UGC vs Influencer Marketing: What's the Difference?
UGC and influencer marketing both use real people to talk about your brand, but you're buying different things. With UGC, you're buying the videos. With influencer marketing, you're buying the videos and the creator's audience.
Here's how they differ, what each is good at, and how to choose.
The Short Version
| UGC | Influencer marketing | |
|---|---|---|
| Who posts it | You, on your channels and in your ads | The creator, on their own account |
| What you pay for | The video, and the rights to use it | The post, and the reach of the creator's audience (the rights to reuse it cost extra) |
| Follower count | Doesn't matter much | Matters, along with engagement and niche |
| Labelling | On your own channels and ads it's usually clear it's from you, but don't pass it off as a customer review | The creator's post must be labelled, for example with #ad |
| Best for | Ads and product pages that need fresh, real-looking videos | Reach, trust and getting people talking |
What UGC Is Good At
UGC videos look and sound like real people, because they are. Brands use them in TikTok and Meta ads, on product pages and in emails, and it's normal to test several videos to find the hook that works best.
Because the creator's audience isn't part of the deal, follower count matters less, and newer creators can make great UGC. Our guide to what UGC costs in the UK covers typical prices.
What Influencer Marketing Is Good At
When a creator posts on their own account, their followers see it from someone they chose to follow, rather than from a brand’s own account. It’s still labelled as an ad, but that trust is the point.
You can also work with lots of smaller creators instead of, or alongside, a few famous faces. Smaller creators tend to be closer to their audiences, and lots of voices at once add up. Our guide to micro-influencers vs celebrities covers what the research says.
Doing Both at Once
You don't have to choose. When creators make videos and post them on their own accounts, you get the reach and trust of influencer marketing, and if you own the videos you can reuse the best ones as UGC in your ads.
That's how Brief72 works: one brief, and many everyday UK creators posting at the same time on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Your budget is priced per view, every video is checked against your brief and approved by you before it goes live, and once your campaign is paid in full the approved videos are yours to reuse. Find out more about Brief72 for brands.
How to Decide
- You mainly need videos for your own ads and website: UGC.
- You want people to hear about you from creators they trust: influencer marketing.
- You want both, at scale: creators who post the videos and hand over the rights, such as a pay-per-view campaign.
Is UGC the same as influencer marketing?
No. With UGC, you buy the video to use on your own channels. With influencer marketing, the creator also posts it to their own followers.
Do UGC creators need lots of followers?
No. For content-only UGC, the quality of the video matters more than the creator's audience.
Which is cheaper?
For the same creator, content-only UGC usually costs less than content plus posting, because you're not paying for their audience. Across different creators it varies: a small creator's post can cost less than a polished UGC video. To compare campaigns that include posting, look at the cost per view.
Can I use influencer posts in my ads?
Only if you have the rights, so agree this up front. On Brief72, the approved videos are yours once the campaign is paid in full. Check too that any music in them is cleared for wherever you use them.
