UGC content: what it is and how businesses should work with it

What UGC content is, in plain terms

The abbreviation UGC stands for user-generated content. In Russian-language conversation, it’s often pronounced as the English letter names transliterated into Russian — «yu-dzhi-si.»

In plain terms, UGC is everything customers write, shoot and publish about your product or service themselves. A review on a product listing, a photo of a purchase on a personal page, an unboxing video, a question in the comments, a discussion in a community — all of this is user-generated content.

In marketing, UGC is distinguished from brand content. Brand content is created by the company itself or commissioned from contractors: posts, articles, ad videos. The company decides what it says. User-generated content is created by people who owe the company nothing. Yandex Advertising puts it this way: users make UGC to share their impressions, they aren’t paid for it, so the reviews can be both positive and negative.

Types of UGC and where it appears

Yandex Advertising identifies these types of user-generated content: reviews and ratings, images and video, blogs and articles, comments, community discussions. For a business, it’s more useful to look at them from a practical angle: where this content appears and what you can do with it.

Type of UGC	Where it appears	How a business can use it
Reviews and ratings	Marketplace product listings, maps, review sites, the company’s own site	Reply to authors, collect buyers’ frequent questions and doubts, show the review on the site with the author’s consent
Customer photos and videos	Personal pages and communities on VK, Telegram channels and chats, photos attached to reviews	With the author’s permission, repost and compile them, use them to illustrate a product listing
Overviews and unboxings	Customers’ videos and posts, personal blogs	Understand what people pay attention to; share the overview with the author’s permission
Comments and answers to questions	Comments under posts, discussions in communities and chats	Find topics for posts, add to the FAQ section
Posts under a hashtag or submitted for a contest	Posts where customers tag the company or use its hashtag	Collect material for a dedicated recurring feature, thank and credit the authors

A hashtag is a word or phrase marked with a # sign that groups posts into a shared feed. A tag is a mention of the company’s account in a post: this is how a brand learns about the post, and readers can follow it to the brand’s page.

People often talk separately about UGC videos, or UGC clips: short, first-person videos shot on a phone — a review, an unboxing, a «how I use it.» But the format alone doesn’t make a video user-generated. What matters is who shot it and why — more on that below.

UGC platforms are services where users themselves create most of the material: social networks, video-hosting sites, review sites. For a business, these aren’t a separate channel — they’re places where customers are already talking about products and companies.

Why businesses need UGC

User-generated content works not because of production quality, but because of who created it. Here’s what it gives a company.

• Other buyers’ experience before the purchase. A person sees not just the seller’s description, but how ordinary people actually use the product. This is called social proof: when we’re unsure, we take our cues from other people’s choices and opinions.
• Material for social media. Customer photos and stories break up posts written on the company’s own behalf and show the product in real life. This is one of the pieces that make up a business’s social media work.
• Feedback about the product. Reviews and comments show what people like, what annoys them and what’s missing. This is data for the product team, not just for marketing.
• Customers’ own words for your copy. People describe the product in their own words. These phrasings can be used in descriptions and posts to speak the audience’s language.

Important: user-generated content doesn’t replace the product and the service. If the product disappoints, that will show up in the reviews too.

UGC, commissioned content and UGC creators: what’s the difference

Genuine UGC is created by a customer on their own, on their own initiative, and without payment. «UGC-style» commissioned content is ordered and paid for by the brand, even if the video looks like it was shot by an ordinary buyer.

Genuine UGC

This is a review, photo or video a person published because they wanted to share their experience. The company didn’t commission it and didn’t dictate its content. That’s why it can be anything: glowing, neutral, critical. It’s precisely that independence that makes it valuable.

«UGC-style» commissioned content

Sometimes a brand commissions video or photos from creators who shoot them in the manner of user-generated content: first-person, on a phone, without studio lighting. These creators are called UGC creators, sometimes UGC bloggers.

For a business, this isn’t user-generated content — it’s content production by a contractor in a particular style. The brand sets the brief and pays for the work, and the terms of where and how long the video can be used are set by the agreement with the creator.

Why the difference matters

The first reason is honesty toward the audience. A commissioned video presented as a random customer review misleads people. If the material was made to order, it’s more honest to present it that way.

The second reason is advertising requirements. The Advertising Law defines advertising as information distributed by any means, addressed to an undefined circle of people, and aimed at drawing attention to the object being advertised, creating or maintaining interest in it, and promoting it in the market. Advertising on the internet must carry an «advertising» label and point to the advertiser, or to a site or page with information about them. So before posting a commissioned video, check whether it counts as advertising and whether it needs labeling.

How to get user-generated content

You can’t commission user-generated content, but you can make it easier and more pleasant for customers to share it.

• Ask for a review after the purchase or service. Better while the impression is still fresh. Give a direct link to a convenient place to leave the review, so the person doesn’t have to search for it.
• Give a clear prompt. Suggest a hashtag, ask people to tag the company’s account, ask a question in a post: «show us how you use…». A specific ask works better than a generic «share your impressions.»
• Reply to customers’ reviews and posts. Thank them, answer questions, respond to criticism on its merits. People write more readily where they’re actually being read.
• Make a product people want to share. Convenient packaging, a neat presentation, a nice touch in the order — a reason to take a photo that doesn’t need to be forced.

Contests and giveaways also generate a stream of posts, but their terms are worth thinking through in advance, including the legal side.

