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Companies have the option of using UGC marketing on social media and other channels. Marketing with user-generated content (UGC) creates a change from traditional advertising and is associated with a high level of trust on the part of users. The reason for the trust: With UGC, users - or rather, professional UGC creators - create the advertising, and it is placed on their channels. From users for users: That creates trust.
Brands from e-commerce in particular benefit from UGC marketing. They use UGC marketing to advertise their products in an authentic way and thus convince parts of their target group that cannot be convinced by classic advertising. But for this, companies need the UGC creators.
UGC creat ors are either influencers or professional content creators who create trusted content for social media (Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, etc.) to promote. Companies can use UGC creator platforms, among others, to find the right creators for their own marketing goals. We compare these platforms and our in-house UGC creator base below.
What is a UGC platform?
A UGC platform brings creators and advertisers together. If a company wants to do user-generated content marketing, it can search for a suitable content creator on a UGC platform. Creators create videos and posts in other formats. Through the UGC content, they promote the product.
Why do you need UGC?
Given the fact that creators, and not the company itself, communicate with the target group, UGC ads create an authentic impression. Users don't see a creator as a brand looking to find new customers, but as one of them recommending a product.
User trust in an influencer or professional content creator on social media tends to be high and holds out the prospect of advertising with a high chance of conversion. In addition, user-generated content creates a change from a company's other marketing and leads to the target group being confronted with the brand in more diverse ways.
Which companies use UGC?
The benefits of UGC marketing are far-reaching, which is why user-generated content should generally be included in the marketing mix by any company that has private customers in its target group.
Private customers make their purchasing decisions based, among other things, on the recommendations of influencers and UGC content creators. Accordingly, UGC marketing is primarily a type of B2C marketing.
In practice, it has been shown that e-commerce brands in particular benefit from user-generated content. This is because many e-commerce customers are influenced by UGC content when deciding for or against a product.
How to find UGC-Creator?
Finding the right content creator for your own product line and brand proves to be challenging. On the one hand, this is time-consuming, and on the other, it is difficult to assess the quality of the content creators.
Companies that don't want to take any risks in their search for professional user-generated content are therefore looking to UGC creator platforms. In this article, we compare five UGC platforms and also present our UGC Creator Base as a high-quality alternative.
Comparison of platforms for user-generated content (UGC)
All of the UGC platforms presented below charge a commission for the referral of influencers and creators. This is either integrated into the price of the platform or charged separately. Either way, the prices for commissioning an influencer or UGC creator on a platform are generally higher than commissioning content creators independently.
We will not go into the prices below, but instead provide a basic overview of the possibilities and processes of collaboration on the respective platform.
#1: Upfluence: UGC on social media and beyond.
Upfluence offers not only for social media user generated content and UGC creator, but in addition for affiliate marketing on various websites. Through the contact form, any brand can introduce themselves and inquire with the platform.
The selection includes more than seven million UGC creators. They can be filtered by demographic characteristics to find the right content creator for one's own brand. However, communication with content creators is limited to the platform's channels.
#2: To UGC content in 7 days with Speekly
Speekly, as a platform for UGC content, offers a transparent collaboration process. Each brand can create an order within 5 minutes and then receives applications from content creators. After selecting the appropriate content creator, customers communicate with him via a chat on the platform.
With this process, Speekly gives an optimal example of the sometimes complicated cooperation with content creators via a platform. There is no room to choose your own communication channel, and the fact that you can only choose content creators who apply for the job is also critical.
#3: Versatile UGC content with trend
Trend has a network of around 3,700 creators who create UGC content in a wide variety of formats. For example, testimonial videos, action videos and lifestyle shots featuring a brand's products are all possible. The content creators create the content commissioned by the customer and customize it if necessary.
The customization of the content is positive and makes it possible to optimally adapt the content to the requirements of the target group. However, even with Trend, communication with the UGC creators is limited and only possible on the platform's channels.
