clicks by 63%. The company also managed to reach 7.2 million viewers across multiple platforms.
Warehouse success story
Warehouse has a slightly higher price point for its products, mainly due to superior product quality. The company wanted to educate its audience about the value of its products and show them how to incorporate them into everyday outfits.
By working with UGC creators through LTK, Warehouse saw a 228% increase in sales.
Similarly, a coffee brand used LTK to connect with UGC creators. The campaign was so effective that the company was able to sell all its gift sets via LTK.
Coffee brand success story
Besides increasing subscriptions for its gift sets, the company also wanted to drive traffic and increased sales. They worked with creators to post shoppable content on multiple platforms for a period of 12 weeks.
Their campaign resulted in 3,000 clicks and a reach of up to 2.8 million viewers.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Content Review, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, Product/Gifting Tools, Forms and Compliance, Payment Processing,
Channels: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Blogs, LTK App
4. Creator.co
Channel Integrations: Creator.co supports multi-channel campaigns with integrations for leading social channels such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Creator.co is an influencer and creator marketing platform that equips brands with everything from a creator outreach search engine to dynamic campaign management tools. With a focus on content creators, Creator.co gives brands access to 300+ million profiles across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Creator.co influencer selection
Each influencer profile on each platform comes with advanced analytics, such as demographic and engagement data, to help brands find the perfect fit for their UGC campaigns. Not only can you find creators, but manage and pay them through the same dashboard.
Key Features
The most notable feature of the platform is its analytics dashboard. It shows impressions, audience demographics, follower count, and engagement rates for each influencer.
Creator.co analytics
You can also see the data in a visual format to make sense of it easily. If you want to create custom analytics, the platform lets you select filters like campaign status, social channels, date, and duration.
Creator.co also has widgets that you can integrate with your website to measure the performance of every influencer. Some of these widgets include audience ages, total payouts, creator stats, total ROI, content engagement snapshots, etc.
Creator.co widgets
The widgets can further be edited by campaigns and social channels.
When contacting creators, you can create custom chat templates. The templates can be labeled by use cases, such as greeting or invitation. You can then message multiple creators simultaneously and attach campaign directions if needed.
Creator.co message template
The opt-in tab in the Creator.co dashboard shows you the status of UGC creator onboarding. You can see all creators, the pending ones, activated campaigns, completed tasks, and canceled creators.
Creator.co opt-in tab
Negotiating payments with creators is also easy with the platform. You can simply enter the amount you want to offer to the creator. Based on their response, you can then decline or activate a campaign with them.
Creator.co payment negotiation
Creator.co doesn’t leave you on your own if you’re struggling with any step of UGC marketing. They have a selection of expert account managers who can guide you through the process and help you achieve your desired results.
With Creator.co, you can also run giveaways with your favorite UGC creators. The platform has a built-in giveaway feature that allows you to seamlessly collaborate with influencers and run successful campaigns.
Creator.co in Action
Creator.co has been used by brands to partner with creators to run successful UGC campaigns. For example, Hex exceeded its marketing goals by partnering with creators through Creator.co.
In just a few months of influencer and UGC marketing, the company generated more than 1.4 million impressions, saved 100+ hours in marketing, and got 183,000 video views.
Hex success story
Creator.co also made it simple for the brand to manage 95 creators without any hassle. The brand was able to track the progress of its campaigns and communicate with creators using the platform.
Aura is another brand that used Creator.co’s search tool to find 20 UGC creators for its campaigns. In total, the brand saved 5 to 6 hours per week.
Aura success story
Aura used Creator.co’s self-serve subscription, which is the one where brands do not work with a dedicated account manager. The company was able to reach 275.9k people with an earned media value of $3,600.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Payment Processing, Social Listening, Competitor Research, Creator Marketplace,
Channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok
5. Skeepers
Channel integrations: You can connect Skeepers with your Instagram and TikTok accounts.
While most other platforms offer a combination of influencer and UGC marketing features, Skeepers specifically focuses on UGC campaigns. The platform claims that brands using its UGC features and creators see a 40% increase in SEO traffic and 2.6x engagement on a product page with video.
Pages displaying UGC also see a 2x increase in sales. With Skeepers, you can gather UGC not only for your social media pages but also product pages on your website. When people see content from their peers, they’re more likely to trust and buy from your brand.
Skeepers UGC content
Currently, over 8,000 brands, including Lacoste and Copart, use Skeepers for their influencer and UGC campaigns.
