Getting UGC organically means getting your customers, users or community to create content about your brand without having to hire a creator specifically to produce it.
Reviews, photos, videos of people using the product, unboxings, testimonials or social media posts can become a very valuable source of content for a brand.
But organic UGC doesn't always appear on its own. You often need to make it easier, give people an incentive or simply remind your customers that they can share their experience.
In this guide we'll look at 8 strategies you can use to get more user-generated content.
What is organic UGC?
Organic UGC is content about a brand created by its customers, users or community without the company having hired that person specifically to produce it.
It can appear spontaneously, for example when someone posts a story using a product, or come about after the brand encourages its customers to share their experience.
Some examples:
Product or service reviews.
Photos of people using a product.
Videos and Reels.
Unboxings.
Testimonials.
Social media comments.
Posts mentioning the brand.
Photos or videos taken at an event.
If you want to dig deeper into the concept and its different formats, read our guide on what UGC is.
It's important to distinguish this content from UGC created professionally for a brand. In that case, a UGC Creator receives a brief and creates specific pieces in exchange for an agreed fee.
Both models can be part of a content strategy, but they meet different needs.
Before asking your customers for UGC
Before you start asking for content, there are three things you should be clear about.
Make it easy to take part
The more steps someone has to complete, the less likely they are to take part.
Explain simply what kind of content you're looking for, where they should post it and how they can get it to you.
If you want them to use a particular mention or hashtag, say so clearly.
You can also offer a few ideas as inspiration, without turning them into a rigid script that makes all the content look the same.
Give people a reason to take part
You don't always need to offer money or a prize.
Some customers may want to share an experience simply because they're happy with the product, want to recommend it or enjoy interacting with the brand.
You can also boost participation by offering visibility, recognition, discounts, gifts, early access or entry into a competition.
Bear in mind that if you hand out products, discounts or prizes, the strategy is no longer completely free, even if you're not paying directly for the content to be created.
Decide how you'll be able to use the content
A customer posting a photo or video related to your brand doesn't automatically mean you can reuse it in any context.
If you want to share it on your own channels, add it to your website or use it in advertising, make sure you ask for the relevant permissions and explain clearly how you want to use it.
This is especially important when the content will be part of paid advertising campaigns.
Now let's look at different ways to generate more UGC around your brand.
1. Ask customers for content after they buy
One of the best moments to ask for UGC is after someone has received and tried your product or service.
Instead of just asking for a rating, you can invite them to share their experience with:
A photo.
A review.
A short video.
An unboxing.
An Instagram story.
A demo of them using the product.
The request should be specific and simple.
For example, instead of:
“Share some content about your purchase.”
you could use:
“Have you tried your order yet? We'd love to see it. Upload a photo or video of you using it and tag us so we can find it.”
You can also include a few ideas about what to film, to reduce the effort needed to create the content.
Timing matters too. Ask too early and the customer may not have used the product yet. Wait too long and the experience probably won't be as fresh.
Adapt the timing to the type of product or service you sell.
2. Make reviews easy with emails, messages and QR codes
Many people are happy to leave a review but simply forget or don't know where to do it.
So reducing friction can help you get more content.
After a purchase you can send an email or message asking for a review, with a direct link to where you want to collect it.
If you have a physical location, you can also use QR codes in strategic spots to make the process easier.
For example, you can place them:
On the packaging.
On a card inside the order.
On the receipt or invoice.
On a table or counter.
On materials handed out after a service.
On a sign inside the venue.
The code can take the customer straight to where you want them to leave their opinion or share their experience.
Don't necessarily limit yourself to asking for a score. Depending on your business, you can also encourage customers to add a photo or briefly explain how they've used the product.
3. Activate your community on social media
If you already have a community around your brand, make the most of it.
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and other places where you interact with customers can help you spark conversations and content naturally.
You can ask questions like:
What's your favourite product?
How do you use this product?
What was the first thing you bought from us?
Show us how you use it in your day-to-day.
You can also use Stories, comments, polls or dedicated posts to invite your community to take part.
If you want to receive photos or videos, say so explicitly and explain how they should mention the brand so you can find the content.
You can create a specific hashtag, although a direct mention of the brand's account usually makes tracking easier.
What matters is not only showing up when you need content. An active community is built by interacting regularly with the people who follow and buy from the brand.
4. Run competitions and challenges
Competitions can give your customers an extra reason to create content.
The mechanics can be very simple:
Define what content you want them to create.
Explain how they should post or send it.
Set out the conditions clearly.
Offer a prize related to your brand.
Decide how the winner will be chosen.
For example, a food brand could ask customers to share a recipe using one of its products.
A fashion brand could ask for different ways to style a garment.
