16 User-Generated Content Campaign Ideas To Try Today

User-generated content is a powerful tool to boost your brand’s visibility, build trust with your audience, and increase engagement. We’ll cover the different types of UGC, their benefits, and the best practices to get the most out of them. So, let’s get started!

What Is User-Generated Content

User-generated content, or UGC, is any content created by users based on their experiences, ideas, opinions, or feedback. Social media networks and other digital platforms are where most UGC is shared. UGC relevant to a brand can include online reviews, product photos, customer feedback, product videos, and more.

Compared to marketing content pushed by brands, UGC is often considered the most reliable and trustworthy form of content. This is because users share their experiences and opinions on products or services without any incentive. 

As a result, it carries more weight with potential customers seeking an honest assessment of a product or service before making a purchase.

Where Does UGC Content Come From

Brands can benefit significantly from UGC, especially in building trust with their target audience. By featuring UGC on their website, social media pages, and other marketing materials, brands can demonstrate that their customers genuinely appreciate their products and services. This can lead to increased engagement, loyalty, and sales. 

But where does UGC come from? Here are four main sources:

1. Customers

They can share content about your brand based on their experiences, opinions, and feedback, organically or when prompted. Examples of customer-generated content include unboxing videos on TikTok or positive comments on Instagram. Therefore, businesses usually rely on their customers to generate UGC. Leveraging UGC marketplaces like social media platforms allows you to easily discover and reshare authentic customer content. This builds trust and social proof by showcasing real customer perspectives.

2. Brand loyalists

Your brand loyalists are those customers who are incredibly dedicated and passionate about your business. They may be referred to as fans, advocates, or given any other label that describes their loyalty to your brand. Since they are the most enthusiastic customers of your brand, they make an ideal audience to approach and request specific UGC.

Source: Pexels

3. Employees

This form of content can include photos of employees performing tasks such as packaging or creating orders or videos in which they share their experiences and reasons for loving their jobs. Behind-the-scenes EGC like this can help define your brand identity and establish authenticity across social media and advertisements.

4. UGC creators

A UGC creator is sponsored to create content that appears organic but is designed to showcase a specific service or product. These creators can leverage AI tools like CopyAI or its alternatives to create content that engages and captivates the audience.

Why Is UGC Important

Consumers today demand authenticity from brands, and UGC is the most effective way to meet this demand. Here’s why UGC is influential:

1. Consumers Find Ugc to Be the Most Authentic

According to a recent data report, 59% of consumers consider user-generated content the most genuine and trustworthy form of content. Authenticity is key in building trust with consumers, and UGC is the most effective way to establish that trust.

2. UGC Ugc Highly Impacts Purchasing Decisions

According to the same report, 79% say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. When people see other consumers using a product and having a positive experience, they are more likely to purchase it themselves.

3. UGC is Cost-Effective

A significant benefit of UGC is that it is a cost-effective form of content. Since people generate UGC willingly and brands only need to request permissions, it is widely available. Brands can use this to create compelling and authentic content without incurring high costs in content creation.

4. UGC Enables More Personalized Shopping Experiences

Consumers want to see real customer photos and videos on eCommerce sites, and they are more likely to purchase a product if they can see pictures and videos from genuine customers. Using UGC, brands can deliver more personalized and relevant shopping experiences at scale.

16 User-Generated Content Campaign Ideas

1. Tiktok 

TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms, especially among younger generations. It’s an excellent platform for creating user generated content campaigns that can go viral. You can encourage your audience to create fun and engaging videos using your product or service. 

Remember to use hashtags and challenges to boost engagement.

Source: Pexels

2. Social Media Challenges

Social media challenges have been around for a while, but they’re still effective in generating UGC. The challenges can be anything from sharing a photo or a video to completing a task using your product or service. Be creative, and encourage your audience to participate and share the challenge with their friends and family.

3. Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways are a great way to encourage your audience to create UGC. You can ask your audience to submit their best photos, videos, or stories using your product or service. In return, you can offer a prize or a discount on your product. This can create a sense of urgency and increase engagement.

4. Hashtag Campaigns 

Hashtags are a powerful tool for creating UGC campaigns. You can create a unique hashtag for your brand and encourage your audience to use it when posting about your product or service. This can increase your brand visibility and create a sense of community among your audience.

5. Ask Your Audience to Share Experiences 

Asking your audience to share their experiences using your product or service can be an effective UGC campaign. Using a specific hashtag, you can ask them to share their stories, photos, or videos on social media. This can help build trust and loyalty among your audience.

6. Feature Your Customers’ Photos on Your Website

Finally, featuring your customers’ photos on your website can be an excellent way to showcase your brand and encourage UGC. You can ask your audience to submit photos using your product or service and feature them on your website. This can help create a sense of community and trust among your audience.

And remember to try out image upscaler to enhance the quality of your UGC images and make them look even better on the website!

Source: Pexels

7. Customer Testimonials

Encourage your audience to share authentic testimonials about their experience with your product or service. Whether written or in short video clips, these stories build trust and influence potential customers. You can even turn it into a contest, celebrating or rewarding the most viewed or creative testimonials. 

Highlighting these entries on your website or social media can drive engagement even further, inspire others to share more experiences. This will create a continuous stream of user-generated content that strengthens your brand’s credibility and community connection.