Key Features
The first feature to highlight is the ability to find UGC creators for your Instagram marketing efforts. You can filter through the results by category (like fashion or travel), follower count, location, and more.
After selecting your criteria, Skeepers will display a list of creators that match your specifications. You can then go ahead and check their Instagram aesthetic and audience demographics before reaching out.
Skeepers UGC content creator selection
Since Skeepers has a selection of over 100,000 micro-influencers and nano-influencers, you will find creators in your niche with ease. Skeepers has a Personal Profile feature for brands to fine-tune their search for an influencer.
Skeepers creators
Following creator selection, brands can also automate their UGC campaign management. From collecting content to reposting it on your social media accounts, Skeepers takes care of the entire process.
You can also track the performance of your UGC campaigns through the platform’s analytics dashboard. Skeepers also manages the legal side of things, so you don’t have to worry about licensing issues when using UGC.
Skeepers analytics
Skeeper’s licenses are a decade long, providing brands with peace of mind and minimizing legal complications for years to come.
The platform also makes your content shoppable so that it’s easy for customers to purchase products featured in the UGC. You can use Skeepers’ Shoppable Content feature to make online buying frictionless for your customer base.
Skeepers shoppable content feature
Since Skeepers also has an API, you can integrate it with your existing marketing software easily. Then, you can track data in real-time and make quick decisions to ensure your campaigns deliver desired results.
Skeepers in Action
Skeepers amplifies brand advocacy for its clients in several ways. For MBX, the parent company for Kaja Beauty and I Dew Care, the platform did it by establishing a place for the Korean beauty community in the US.
Brian Murdock, the general manager at MBX, elaborates why they chose Skeepers as their UGC solution:
“Skeepers makes scaling effortless. It’s built for scalability. It’s very easy to use, and it saves a lot of time and money, eliminating the need to reach out to people individually to ask them to review our product.”
MBX case study
With these features in place, MBX was able to collect 10.5k reviews on makeup shopping sites like Sephora and Ulta. The company also got a rating of 4.8 out of 5 for its main bands, I Dew Care and Kaja.
The brand’s general manager further reported,
“Without this platform, we would have faced significant delays in our seeding campaigns. The ability to work with influencers through Skeepers allows us to expedite the process and obtain authentic reviews efficiently.”
Moulinex, the kitchen appliance brand, was faced with the challenge of low conversion on its e-commerce site and a lack of brand ambassadors. The brand used Skeepers to find brand ambassadors who would produce UGC conten, with whom it then went on to work for two years.
Moulinex has 246 ambassadors, creating content for its YouTube channel and website. Skeepers made managing all these influencers easier, as opposed to working with each of them on a personal level.
Key Features: Campaign Management, Influencer Discovery, Social Media Monitoring, Faceted Search / Filtering,
Channels: Tik Tok, Instagram, Shopify, Retail Sites, Brand Website
6. indaHash
IndaHash is a dynamic UGC platform, revolutionizing how brands leverage user-generated content in their marketing strategies. IndaHash transforms brand credibility, enhances audience engagement, and drives conversions through authentic user-created content.
The platform’s standout features include efficient content moderation to maintain brand image and the ability to create targeted UGC campaigns. These campaigns encourage user participation and provide tools for comprehensive campaign management, tracking, and promotion. This ensures the content is abundant and aligned with your brand values and campaign goals.
Moreover, IndaHash offers robust tracking and measurement tools, allowing you to assess the effectiveness of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions. The platform facilitates collaboration with users who generate exceptional content, featuring their contributions on your official channels and offering unique engagement opportunities.
Key UGC Features:
- Discovery and curation of brand-related UGC
- Seamless content integration and moderation
Pricing:
You will need to request a demo to know more about the price.
Channel Integrations:
IndaHash integrates seamlessly with major social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat. Additionally, it offers website integrations for eCommerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify Plus. This wide range of integrations positions IndaHash as a versatile and effective tool in UGC Platforms, catering to the dynamic needs of modern digital marketing.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, White Label Reporting, E-commerce Tools, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Visual Discovery,
Channels: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook
7. Birdeye
Birdeye is a leading user-generated content (UGC) platform that empowers over 100,000 businesses to seamlessly harness the power of reviews. Renowned for its expansive toolkit, it caters to a range of needs, from generating new reviews to efficiently managing and monitoring them. The platform plays a pivotal role in enhancing customer experience, laying the foundation for robust business growth.
