Agencies Charge $450 per UGC Video Founders Could Get for $60
Early-stage founders and product teams are finding it difficult to effectively leverage User-Generated Content (UGC). The core pain lies in the transactional nature of current UGC programs, lacking ongoing relationships, clear briefs, and a sustainable strategy for creator sourcing, training, and long-term engagement. This results in underwhelming content and a feeling of missed opportunity.
SOURCES (60)
“okay so I guess the answer to this question is yes but I don’t understand how very big content creators use them then. like I can see people on tik tok with 300k that uses a lot of Pinterest pictures but I’m pretty sure that’s…”
“Hi HN, I'm Yuri, co-founder of Oriane. Like a lot of people here, I'd rather write code than do marketing. But at some point growth means working with creators, and that part is stubbornly manual. Before you pay someone to post about your product, you're supposed to actually watch their stuff and make sure it won't blow up in your face. Nobody does this well because watching 3 months of video across 20 accounts is nobody's idea of a good time.The annoying part is that the signal you care about i”
“I'd probably lean into the fact that you're a cheaper alternative to the bigger platforms. I'd also share it in filmmaking and content creator communities. Indie creators rarely have enough budget, so price can be a much stronger hook than another feature.”
“I've noticed that most advice for new creators is the same "be consistent," "find your niche," "keep posting." But I feel like the actual day to day struggles are rarely talked about. If you're still in the early stages of creating content (or you remember what it was like), what's been the biggest challenge for you? It could be anything coming up with ideas, staying consistent, editing, confidence, getting views, burnout, finding your audience, or somet”
“Hey ! I'm a former investment bank program director, barista-firing as an indie studio founder & producer. Every studio I went in (three so far) our creative leads have been recommanding movies, series, books, to provide common references. Moodboard, references and benchmarks are part of the creative process, and, welcome, and optional for people who don't care (there will always be and you need to accept it, artists need to carve their own path and they'll surprise you). When we”
“This is a little vague. What kind of content do you plan to make? What kind if help do you need exactly (aside from just “a bit of video editing”)? How will people who help you with editing, etc. be compensated? WILL they be compensated? No one is going to be ready to give their valuable time for something this non-specific.”
“So like the title says I’m looking for advice, I’m very new to the space and I’m already sick of what I see on YouTube, I’m sure if you’ve been in the industry a while or just have a browse on YouTube you’ll have seen a channel named “starter story” at first, I thought it was a cool channel, until I realised how much bs it actually is. I quickly found that out, that’s when in started to feel discouraged, before I let myself waste the ideas I’ve got that I think are genuinely useful to the public”
“Does one need to completely follow what the analytics of your channel state and create content according to them instead of just doing what you want to upload? Or am I doomed to fail by following the latter? submitted by /u/No_Tax898 [link] [comments]”
“That’s right, the problem right now if i want to scale and using ugc style the budget for that videos right now is high and you don’t know if it will be worth it or not! Small budget always in dangerous of losing it. That’s why I recommend to grow organic first, then paid ads, the niche is big and a lot of similar apps spending hundreds of thousands every day, so i’m agree with you”
“Who’s the target audience? And how are you able cater to various amount of creators from gaming to facless channels and media accounts ?”
“I run a merch agency (wedrip.in) — we help YouTube/Instagram creators launch their own merch, handle everything end-to-end, and they earn a revenue share on sales. I need an outreach agency or freelancer who can find creators and pitch this to them. But honestly I don't even know where to start looking. Google just gives me big platforms, Reddit feels scattered, and I have no idea which platforms actually have people who do this kind of work. Where do you guys find outreach specialists or ag”
“Looking for an Instagram Content Creator to Collaborate With Hi everyone! I'm looking for a content creator who's interested in collaborating on Instagram. The idea is to consistently create content together, experiment with ideas, and help each other grow. This is an unpaid collaboration-the goal is mutual growth, building our portfolios, and expanding our reach together. If you're passionate about creating content, consistent, and open to brainstorming ideas, feel free to comment o”
“how do you stop creators from just keeping one campaign active forever to exploit the flat rate lol?”