#4: Creators Club with numerous features
At Creators Club, customers create a brief for which they can use visual tools. The simplified brief is a positive feature of the UGC platform. Content creators apply to the brief. Beforehand, a brand can restrict which creators can apply and which cannot. The selected creators are briefed and, if required, sent the products for creating the UGC content. They then create the content.
The brand can manage the content it receives in a central Creators Club library and use it as it wishes on all marketing channels (its own website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, etc.). Even though Creators Club offers various functions related to user-generated content, the limited communication options with the creators must also be rated negatively here.
#5: nano with free change loops
nano offers free change loops on all Creatorn-created content (videos, photos, and more), allowing brands to customize content to their own audience. That's positive.
However, a personal contact is not part of the standard offering and is only provided in the higher-priced UGC service packages. This once again demonstrates the lack of communication in UGC marketing among platform operators. Otherwise, nano offers a process similar to the other providers when commissioning content creators: Create a briefing, select a creator and have the content created.
Alternative to UGC-Platform: Our UGC-Creator-Base
The reason why we present our UGC Creator Base as an alternative to UGC platforms are the specific disadvantages of the platforms. These disadvantages should not be left out of the comparison. We at Twist & Schirm, as specialists for Paid Ads and Online Marketing, provide our UGC-Creator-Base 100% commission-free and enable advertisers to have a direct exchange with content creators, which has a positive impact on the quality of UGC campaigns.
Disadvantages of working with UGC platforms
Communication with content creator only possible via the platform operator's website
Restrictions on the choice of channels and dates for talks with UGC creators
Costs for the placement of UGC-Creatorn
Companies are always bound to a UGC platform when using it. As is generally the case for platforms, communication always takes place via the platform as the mediating instance. Customers select their influencer or content creator for social media via the platform and can generally only communicate with them via the platform. Communication tied to the platform restricts flexibility in collaboration and often has a poor impact on the quality of collaboration.
Another major disadvantage of UGC creator platforms is that a commission must be paid to the platform for the selected influencers and content creators. This commission increases the investment costs in UGC marketing and reduces the ROI (return on investment). Companies not only pay for the creation of user-generated content and for the placement of UGC campaigns on social media, but also have to pay the platform for the placement of the influencers or UGC creators.
Advantages of the UGC-Creator-Base at Twist & Schirm
Direct contact with content creators
No agency fee to us and mostly lower price for the services of the influencers or UGC creator than with UGC platforms
Wide range of influencers and content creators
In our UGC creator base, we have a large amount of influencers and creators, all of whom are vetted by us and with whom we and our clients have been working successfully for years. Because we demand larger quantities of UGC from influencers and creators than a single brand could, we receive their services at lower prices than is typical in the market.
To all our customers we pass on the discounts and benefits we receive from the UGC creators. In addition, we do not charge a referral commission. How we can afford to do this? We are experts in UGC campaigns on social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) and we fund our services by getting paid for the UGC campaigns we receive from our clients.
So if you want to find UGC creator easily and at fair conditions, Twist & Schirm is the right place for you. Since we finance ourselves through paid ads in social media as well as our other online marketing services, we have no need to limit our clients' and content creators' communication to our website or channels. Thus, you can communicate with the creators found in our UGC Creator Base on your channels as you wish.
The freedoms as well as the flexibility in communication lead to the fact that you can communicate your brand, its characteristics as well as your needs as a customer in detail to the creators. This has a positive impact on your UGC campaigns on social media, making them all the more authentic and far more likely to convert.
Easily find the ideal content creator via our Creator Base
A look at the various UGC creator platforms has shown that they offer a wide range of content creators. Customers are free to choose, but must accept restrictions on communication and collaboration with the creators. Furthermore, the UGC platform charges a commission for referring the influencers or content creators.
Given the crucial drawbacks of UGC platforms that negatively impact the profitability of UGC ads on social media, we recommend clients to familiarize themselves with our offer in the UGC Creator Base.
We offer access to a large pool of professional influencers and content creators who create authentic content for various brands. We do not charge a commission for the placement of creators, but finance our services by being paid by companies for the placement of paid ads.
Have you become curious? Then feel free to get more information on our UGC agency website.