Understanding the weight reviews carry in shaping consumer decisions, Birdeye provides businesses the convenience they need in today’s fast-paced digital age. Handpicking the finest reviews from a plethora of platforms and showcasing them can be a daunting task. Birdeye simplifies this with intuitive review management software, letting businesses amplify their best reviews across various channels with just a few clicks.
Key features Birdeye offers include:
- Automated review sharing
- Integrated review display
- Enhanced SEO with rich snippet data
- Review-driven marketing tools
By leveraging Birdeye’s review generation solutions, businesses can not only procure a consistent influx of reviews but also maximize their potential to drive engagement and sales.
Pricing:
Birdeye offers three pricing tiers, with costs ranging from $299 to $399.
Channel integrations:
Birdeye integrates with leading social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business and Instagram.
8. Intellifluence
Aimed at smaller businesses, Intellifluence is an end-to-end influencer marketing platform that offers a decent network of influencers. While they might not boast the biggest influencer network (there are about 200,000), all the influencers chose to join on their own accord. This means that whichever influencer you choose to work with on your UGC campaign will be willing, eager, and ready.
What Intellifluence does extremely well is make it easy to create and amplify custom content. After you’ve created your campaign, it’s straightforward to add an influencer with Intellifluence’s Influencer Discovery tool.
Other great features include:
- In-app messaging
- Reports
Pricing:
Intellifluence has a completely free plan. The paid plans start at $99 per month.
Channel integrations:
Intellifluence offers support for a wide variety of social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitch, and even Reddit. It even supports marketplace reviews, blogs, podcasts, and SoundCloud.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Campaign Management, Product/Gifting Tools, Payment Processing,
Channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit
9. Insense
Insense is a creator marketplace for UGC at scale and describes its platform as your “one-stop shop to collaborate with creators for UGC”. There are more than 35,000 screened creators in its community who can deliver mobile-first content in as few as five business days. Not only will the content keep mobile devices in mind, but it will also be platform-native.
It doesn’t matter if you prefer photos over videos or vice versa, their creators have the skills needed. They can help with various types of UGC such as product demos or reviews, testimonials, and unboxing videos.
In terms of pricing, Insense also offers variety. If you’re happy with a more hands-on approach, you can sign up for one of the self-service plans. Alternatively, you can leave everything to them and opt for their fully managed service. However, know that there’s quite a significant difference in pricing. While this is not uncommon, the jump in pricing is more significant than some of the other platforms that also offer these two options.
Other great features include:
- Content rights
- Automated contracting and payments
- A content library
Pricing:
Self-service plans start at $400 per month. If you prefer a fully managed service, pricing starts at $1,500 per month and requires a three-month commitment.
Channel integrations:
Insense supports partnerships with influencers on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Key Features: Content Amplification, Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Payment Processing, Influencer Whitelisting, Creator Marketplace,
Channels: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook
10. Grin
GRIN is a creator management platform that can help with various key marketing-related aspects, including branded content and content management. Trusted by global and well-known brands like L’Oreal and Urban Outfitters, it offers a wide range of features that make it easy to manage relationships with content creators on all social channels and find, track and repurpose content. It will automatically gather all your UGC and store it in a unified place.
Then, to make it even easier to manage your UGC, it lets you search it by post type, tag, performance, or color. Once you’ve found the content piece that you want to use for your next campaign, downloading the specific post is as easy as clicking a button.
Other great features include:
- Custom rights agreements
- Social listening
Pricing:
Grin doesn’t publicize their pricing, asking customers to instead request a demo to start the process.
Channel integrations:
GRIN integrates with major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. The platform also offers website integrations for ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Magento, WooCommerce, and Shopify Plus.
Key Features: Content Amplification, Search/Discovery, Influencer Lifecycle Management, Influencer Relationship Management, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Forms and Compliance,
Channels: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube
11. CrewFire
CrewFire is a brand ambassador management software solution that you can use to drive more UGC campaigns. For example, when Vitae Apparel signed up to CrewFire, they managed to generate more than 25,000 pieces of UGC.
To make it easier for your brand ambassadors to get started, it lets you create campaigns in which you set out the instructions. You also have the option of including brand assets that they may use.
While it’s very easy to use and your users won’t have any trouble getting started, you can also use its platform to create incentives for extra encouragement. You can, for example, reward them with points. The points that they’ve collected can then be exchanged for rewards offered by your brand.
Other great features include:
- The ability to create affiliate links and referral codes
- PayPal and ACH payouts
- Community message boards
- Email and SMS broadcasts
- Customizable application forms to grow your brand ambassador network
Pricing:
CrewFire offers three pricing plans based on features and the size of the team. Pricing starts at $1,000 per month.