“Hey everyone, I’m curious how people here find affiliates for their digital products. I’ve built a Notion template (Focal Life OS) and I’m looking to build an affiliate network with creators who genuinely align with the product. I’m considering offering a 50% commission through Gumroad. For those who have successfully worked with affiliates: Where did you find your affiliates? Did you reach out directly to creators, use affiliate platforms, communities, or something else? What made someone a goo”
Hi all, if you are a content creator with experience doing brand deals (First off, congrats!). I want to know more about you and what you’ve learned so far. Comment or DM…
“Yep, influencer rates are usually the wrong bucket for paid UGC. For Meta, I’d rather get 8 rough videos from employees, customers, Fiverr, or Billo at a sane cost per video, then test hooks and age ranges fast. The catch is rights and briefs. If you don’t spell out usage, raw files, and claims, you’ll waste half the batch.”
“The brands which I work with have a good social presence, and pre-launch and post-launch marketing is mostly through organic and paid social. Paid ads, organic content, founder branding, collabs, UGC, and pop-ups are the key channels we go ahead with for our marketing and customer touchpoints. I want to know if the founders here are using other channels as well. What industry are you in, and what has been your best source of customers? submitted by /u/Kind-Smile-2109 [link] [co”
“The brands which I work with have a good social presence, and pre-launch and post-launch marketing is mostly through organic and paid social. Paid ads, organic content, founder branding, collabs, UGC, and pop-ups are the key channels we go ahead with for our marketing and customer touchpoints. I want to know if the founders here are using other channels as well. What industry are you in, and what has been your best source of customers? submitted by /u/Kind-Smile-2109 [link] [co”
“every time a brand deal lands in my inbox i go through the same five stages of grief. is this good? am i being lowballed? is $150 for 3 videos a joke or is that just tuesday? there's no glassdoor for creators so i started building one. i've been collecting real payouts from real creators. what you actually got paid, not some agency rate card that nobody has ever seen in the wild. sorted by platform and follower count so you can actually compare to people your size. if you've ever don”
“Looking to build group of people who like making gaming content. We literally just established our channels, so we're all starting from the ground up and looking to grow as a team. We're looking for creators who are 18+, have a PC or console, and are interested in recording gameplay, funny moments, challenge videos, or any other type of gaming content. We're open to playing pretty much any games, so don't worry if you don't play the same things all the time. The goal is to ha”
“oh...so it modifies the websites? which means I have to log into Instagram.com in his app, then some injected JS/CSS hides the relevant UI?”
“hi .. so how do guys actually create content consistently to the point of generating followers and eventually organic leads.. i feel burnout having made the app, created the brand and now trying to post consistently is driving me nuts submitted by /u/UleMseeNY [link] [comments]”
“I have had a lot of creators tell me people buy people and not the product but how do then create content to match that especially online. submitted by /u/LopsidedPenalty4044 [link] [comments]”
“Indian content creators pitch brands by DMing their follower count. That's it. No click data, no audience breakdown, nothing verifiable. Brands know this, so they either ghost mid-tier creators or lowball them. A creator with 80k followers and a genuinely engaged audience loses deals to someone with 200k ghost followers because they can't prove anything. I built Influpitch to fix this and to replace the 4–5 separate tools creators are currently paying for. What it does: Short links - eve”
“Over the last year, I’ve had a lot of conversations with founders about content. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of people think content “doesn’t work.” Then I ask where they’ve been posting. A surprising number of people say Reddit. Reddit is great for research. It’s great for talking to enthusiasts and understanding how people think. But if you’re selling a product to middle-aged women, for example, Reddit is probably one of the last places they’re going to discover you or buy from you. T”
“Over the last year, I’ve had a lot of conversations with founders about content. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of people think content “doesn’t work.” Then I ask where they’ve been posting. A surprising number of people say Reddit. Reddit is great for research. It’s great for talking to enthusiasts and understanding how people think. But if you’re selling a product to middle-aged women, for example, Reddit is probably one of the last places they’re going to discover you or buy from you. T”
“Looking for connections to video creators for my ads. The genre would be targeting home sellers submitted by /u/Direct_Advertising51 [link] [comments]”
“Hello fellow indie devs! I wanted to ask if anyone has had success reaching out to X or Instagram influencers whose accounts focus on covering indie games. Some of these accounts even have Google Forms where you can submit your game for extra exposure. They're surprisingly hard to find, so to make this thread useful, here are a few I've come across: Indie Game Hub (YouTube) Vibe Your Games (X) Indie Games Developer (X) Do you know of any others worth contacting around an announcement or”
“I'm validating an idea, basically trying to fix the mess of tracking brand deals, figuring out what to charge, and sending a media kit that doesn't look like it was made in Canva in 2019. Looking for creators (any size, any platform; YouTube, TikTok, newsletter, whatever) who've done brand deals before, even just one or two. 10-question survey, genuinely under 5 minutes, no email required!! Not selling anything . Just trying to figure out if this is a real problem or just my problem.”