8. Behind-the-Scenes Content

Invite customers to capture behind-the-scenes moments with your product, like unboxing, setups, or creative uses. This personal touch humanizes your brand and encourages sharing. You can prompt users with fun ideas, like showing their workspace setup or demonstrating their creative process, making it easy for them to participate and feel connected to your brand.

For example, GoPro has made user content central to its marketing. Their “Million Dollar Challenge” invited users to submit their own footage, and in one year they received over 43,000 submissions totalling about 72 hours of footage. This boosted the brand’s visibility and reputation beyond what they could have achieved with traditional marketing.

9. Collaborative Product Design

Let your audience co-create by submitting ideas, designs, or variations for your products or campaigns. Featuring the winning entries online increases engagement and fosters a sense of ownership and community. Encourage participants to share their submissions with friends, making it a fun, interactive way for users to influence your brand’s future offerings.

For example, IKEA launched the #IKEAAtMine campaign asking customers to post photos of how they use IKEA products in real homes. No showrooms, just everyday rooms, pets, plants and all. This gave the brand authentic, relatable content that converted 3.5× better than traditional marketing, boosted engagement by 2.7×, and strengthened the connection between IKEA and its customers.

10. Weekly Themes

This is an excellent user-generated content campaign idea for fresh, regular content. Create weekly content themes and encourage your audience to post photos, videos, or stories around them. For example, #MotivationMonday or #FeatureFriday can showcase your product in action while keeping your brand top of mind. 

Consistently sharing the best submissions each week motivates participation and keeps your community actively engaged over time. Also, switching up the content theme each week prevents your page from ever becoming boring. Visitors will always have something new and exciting to look forward to, which attracts new followers while retaining loyal ones.

11. Review and Rating Campaigns

This is one UGC concept with undeniable results. After all, 84% of buyers trust peer recommendations over ads, making UGC 8.7x times more powerful than influencer content. So, start a campaign that encourages users to submit product reviews, ratings, or photos demonstrating their experience. 

How is this different from our customer testimonials UGC idea? Reviews and ratings are often shorter, easier to submit, and publicly visible on e-commerce platforms, helping potential buyers make purchasing decisions quickly. Featuring these alongside star ratings and photos provides both social proof and practical guidance, creating trust while motivating more users to share their experiences.

12. Story Takeovers

Invite loyal customers or influencers to take over your social media stories for a day, sharing tips, experiences, or creative ways they use your product. This is a powerful user generated content idea that adds authenticity while giving your audience fresh, relatable content. 

Promote the takeover in advance to build anticipation and encourage participation. However, avoid common mistakes such as posting unplanned or off-brand content, ignoring audience interaction, or failing to provide clear guidelines. Otherwise, you risk confusing your audience, damaging brand credibility, and losing engagement instead of boosting it.

13. Seasonal or Holiday Campaigns

Run campaigns around holidays or seasonal events, asking your audience to share themed content featuring your product. Whether it’s festive decorations, summer adventures, or seasonal recipes, this approach encourages creative submissions. By tying UGC to events your audience already celebrates, you boost participation and create timely, shareable content that aligns with the season.

For example, Starbucks uses the return of its fall‑flavoured “Pumpkin Spice Latte” to inspire thousands of posts each year. Users snap their cups, tag #PSL and share cozy‑autumn vibes, turning a limited‑time offer into a cultural event.

14. User-Generated Tutorials

Invite users to create tutorial videos or step‑by‑step guides featuring your product, showing creative or practical ways to use it. This is a highly effective UGC idea that provides value to your community while generating authentic, user‑focused content around your brand. 

Sharing the most helpful or innovative tutorials on your social media or website not only inspires others to participate but also highlights real users, turning their creativity into engaging content that strengthens trust and encourages ongoing audience contributions. If you doubt it works, look at how Fenty Beauty tutorial videos have positioned the brand as a trusted authority in beauty. 

15. Gamified Content

Gamification is a user-generated content campaign idea you shouldn’t be sleeping on. By turning UGC into a fun game (through photo challenges, scavenger hunts, or point-based competitions) users submit content to earn rewards or recognition. This friendly competition encourages repeat participation while keeping engagement high. 

Featuring top submissions publicly not only motivates others to join but also transforms your audience into active contributors who enjoy interacting with your brand in playful, creative ways. Gamified campaigns make content creation fun and strengthen community loyalty. 

This tactic has worked exceedingly well for Duolingo, whose streaks, badges, and leaderboards inspire learners to share progress and compete. These elements generate authentic, ongoing user-driven content that strengthens both engagement and community loyalty.

16. Feature Community Milestones

Celebrate milestones like anniversaries, product launches, or user achievements by asking your audience to share content showing how your brand has impacted them. Highlighting top submissions on social media or newsletters builds a sense of recognition and community, encouraging more users to share their stories and reinforcing loyalty among existing customers.

An excellent example is Nike with its #JustDoIt campaign. The brand encouraged customers to share personal achievement stories, such as first run or hitting a training goal, and featured these user‑submitted posts on its social channels.

Key Takeaways

User-generated content is a great way to grow your brand and create meaningful connections with your target audience. It can be used to gain insights into what your customers are interested in and to build relationships with them. 

With the help of creative strategies, you can leverage user-generated content to boost your brand’s visibility and create an immersive and personalized experience for your customers. 

From running contests and campaigns to creating content hubs and featuring user stories, there are many ways to use user-generated content to drive engagement and growth. Ultimately, user-generated content effectively engages with your target audience and increases your brand’s visibility and sales.