Channel integrations:
CrewFire offers direct integrations with Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can even keep track of ambassador sales through Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce integrations.
Key Features: Influencer Relationship Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Campaign Management, White Label Reporting, Payment Processing, Influencer Content Amplification, Ecommerce Tools,
Channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
12. TINT
TINT is an awesome platform for basic UGC collection, storing, and publishing. When we say basic, though, we don’t mean primitive—we simply mean that TINT has all the features you need for core UGC marketing.
While they may not have software for accepting photos with product reviews, creating UGC widgets, and the like, their tools are perfect for gathering organic UGC, getting content rights, publishing and promoting content, and more.
Other great features include:
- The ability to create omnichannel UGC marketing campaigns
- AI that helps you find the highest-quality UGC for your brand to repurpose
- A number of integrations that seamlessly work TINT into your marketing stack
Pricing:
TINT asks interested customers to request pricing information via a contact form on their Pricing page.
Channel integrations:
TINT supports UGC collection from major social networks including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumblr.
13. Pixlee TurnTo
Pixlee recently joined forces with TurnTo, another online marketing platform that offers a number of different services. If you land on the TurnTo website, they now have “Pixlee” listed as one of their products, leading you directly to Pixlee’s site and its UGC tools.
With Pixlee, your brand can easily collect, curate, get the rights for, and publish UGC on your own feeds. It even offers analytics to help you measure the success of your UGC campaign.
Other features include:
- The ability to automatically gather images using a specific hashtag
- Spam and brand protection filtering to ensure you only end up with high-quality UGC
- Shopping tools that allow you to connect products to user-generated images
Pricing:
Pixlee doesn’t have their pricing on their website. Instead, they prefer interested parties to request a demo to learn more about their service.
Channel integrations:
Pixlee TurnTo can collect UGC from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. It also supports UGC collection from emails and direct uploads.
Key Features: Content Amplification, Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting,
Channels: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter
Why Is UGC Important To Your Brand?
UGC is important for a brand's marketing strategy because it can increase brand awareness, engagement, credibility, reach, and ultimately, sales. It also benefits your marketing and social media strategies.
User-generated content is proven to help boost conversions, make customers feel better about making a purchase, and increase customer engagement. In fact, Millennials trust UGC 50% more than content that was created by the brand itself.
This is because authentic user-generated content is created by real people who actually purchased—and loved—a product or service. It’s word-of-mouth marketing at its finest.
For example, Farfetch, a luxury apparel retail brand, partnered with Upfluence for a UGC campaign and influencer marketing strategy. Utilizing a total of 1.2k UGC creators to create content around the brand and promote their products on Instagram, Farfetch enjoyed massive success. As shown below, monthly sales rose to $1.2 million with Farfetch enjoying an 8.2X ROI.
Farfetch UGC campaign
Such campaigns show the potential of UGC to boost sales. UGC also saves time since you don't have to create content from scratch. Instead, you can curate and repurpose UGC for your social media pages and marketing material.
What Are UGC Platforms and Why Should You Use One?
A UGC platform is an online platform where brands can connect with UGC creators to create content for their social media or e-commerce channels. With millions of UGC creators out there, it can be hard for brands to find the right ones to work with.
UGC platforms make this process easier by providing brands access to a curated network of high-quality creators in different industries. Most of these platforms also have built-in fraud detection, contract negotiation, payment management, and analytics tools, making it a one-stop shop for all your UGC needs.
UGC Platforms Save Your Team Time.
UGC platforms save businesses a lot of time they would otherwise have to spend looking for the right creators for their campaigns. These platforms handle everything from creator identification and outreach to content approval and payments. So, clients can simply focus on their core business, while the platform takes care of all the tedious work.
For example, Aura's partnership with Creator.co highlights the time-saving benefits of using a dedicated platform. The creator dashboard and search tool provided by Creator.co saved Aura 5-6 hours weekly on recruiting quality creators with a Self-Serve subscription. This efficiency allowed their team to focus on other important areas of their social media strategy, resulting in better overall management and campaign execution.
Aura case study
UGC Platforms Already Have the Right Connections.
Most UGC platforms have built-in networks of creators that businesses can tap into. These platforms often have a wide range of creators from different industries, niches, backgrounds, and demographics, making it easier to find the right fit for your brand.
UGC Platforms Give You Access to Versatile Content.