“Running premium streetwear brand, looking for UGC creators/editors that get travel/lifestyle content. dm rates + past work pls”
“You need both. The secret sauce is strong creative direction paired with strong branding. This flows downward into marketing decisions and content. The content has to always speak to your target audience, which is something that would be established/researched during the branding phase, and used to hone in creative direction. If you have good enough insight, you'll be more accurate with this messaging. The result is that those people will feel like the brand/content speaks to them. You want”
“I have a question for creators, especially those who publish their models on MakerWorld. How do some models—sometimes not even particularly interesting ones—manage to get over 1,000 saves, prints, and likes within just 24 hours? Is there something I don’t know? Is there some trick to getting more visibility for a 3D model? Come on, tell me the secret I’m missing! 😄 submitted by /u/studio_trozzole [link] [comments]”
“We've never utilized Paid UGC. We've always relied on our customers to send pics and video. Our product can be difficult to photograph, however, so the large majority of the pics we receive, we can't use. We have also noticed that too many people use filters when taking pics, which changes the true color of our products. Again, we can't use those pics. Its tough. We've tried contests. Doesn't work. People really don't care or don't follow directions. I certainly w”
“There are so many degrees of UGC. I agree the fake testimonial ones can come across scammy. But for instance, I am still developing our first product- a premium sling bag. It’s very premium and high quality. I am now thinking through a photo shoot (models, stylist, location) or UCG content. I just want good lifestyle images with my product. For model shoots, you also tend to have them be a bit aspirational. I think in this case, UGC is absolutely fine. It’s a much quicker and cost effective way”
“Do you know what Service he used to get commissioned content creators? Like one business for all of them or posting a job listing. I would love to find a commission only affiliate program.”
“I help run marketing for a couple of Shopify stores and have been thinking a lot about our posted content. Everyone talks about “authenticity,” but most of the UGC we are using is scripted, paid-for, and anything but real. When did we stop trying to get actual customer content? Is it just too hard now? Curious how other Shopify business owners think about this. Are paid UGC creators just the new influencers? Or is there still a way to build your brand with real customer stories with videos or im”
“So I have an app, and I heard you can like get a small content creator to post about it for free as like a collaboration. Is this true? If it is how do you like, go about doing it? Should you contact them in the native messaging of the social media app or should you email them? What's the follower count that's best for this, 1k - 5k? submitted by /u/Aromatic_Animator_20 [link] [comments]”
“I'm curious how you guys feel about the new content creators. I tend to watch stuff that has a good story and visuals. Personally, I don't mind content that fall into that bucket, but seems like new content creators have videos that feel like a cobbled together mess. The story seems unnatural and the visuals do not correspond with the story they are telling. submitted by /u/FireSkyLikeFly [link] [comments]”
“I think there are a vast number of gaming creators who enter the niche thinking they will achieve success from playing a video game and simply uploading their playthrough. They think it's easy and that this strategy will work. Then they wonder why nobody is watching their video. Then you have gaming creators who understand the platform, understand that gaming footage needs to be packaged correctly via critique, essays, challenge content, entertainment, storytelling, retrospectives, lore and”
“the raw footage part is the one most people give away without thinking. hand over the project files and they can recut it forever across every channel and you never see another cent. i always tell people to price usage as its own line, separate from the rate, so it's a conscious yes instead of a default giveaway. the brands who treat it as an afterthought are usually the ones who end up squeezing the most out of it.”
