There isn’t one reliable place to find UGC creators, so we recruit from several channels at the same time.
Reddit has communities for UGC creators, and Facebook has groups where creators look for brand work. You can also find people through brands already running this model. Identify their creator accounts, see who is doing good work, and reach out to the people who fit your audience.
We’ve also posted jobs on LinkedIn and boosted them. College students looking to earn an extra buck can be a good fit, especially when they match the target group you’re trying to reach. The source matters less than whether the person can speak naturally to the audience and deliver videos consistently.
We send applicants to a form. A Google Form is enough. Ask for their name, portfolio, and a sample video. If they’ve created UGC for another brand, ask them to share the account. Most experienced applicants will have something they can show you.
If you haven’t seen this kind of account before, this public Instagram profile shows how a UGC creator presents their work. Look through the comments on each post and you’ll find more aspiring creators.
The samples help you judge how comfortable they are in front of the camera, how they speak, and whether their videos hold attention. An existing brand account also shows what they look like when they have to follow a brief rather than make content entirely on their own terms.
The application only gets someone into the process. We still use a five-day paid trial to see how they perform for our brand. During that period, look at the videos they shoot, how they respond to feedback, whether they post on time, and whether they can keep up with the frequency.
Keep recruiting while trials are running. A lot of people like the idea of making UGC, then discover that daily posting is difficult. Some applicants will look good on paper and fall off once the work becomes repetitive. A running bank of potential creators lets you move on quickly when someone isn’t a fit, without lowering the bar or leaving an account inactive.
Once you have a good first cohort, ask them for referrals. Pay the referral fee after the new creator completes the agreed trial or first month, so the incentive rewards a working hire rather than an introduction.