Creator and Customer Content
Content made by real customers and independent creators often feels more trustworthy than anything you make about your own business, and on TikTok and Reels it blends into the feed naturally. This guide covers the main kinds of creator content, how to brief and pay for it and how to run it in ads.
On This Page
Three Kinds of Creator Content
| Kind | Who makes it | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Customer content | Real customers posting about their experience | Reposts, reviews and testimonials, with permission |
| UGC creators | People paid to make videos in a customer style, often without posting them to their own audience | Ad creative and website video |
| Influencers | Creators with an audience who post about you to their followers | Reach and credibility with a specific audience, plus content for reuse |
UGC stands for user-generated content. In marketing the term now covers both genuine customer posts and paid creator videos made to look like them.
Encouraging Customer Content
Make it easy and pleasant for customers to share. A photo-worthy spot in the shop, a short card asking customers to tag you, a monthly feature of a customer post and a follow-up message after a job asking for a photo or short video all work. Always ask before you repost, and credit the customer's handle.
Finding and Briefing Creators
Look for creators who already make content your customers watch, ideally local ones if you're a local business. Judge their recent videos on clarity, energy and how well they speak to camera, and worry less about follower count.
A good brief is one page and includes:
- The goal, such as booked consultations or trial class signups
- The audience and the problem the product or service solves
- Two or three main points, plus anything that must not be said
- The format, length and shape, for example a 30-second 9:16 video
- Hook ideas for the opening seconds, leaving room for the creator's own style
- Deliverables, deadlines and the number of revisions
Usage Rights
Agree in writing how you can use the content before work starts. Settle whether you can run it organically, in paid ads or both; for how long; whether you get the raw files for editing; and whether the creator can work with competitors during the agreement. Paid ad use and longer periods usually cost more.
Running Creator Content as Ads
- Meta partnership ads Ads that run from both the creator's handle and your business's, with the creator's permission granted inside Meta's tools. They show the creator's name at the top of the ad.
- TikTok Spark Ads Ads that promote an existing TikTok post, including a creator's, using an authorization the creator provides. Likes and comments stay with the post.
- Ads from your own account Uploading the creator's video as your own ad, which needs the usage rights described above.
In Practice
Say a home cleaning company pays three local creators to film a real clean of their own homes, with rights for 12 months of paid use. One video, where the creator opens on her messy kitchen and reacts to the finished result, becomes the company's best-performing Meta partnership ad and gets cut into a TikTok Spark Ad from the same creator.
Partnership ad tools, Spark Ad authorization and creator rates change often. Check the sources below before you agree terms.
Key Terms
- UGC
- User-generated content, made by customers or by creators in a customer style.
- Creator brief
- A short document setting out the goal, message, format and deliverables.
- Usage rights
- The agreed terms for where and how long content may be used.
- Partnership ad
- A Meta ad that runs with both a creator's and a business's identity.
- Spark Ad
- A TikTok ad that promotes an existing organic post.
- Whitelisting
- An informal term for running ads through a creator's account, now largely handled by partnership ads and Spark Ads.
Sources
- Meta Business Help Center www.facebook.com
- TikTok Support support.tiktok.com
- Meta Ads Guide www.facebook.com
Have Our Team Handle This
Our team runs this every day. Request a free proposal and we will plan it for your business, or see the Content Creation service.