“It’s the furthest thing from passive income. You’ll hear from many in this comment section that aren’t monetized. Our channel is monetized but took about 6 months to get there. Even today with about 3.5k subscribers, our expenses still out way our Adsense. You really have to love what you’re doing if you want to pursue this. It’s absolutely a grind.”
“I'd ask to see performance data, not just a portfolio. Plenty of UGC looks good, but I'd rather see examples of content that actually improved engagement, CTR, or conversions than polished videos with no business results.”
“Make sure if you get the raw files or only the final cuts and how the usage works, do you own the final product or are you only licensing it? If they are running paid for you check what accounts/users they are using to post. If they don't have good setup it can harm your brand more than it can help”
“We're an agency building video ads for e-commerce brands for the past one year - using traditional node based workflows. As we scaled our customer base, we realised that: 1. to come up with creative ideas for an average Joe is very difficult 2. to create a video ad by first generating the storyboard, and then animating each of these images is super super painful and time consuming - because text/image to video doesn't always produce what you have in mind creatively (and the more”
“Hi for some context I manage a really big creator with millions of followers she's in the fashion scene and generates over 150 million views a month across her socials ( average over 500k views per reel) and over 270k USD in LTK sales per month on average. I am just not able to bring her in any collabs I have tried all the platforms and what not nothing is sticking - she gets tons of inbound but nothing matches her rates and a lot of the inbound is cheap brands trying to get content for free”
“completely agree on the importance of usage rights. it's crazy how some brands treat perpetual usage like it's an afterthought. when a brand asks for raw footage, it's like asking for the secret sauce to your creative process. creators should always weigh the long-term value of their content and not undersell it just to get a foot in the door. better to set boundaries early on than regret it when you see your work plastered everywhere for free.”
“So im in a position where im collabing with people who are in it just for the experience, which was established in the beginning. So im the only one who would be earning anything. But, some of them understandably would want access to view the content since they participated. What is the safest way to share it with them, while also safeguarding the content from being stolen if they were to choose to do so, with content i have not posted yet? I would like to give them something, but at the same ti”
“Some creators started with just a phone and an external Bluetooth microphone. They only bought cameras and other equipment after their channels became successful.”
“We’re looking for US-based UGC creators to film short, natural videos for Scrolly, a physical device that helps people block distracting apps and reduce doomscrolling. How Scrolly works: You tap Scrolly to block apps like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit. You leave the device in a remote spot and enjoy distraction-free time. We would like to initially create 2-3 videos for a test with each creator and then scale it into long-term partnerships, with 3-5 videos delivered every month. For 50%”
“I’ve recently started an eFootball YouTube channel focused on Shorts and longform content. I’m looking to connect with other creators in the eFootball niche. Whether you’re just starting out or already have an established channel, it’d be great to share ideas, give honest feedback on videos, discuss YouTube strategies, and maybe even collaborate. I’m not looking for sub4sub or anything like that just genuine creators who want to improve together. If you’re interested, feel free to comment or sen”
“Most brands seem to treat UGC as ad creative: get a customer-style video, test it on Meta, move on. But I’m wondering whether its bigger job is actually after the click. A polished product page can explain the offer, but a real photo, review, or customer video can answer the quieter questions: does it look like that in normal lighting, is the size accurate, does it hold up, would someone like me be happy with it? The issue is that fake-looking “UGC” can do the opposite. Once it feels like an act”