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Influencer rates are rising, brands are seeking communities, and people\u2014particularly Gen Z\u2014are growing wary of influencers\u2019 promoted products.<\/p>\n
In response, some marketers\u2014particularly those in the CPG and retail space\u2014are banking on user-generated content (UGC) to reach social audiences, encouraging people without huge followings to post about products in what may appear to be more authentic than influencer posts while also likely saving money on rates.<\/p>\n
Some in the space said UGC has the power to replace big-budget influencer deals, while others argued it\u2019s more of a supplement to engage audiences at all levels.<\/p>\n
UGC can have different meanings and can take different forms; sometimes, it just involves a brand reposting content from a user who\u2019s tagged them.<\/p>\n
Some companies have recently taken steps to formalize it a bit more. Isha Patel is the CEO and co-founder of Kale, a platform that pays users in exchange for social posts about products. The amount paid out is based on an algorithm that considers things like how much engagement the post gets in the first 24 hours\u201348 hours, and the \u201cquality and relevance of the audience,\u201d Patel said. She told us that she believes UGC has \u201calready overtaken influencer [marketing]\u201d in popularity given the number of UGC creators she sees post on a daily basis. Patel confirmed that Kale has accrued more than 50,000 UGC creators on its platform since starting in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of discourse on the internet around, \u2018Everyone wants to be an influencer. Everyone wants free products,\u2019\u201d Patel said. \u201cReally, what we found is there is a certain class of brands that people really love and they want to participate with them. They want to codesign and co-innovate, get feedback; they want to participate in the narrative of that brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patel said people who don\u2019t want to quit their job to make content for a living but are still interested in posting about a brand and making money on the side are \u201coften overlooked.\u201d While Kale \u201chas vetting in place to make sure it is safe and inclusive,\u201d she said there are no follower minimums given that anyone can go viral on platforms like TikTok.<\/p>\n
In one instance, it worked with Free People to promote its clothing collab with the Amazon Prime show Daisy Jones & The Six<\/em>, encouraging creators to post outfits inspired by the show as part of a social media challenge, Patel said.<\/p>\n The email newsletter guaranteed to bring you the latest stories shaping the marketing and advertising world, like only the Brew can.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Patel said the ethos of Kale is, \u201cInstead of paying one big influencer tens of thousands of dollars, how about you take that money and spread it among your long tail of customer enthusiasts?\u201d<\/p>\n TikTok debuted a feature earlier this year that similarly rewards users for creating posts for brands: Its \u201cCreative Challenge\u201d lets users who meet certain criteria \u201csubmit video ads to brand challenges.\u201d These videos don\u2019t show up on a creator\u2019s profile but instead run as in-feed ads, and users can earn money based on the ad\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n But does quantity always outweigh a single high-quality partnership? While she\u2019s seen more interest in UGC, Therese Little, head of sales, Americas, at influencer marketing platform Traackr, told us UGC is more of an addition to the traditional influencer marketing mix, rather than a replacement.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think it\u2019s more concretely in the fold of every robust influencer strategy now, where it used to be sometimes sitting in a different area of the organization or not thought of in the same way,\u201d Little said.<\/p>\n However, she said the same way there\u2019s space for nanoinfluencers and UGC creators, there\u2019s space for mid-tier influencers and celebrity partnerships. \u201cIt\u2019s just an extension of how we think about influencer and creator partnerships and the imperative to make those across tiers of individuals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But the potential benefits of UGC can come at the expense of creative control, Chris Jacks, director of growth strategy at influencer marketing agency HireInfluence, told us.<\/p>\n \u201cThe benefit of contracting an influencer is you can be very clear with what the brand brief and posting guidelines are, and there\u2019s the expectation that those are followed,\u201d Jacks said, while with UGC, there can be \u201cless control over what that end product looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n Little agreed, adding that influencer contracts often have stricter vetting around things like values and aesthetics. However, she said those fears are a \u201cnecessary evil\u201d for brands taking a multifaceted approach to creator and influencer marketing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t not think about UGC,\u201d Little said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to happen whether you\u2019re thinking about it or not. So are you going to be an active participant, or are you going to hide from it?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nGet marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
Quantity versus quality<\/strong><\/h2>\n