With UGC platforms, you don’t necessarily have to create fresh content every time whether you need it for your product pages, social media, marketing emails, or ad campaigns. UGC creators do it for you.
For starters, you can display customer photos and reviews as social proof on your home page or product pages. Some brands even add UGC on the checkout page to reduce cart abandonment rates.
UGC can also be used in the form of reviews in marketing emails. This is a great way to strengthen your email marketing efforts with social proof and entice more people to buy your products.
UGC Platforms Help Your Social Media Efforts.
UGC platforms are a great way to find and collaborate with content creators for social media. These creators can generate engaging content for your brand that can be shared on various social media channels.
Brands often repost photos and videos created by their customers to diversify their social feeds. This helps them keep things fresh while creating a better sense of trust with their target audience because seeing other consumers vouching for the brand can give them the confidence to try their products.
For example, Modcloth posts UGC on its Instagram page to show how its clothes look on actual people rather than studio models.
You can get even more out of user-generated content by leveraging it in your paid advertising efforts. Instead of having to spend thousands of dollars on producing your own ad creative, repurpose UGC photos, reviews, and videos into compelling ads that drive purchases.
What to Look For in a Top User-Generated Platform?
When selecting a top User-Generated Content (UGC) platform, there are several critical factors you should consider to ensure it aligns with your brand’s needs and goals. Here’s what to look for:
1. Content Discovery and Curation Tools
Look for platforms that offer advanced content discovery features, such as AI-driven search capabilities. This will help you efficiently find and curate relevant user-generated content from various sources, including social media and review sites.
Platforms like Brandwatch and Skeepers excel in this area, providing smart AI search options that simplify the curation process. For instance, Brandwatch’s search engine allows brands to filter ambassadors based on engagement, location, language, and age demographics of followers, making it easier to find content that aligns with brand goals. Similarly, Skeepers' ability to filter creators by category and other criteria ensures that you find the most relevant content for your campaigns.
2. Integration Capabilities
Ensure that the UGC platform can seamlessly integrate with your existing marketing tools and e-commerce systems, such as Shopify, Magento, or Salesforce. This integration is crucial for streamlining your content management and enhancing your marketing efforts.
Platforms like LTK (formerly rewardStyle) and IndaHash are known for their robust integration capabilities. LTK, for example, integrates directly with Shopify and extends to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more, enabling seamless UGC campaigns across multiple platforms. IndaHash, on the other hand, offers seamless integrations with WooCommerce and Shopify Plus, positioning it as a versatile tool in UGC platforms.
3. Analytics and Reporting
Access to comprehensive analytics is vital for understanding the performance of your UGC campaigns. Look for platforms that provide insights into customer behavior, engagement rates, and conversion metrics. This data will help you refine your strategies and improve ROI.
Creator.co and VN Secure are excellent examples, offering detailed reporting tools. Creator.co's analytics dashboard provides visual data for impressions, audience demographics, and engagement rates, while VN Secure uses AI-powered technology to track and report on risky content, ensuring that your campaigns stay on track.
4. User Rights Management
Check if the platform includes features that facilitate the easy request for media rights from content creators. Compliance with legal standards, such as GDPR, is essential to avoid potential issues related to content usage.
Skeepers provides a streamlined approach to this, managing the legal side of UGC campaigns, including licensing, ensuring compliance, and offering long-term peace of mind. With a decade-long license agreement for UGC, brands can confidently use content without worrying about legal complications.
5. Customer Support
Robust customer support is crucial for navigating any challenges you may encounter while using the platform. Look for providers that offer comprehensive assistance, including live chat and dedicated account management, to help you optimize your UGC campaigns.
Creator.co shines in this area, providing a selection of expert account managers who can guide you through the UGC marketing process. Whether you need help managing 95 creators, as Hex did, or running giveaways with UGC creators, Creator.co offers the support needed for successful campaigns.
6. Ease of Use
A user-friendly interface can significantly reduce the learning curve and enhance your overall experience. Choose a platform that is intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing you to focus on your marketing efforts rather than struggling with the technology.
Birdeye and LTK are examples of platforms with high ease-of-use ratings. Birdeye, with its simple yet powerful social tools, allows businesses to grow without the complexity often associated with comprehensive UGC platforms. LTK’s intuitive design, praised by small business owners, makes it easy to search for and connect with content creators, simplifying the UGC process.
7. Cost and ROI
Evaluate the pricing structures of different platforms and consider your budget. Some platforms may offer premium features at a higher cost, so it’s essential to assess whether the potential ROI justifies the investment. Look for platforms that provide clear value for your marketing needs.