The value of user-generated content lies in it being genuine. So bought reviews, asking people to leave only the top rating, or reviews written by employees posing as customers don’t help: that’s no longer UGC, and this kind of substitution undermines trust in the honest reviews sitting right next to it. If you want to encourage reviews, read the rules of the platform where they’re published first.

How to use UGC in marketing

User-generated content can be used on the site, in social media, in email newsletters and in ad campaigns. The general rule for every channel is: the author’s consent first, publication second.

On social media

The simplest option is to repost a customer’s post, tagging the author and adding a short comment from the company. If there’s a lot of this material, it can be gathered into a dedicated recurring feature, for example «How you use our product.» A separate article covers how to build a user-generated-content feature into a content plan.

UGC works better when it’s not random reposts but part of an overall logic: what recurring features you have, why each one exists, and how they lead a person toward reaching out. We describe how to build social media management around a strategy and a content plan.

On the site and in product listings

On the site, user-generated content helps right where a person is making a decision. Reviews and customer photos next to a product or service description answer the question «what does this actually look like.» Show reviews without editing their meaning, and don’t hide the critical ones: a selection of nothing but praise looks less convincing.

In advertising

A customer’s photo or video can be used in an ad only with the author’s permission — and, if a person appears in the frame, with their consent too. The general requirements for advertising apply to such material, including online labeling. If you’re still figuring out how ads on social media work, start with the basics.

In content production

Customer reviews, questions and stories are good raw material for systematic content production: one review can grow into a post, an FAQ answer or a video idea. The content factory article covers how systematic content production works in more detail.

Author’s rights and consent: what to check before publishing

The fact that a photo or review is publicly available doesn’t mean a company can freely use it. Yandex Advertising states outright that authors’ consent must be obtained before posting. Here’s what this rule is based on.

Photos and videos are copyrighted works. The Civil Code treats works of science, literature and art as objects of copyright regardless of their merit or purpose, including literary, audiovisual and photographic works. There’s no need to register a work for this to apply.

A work can be used by its author or another rights holder. They hold the exclusive right to the work. Use is considered to include, in particular, reproduction and making the work available to the public — that is, posting it so that anyone can access it — regardless of whether there’s a commercial purpose. Other people may not use the work without the rights holder’s consent, except in cases provided for by the Civil Code. The absence of a prohibition is not considered consent. In other words, «the author didn’t object» isn’t the same as «the author gave permission.»

A person’s image requires separate consent. Making a citizen’s image public and further using it, including a photograph or video recording of them, is allowed only with their consent; the law lists exceptions to this rule. The photo’s author and the person in the frame aren’t always the same individual. If a customer sends a photo that includes their friends, the author’s permission alone may not be enough.

Reviews can contain personal data. The Personal Data Law uses that term for any information relating to a directly or indirectly identified or identifiable individual. A name, photo, city and order details, combined, can point to a specific person. Don’t publish more detail than necessary, and check the procedure for handling such data with a lawyer.

What to check before publishing someone else’s content:

1. Ask the author for permission in writing — a message in a chat that you can save is enough.
2. Specify where and how the material will be used: a social media repost, the site, advertising. Consent for one doesn’t mean consent for another.
3. If there are people in the frame, make sure they’ve also agreed.
4. Tag the author if they don’t mind, but don’t treat the tag as a substitute for permission.
5. Don’t change the meaning of a review and don’t take phrases out of context.
6. For advertising and disputed cases, check the procedure with a lawyer.

These are general guidelines, not legal advice: in any specific situation, a lot depends on the details.

How to tell UGC is working

There’s no universal benchmark for user-generated content: a lot depends on the platform, the audience and the product. So compare against your own data, not someone else’s numbers.

• Compare posts with UGC and without it on the same platform over a comparable period: reach, reactions, comments, click-throughs.
• Watch the site. If you’ve added customer reviews and photos to a page, compare how click-throughs to the inquiry form and that page’s conversion rate — the share of visitors who completed a target action — change.
• Track the flow. Does the number of reviews and tags grow after you start asking for them and replying.
• Read the content itself. Recurring questions and complaints in reviews are a signal for the product and for content.

One successful or unsuccessful post proves nothing. It’s more reliable to draw conclusions over several cycles and carry them into the next content plan.

Frequently asked questions

How does UGC differ from reviews?

A review is one type of UGC. User-generated content is broader: it also includes customer photos and videos, reviews, comments, community discussions.

Can you take a customer’s photo from social media and publish it yourself?

Not without permission: the law doesn’t allow using a work without the rights holder’s consent, except in specified cases, and a person’s image, with the exceptions listed in the law, also needs their separate consent. Message the author, explain where you’ll post the photo, and wait for their answer.

Who is a UGC creator?

That’s the term for a creator who, commissioned by a brand, shoots video or photos in the style of user-generated content. For the company, this is commissioned content, not UGC.

Does UGC need to be labeled?

It depends on whether the material counts as advertising. This is especially important to check if the brand commissioned the material or is using it to draw attention to a product. The benchmark is the law’s definition of advertising; advertising on the internet must carry an «advertising» label and point to the advertiser, or to a site with information about them.

Can UGC be used in advertising?

Yes, if the author permitted exactly this kind of use and the people in the frame have agreed. Advertising requirements, including labeling, apply to an ad creative.

What should you do about customers’ negative posts?

Reply calmly and on the merits: acknowledge the problem if there is one, and explain what you’ll do about it. Honest criticism shouldn’t be deleted: a calm response to it shows readers how the company handles problems.