UGC isn't the best form of marketing

UGC is not the most effective form of advertising on social media. 

I know that’s hard to hear as a UGC creator, but working on the brand side of things I’ve found this to be true. As a SMM I see the ads running— there are 3x as many statics and 2x as many GIFs compared to UGC videos.

To be honest, I didn’t think much of it until I had an agency ask my rate for the following package:

• 1x Hero Video: ~30 second video that tells us everything we need to know about the product. Include music in the background and/or voiceover to describe the product and show it in use.

• 1x Testimonial Video ~30 second video that has footage of content creator talking to camera. Can be intercut with footage from the hero of the product in use, but should feel very influencer-esque.

• 3x GIFs: Images with Instagram-native text and stickers included that make it a video

• 3x Static: Images with Instagram-native text and no movement

• 3x Stills: Raw images to be used as is

At first, I was a little overwhelmed by the deliverables, but then I realized this would be a really easy way to diversify my offer and upsell without adding much to my workload.

As long as you take great B Roll & a few photos while filming, you can upsell these to double your usual rate. If you read my newsletter last week, you know I added this as a Q4 bundle. But I’m going in-depth about it here because I think these are great add-ons you can offer all year.

Now to be clear, this type of package is made with Meta in mind. This means changing your mindset on what the content should look like, and understanding the importance of Instagram native features on the content.

So let’s get into it and breakdown each deliverable….

Hero Video

Think organic content & aesthetic IG vibes, but really focusing on product features. These videos are often posted to the brand’s social media page or more importantly, a warm audience. This means they’ve already seen other content telling them why they need the product (awareness). Now you’re telling them how it works and provide more product information (consideration).

Here’s an example (I’m not trying to make you go to my IG on you all, this is the only way I can imbed an example 😅):

gracecreatively

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This is still UGC, but I will say that brands asking for this will expect high-quality footage, good lighting, smooth camera movement, etc. I’m going to keep repeating it throughout—pacing is important. A simple stop motion also falls under this category. The easiest way to think of a Hero video is B Roll good enough to be A Roll.

Testimonial Video

As UGC creators we are all probably professionals at testimonials, so I’m not going to go in-depth here. As it mentions above, this should be a mix of face to camera & B Roll from the Hero video. This should feel natural and more organic than ads. For Meta, don’t go overboard with transitions or gimmicks. You still want to keep the audience attention, but it needs to flow and have good pacing.

GIFs

Don’t overthink these! They can be a static with text & sticker animation or one of your clips in a loop. The key here is to keep it simple, here are a couple examples:

How to create GIFs:

1. Easy way: just put a photo or screenshot from a video into IG story and add text + animated stickers. Just remember when taking these photos they should be shot in 9:16 but with framing in mind so it can be cut down to 4:5

2. A little more work: you can put a video or photo into Capcut to make a GIF. 1.) add stickers & animate the text 2.) loop it by copying the video and then reversing the duplicate clip (Boomerangs might be cringe to Gen Z but they still work on us millennials 🤣) 3.) mini stop motion. add clip without the product and second clip product appears.

If you’re unsure what text overlay to add, go to your creative brief and look for repeat phrases. This is also another reason to study copywriting as a UGC creator, especially if you eventually want to become a creative strategist. If you weren’t provided a brief, go to their homepage and see what the above fold copy is. For example:

The point of the GIF isn’t to post on the brand’s socials (although some do), it’s used for ad placement in IG stories and main feed. It’s really important to have this in 9:16 but still useable in 4:5 without changing anything. Some brands set up their ad sets to allow meta to place the ad wherever it performs best. This means the same 9:16 ad might show up in a story or IG feed automatically cropping it to 4:5.

Static

A static ad is an image with text. Again, don’t overthink this—it should still have UGC vibes. The brand has graphic designers for the more complicated statics. This is basically product photography with IG native text overlay. Here’s an example:

The text overlay should be simple white with black writing or color match the text to their branding. You can color match on CapCut or even IG by adding an image overlay from from the brand Ike this:

Stills/UGC photos

When I market this I make sure to emphasize that this is NOT product photography. This should be natural photos of the product in use or holding the product. Think before & after shots, applying product, etc.

When to pitch or upsell

These particular media forms work best for brands advertising on Meta. It’s important to ask what platforms your content will be posted on,so that you know which of the above to pitch or take time making.

Starting the conversation….

Aren’t all of these UGC?

I know there might be some who would argue all of these media forms are basically UGC and I can see that argument. In reality, it doesn’t matter what we call it—what matters is that we expand our offer as creators. And if you want to become a creative strategist, you’ll need to know how all of these media forms are utilized.

Let me know what you think in the comments or on social media! Make sure to tag me.

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