IndaHash offers versatile and effective tools for UGC campaigns, allowing brands to create targeted UGC campaigns that drive conversions through authentic user-created content. Similarly, Birdeye offers various pricing tiers, ensuring businesses of all sizes can access the UGC tools they need within their budget constraints, while still providing robust social media management features.
How Much Do Videos on UGC Platforms Cost?
The cost of videos on UGC platforms differs depending on the type, duration, platform, and the content of the video. Videos may also cost more if they're created by high-engagement creators or if they have higher production values.
A single UGC video typically costs about $150. If you pay for one UGC video every week for a month, you’re barely spending $800. That doesn't even hit the minimum range of regular video production costs. Not to mention the discounts that some creators might provide on bundles. And we’re only talking about video here, so you can imagine that UGC images will cost less.
That’s why it makes sense for many businesses to turn to UGC platforms to save costs on content production. These platforms help you collect user-generated content for your brand according to your budget. Not all of these platforms work the same so while some may charge you per piece, others may offer bundles and packages.
Some UGC platforms even work on a subscription basis, which would require you to pay a fixed monthly fee in exchange for access to free user-generated social media content. Platforms such as Yotpo offer this option, allowing you to collect review photos and videos from your customers starting at just $15 per month. An upgraded plan will even let you curate your UGC content into eye-catching visual galleries.
Yotpo platform
Conclusion
User-generated content can give your company the social proof it needs to gain credibility and attract more customers. The UGC platforms mentioned in this guide will help connect your brand with the right creators who can create authentic reviews for your products.
It's about time brands see the potential of such creators. In our Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report, we found that most brands prefer to work with nano-influencers and micro-influencers compared to their celebrity or mega-influencer counterparts.
So, use this guide to your advantage.
Find a UGC platform from the list above and test it out or request a demo to discover if it makes sense for your business and your marketing team. Then start gathering and promoting your UGC to ramp up conversions and engage your audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different types of UGC?
There are a few different types of UGC that you might consider using for your brand’s marketing:
- Photos
- Videos
- Reviews and testimonials
- Blog content
- Case studies
- Hashtag marketing campaigns
- Surveys
How do you get UGC?
If you’re looking to ramp up your brand’s UGC on your social channels, you might be wondering where to get UGC in the first place. There are a few ways you can do this.
First, pay attention to social media photos that your brand gets tagged in. This is a great place to start. You can also promote a hashtag and ask customers to use that hashtag when they share UGC so you can easily find it. Another way is to simply ask customers to leave a review or share photos/videos of your products/services.
Why is UGC effective?
UGC is effective because it gives consumers a realistic look into a brand’s product/service offerings. One study shows that 79% of people say that UGC helps them make purchasing decisions.
The bottom line is that user-generated content has a major impact on your conversion rates, and it should be a bit part of your online strategy.
How can you ask for UGC?
This is a great question. The best place to start is by putting a hashtag in your Instagram bio for people to use in order to be featured. You can also create flyers for your brick-and-mortar store with information about how to share your own product photos.
You can also ask for reviews alongside product photos so customers can view the product in real life while viewing the product page. Or you can start by offering some kind of incentive to customers who provide you with a photo, video, review, etc.
What is the best UGC platform?
It’s hard to answer this without knowing what your specific goals and objectives are. All ten that we outlined within this post are great UGC platforms to explore. The best thing to do is look through the available features within each platform to find out which is going to work best for your brand.
What is a user-generated content platform?
A user-generated content platform is a platform that helps brands collect content created by consumers. The content is either sourced through social media platforms or uploaded directly and can be utilized by brands through some sort of licensing agreement or payment provided to the creators.
What is a UGC on TikTok?
A UGC on TikTok refers to any video that’s created by users featuring your brand.
Comparing Social Media Marketing Agencies
These social media marketing agencies serve a wide range of industries, including Business Services, Advertising & Marketing, eCommerce, Consumer Products & Services, Healthcare, and more. Explore the sections below for a detailed overview of Social Media Marketing Agencies categorized by industry:
- Top Social Media Marketing Agencies for 2024
- Top Instagram Marketing Agencies for 2024
- Top Content Creation Agencies For 2024
- Top 10 Social Media Marketing Agencies for Small Businesses
- Top 11 Female-Owned Social Media Agencies
- 30 Best Influencer Marketing Agencies in the USA for 2024
- Top 15 Social Media Marketing Agencies
- Top 9 Social Media Marketing Agencies in Los Angeles
