I’m starting this series of growth playbooks with UGC. You’ll hear people call it tech UGC, canvas UGC, or creator UGC. The names vary, but the operating model is broadly the same.
You find creators who can speak to your target audience, give them scripts, and pay them to produce videos for your product. Each creator sets up dedicated accounts for this content across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, depending on the market. For our India setup, we leave out TikTok.
A common schedule is one video a day. The creator posts the same video across the relevant platforms for additional reach. Instagram tends to be the main platform for many brands, with TikTok offering similar reach where it is available. YouTube and Facebook give the same piece of content more impressions without requiring another shoot.
Keep the publishing routine boring. Use a consistent time, let creators batch-shoot for weekends or planned time off, and ask them to flag gaps before an account goes quiet.
The payment usually has two parts. The fixed retainer gives the creator a minimum amount they can rely on. The variable component rewards individual videos when they cross agreed view milestones. Brands can choose a higher fixed amount with no incentive, only variable pay, or a mix of both. We prefer a mix because it gives the creator a safety net and still gives them a reason to improve the work.
If you’re a growth head, CMO, or founder reading this, you should probably own the scripting process at the start. It is the most important part of making this channel work. Test different hooks across creators, study which videos get views, and write more versions of the winners. The creator’s job is to deliver the script well and post consistently. Your job is to keep the experiments moving.
Running UGC needs a steady creator pipeline, a clear pay structure, a bank of scripts, fast feedback, and a way to track what the content is doing. Someone looking good on camera is only one part of it. The following notes cover each part of the system.