A travel company could ask for photos or videos of its customers' experiences.
The aim is to find mechanics that make sense for the product and are simple enough that people want to take part.
Avoid asking for too much in return for a small incentive. Creating a video takes a lot more effort than answering a question or posting a photo.
You should also check the rules and requirements that apply to competitions and promotions on the channels and in the markets where you run them.
5. Give your customers' content visibility
One way to encourage UGC is to show that your brand genuinely pays attention to the content its community posts.
You can create recurring spaces where you share your customers' photos, videos or stories.
For example:
A weekly feature in Stories.
Posts spotlighting customers.
A UGC gallery on your website.
A section in your newsletter.
Round-ups of the best content of the month.
Customer stories or experiences.
When people see other customers featured on a brand's channels, they may feel more motivated to take part too.
This strategy also turns UGC into more than a one-off source of posts: it builds it into the brand's community.
Remember to ask for permission before reusing content when needed and to credit the creator where appropriate.
6. Make the most of events and in-person experiences
Events can be a good opportunity to generate content because they bring together people who are already interacting with your brand.
You don't have to just wait for attendees to post spontaneously. You can design the experience so that creating and sharing content is easy.
For example:
Set up eye-catching spots where people want to take photos.
Clearly display the account they should mention.
Create a specific hashtag for the event.
Invite attendees to share particular moments.
Organise small interactive activities.
Record voluntary testimonials during the event.
You can also prepare a few simple questions to gather testimonials:
What did you enjoy most?
Why did you decide to come?
What would you highlight about your experience?
Would you recommend this experience to someone else?
The key is to make content easy to create without making the experience feel designed purely to get posts.
7. Offer incentives, discounts or products
If you want to increase participation, you can offer something in exchange for creating content.
Some possible incentives:
A discount on the next purchase.
A small gift.
Points in a loyalty programme.
Early access to a product.
A free sample.
Entry into a prize draw.
A product to try.
This strategy can be especially useful when you're launching a new product or still have few customers.
For example, you can send samples to selected users and encourage them to share their experience after trying them.
One thing, though: a free product or a discount also has a cost for the company. That's why this strategy shouldn't be presented as completely free UGC, but as an alternative to paying directly for content production.
Also, whenever there's any kind of incentive, make sure you follow the applicable rules on transparency and disclosure of partnerships or incentivised content.
8. Involve your employees with Employee Generated Content (EGC)
Your customers aren't the only people who can create content around your company.
You can also involve your own team.
When content is created by employees, it's often called Employee Generated Content (EGC).
Although technically it isn't UGC created by customers, it can complement your content strategy and show another side of the company.
Some examples:
A day at work in the company.
How an order is prepared.
The process behind a product.
Introductions to team members.
Videos about the company culture.
Content during events.
Explanations of how a product or service works.
Employee experiences.
This kind of content can be especially interesting for employer branding, corporate communication and behind-the-scenes content.
Participation should be voluntary, and the people who appear in the content should know how and where it will be used.
Organic UGC vs. working with UGC Creators
Organic UGC has an obvious advantage: it comes from people who are genuinely interacting with your product, service or brand.
But it also has some limitations.
When you rely solely on content created by your customers, you usually have less control over:
How much content you'll receive.
Image and audio quality.
The format.
The messages.
Who will appear.
Delivery times.
The shots available.
Different versions of a creative.
That's why organic UGC and content made by UGC Creators aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
A brand can make the most of its customers' spontaneous content and, at the same time, work with creators when it needs specific pieces for social media, product pages or ad campaigns.
If you want to find profiles and manage your collaborations directly, Huuk is a UGC platform where brands can find UGC Creators and manage proposals, communication, briefs, follow-up, deliveries and payments.
If you'd rather hand off creator selection and campaign management, byCreators is our UGC agency for companies looking for end-to-end management of the process.
If the content will be used specifically in paid campaigns, you can also read our guide on how to use UGC videos for ads.
How to build a strategy to get UGC organically
You don't need to launch all eight strategies at once.
Start by identifying when your customers are most willing to share their experience and what kind of content would be genuinely useful for your brand.
Then define:
What content you want to get.
Who you'll ask for it.
When.
What instructions you'll give.
Whether there will be an incentive.
How you'll receive or find the content.
What permissions you'll need to reuse it.
Where you want to use it.
For example, an e-commerce store can start by including a card with a QR code in every order and then sending an email inviting the customer to share a photo or video.
A restaurant can make social media mentions easy and create an eye-catching spot that invites people to take photos.
A brand with an active community can run regular challenges or spotlight the best content created by its customers.
The best strategy will be the one that fits naturally into the customer experience and the kind of content you need.
