Why companies prioritise UGC.

The prediction, eighteen months on

This article began in March 2025 as an edition of Velena's LinkedIn newsletter, #HASHTAG VIRAL, which breaks down the trends shaping social media, influencer marketing and content creation. Its argument was that UGC would become the gold standard of marketing in 2025, because trust in traditional advertising was falling while AI-generated content was rising, and authenticity had never been more valuable.

A prediction is only useful if you go back and check it. So in this update we have kept the five reasons from the original, tested each against the evidence available in October 2026, replaced the statistics we could not trace to a source, and added the parts a brand now needs to know: what the law says about reviews and AI, and how to build a plan that puts real people first.

First, a definition, because the term is used loosely. UGC once meant content posted by customers without being asked: a photo of a purchase, a review, a video tagged with the brand. Today it also covers content made by creators who are paid to film in that natural, customer's-eye style for the brand's own use. The second kind is what most brands mean when they talk about buying UGC. Our explainer what is UGC covers both in more detail.

The verdict, in short: the prediction has largely held. The trust argument is as strong as ever, the commercial evidence for reviews and real-customer content is solid, and demand for UGC creators has grown. What has changed is the risk. The rules are stricter, and the brands doing well with UGC are the ones treating it as advertising that has to be honest, rather than a loophole.

Reason one: people trust people, not adverts

The original article said that "studies show 76% of consumers distrust brand-created content". We could not find the study behind that figure, so we have removed it. The point it was making is still well supported by evidence we can trace.

In Nielsen's 2021 Trust in Advertising study, recommendations from people they know were the most trusted form of advertising, at 89 percent. That is the instinct UGC draws on. A video of someone like you, using a product in a kitchen or a bathroom like yours, borrows a little of that trust in a way a studio advert cannot.

Why it matters for a brand: UGC builds trust because it looks and sounds like a real person, made for real people. Whether it is a review, an unboxing or a before and after, it answers the question every shopper has: does this work for someone like me?

An example from the original still works. Instead of a high-production studio advert, a skincare brand can show a customer, or a creator filming as one, talking through their first few weeks with the product. The one change we would make in 2026 is to the line the original suggested: "this product cleared my skin in two weeks". That is a claim, and the brand must be able to prove it, so a safer script says what the person noticed and leaves out promises the evidence cannot back.

Key tactic: ask real customers to share their experiences, with permission, and feature the best across your social channels, product pages and adverts. Where you commission the content, say so honestly, which we come to below.

Reason two: the platforms favour people over brands

The original argued that TikTok and Instagram were favouring content from real people over polished brand posts. The platforms do not publish a rule that says "people beat brands", so we have reworded this. What they do say is which signals decide what gets shown, and those signals reward the kind of content UGC is good at.

Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, said in January 2025 that the three signals that matter most for ranking are watch time, likes and sends, and advised creators to watch likes per reach and sends per reach, as Social Media Today reported. A video someone watches to the end and sends to a friend is, almost by definition, one that feels like a person talking, not an advert interrupting.

Why it matters: people scroll past anything that looks like an advert but stop for content that feels natural and relevant. That is why UGC-style videos sit so comfortably in a feed.

The original's example still holds: instead of a professionally shot product photo, a brand works with a smaller creator on a casual "I just found this" video that blends into the feed. Its key tactic, a brand challenge or a hashtag campaign that invites customers to post, is also still sound, with one practical note. If you reward entries with prizes or features, publish clear terms: who can enter, the closing date and how the winners are chosen.

Reason three: UGC drives conversions and sales

The original said that "UGC-based campaigns see 29% higher conversion rates than brand-created content". We could not trace that figure either, so it has gone. There is better evidence available, though each source has its own method and should be read with that in mind.

Why it matters: seeing a product used in real life by a real person removes doubt, and doubt is what stops people buying. The original's example is still a good one: an online shop adds customer photos and videos to each product page, next to the reviews, so the shopper sees the product in someone's hands before they decide.

The original also advised using UGC in paid adverts on Facebook and Instagram. That remains our most common use of it. For a sense of scale, Billo, a UGC platform, analysed 88,329 Meta video adverts from sales campaigns in the first half of 2026 and found an average return on ad spend of 2.17 across 14 industries, in its H1 2026 benchmarks, with wide differences between categories. The lesson is not that UGC guarantees a return. It is that the video has to be judged on what happens after the click as well as on how many people stop to watch.

Our guide to UGC advertising goes into how to brief, test and run UGC as adverts, and UGC examples shows the formats that work.

Reason four: the rise of the everyday creator

The original predicted a shift away from celebrity endorsements towards everyday creators and smaller influencers, because audiences relate to them more. The evidence for this has grown.

The Influencer Marketing Hub Benchmark Report 2026, built on more than 600 responses, found 35.71 percent of respondents planning to increase their use of UGC creators and a further 14.29 percent planning to start, half in all, with nobody planning to reduce or stop. The same report found 52.83 percent planning to increase or start their use of micro influencers. And Collabstr's 2026 report, based on more than 21,000 collaborations on its platform, found UGC made up 35 percent of the campaigns brands ran there in 2025, at an average of 197 US dollars per collaboration.

The original also said that micro influencers "with 10K to 50K followers drive higher engagement". The thresholds for each tier vary from one source to the next and we could not find a current, reliable measure of the engagement claim, so we have left both out. The broader point, that smaller creators feel closer to their followers, is what brands are acting on.

The original's example, a fashion brand working with a hundred micro influencers instead of one celebrity, is still a real strategy, but it is a lot of work to brief, check and label a hundred people. Many brands now split the job: a handful of creators for reach, and a steady supply of UGC for their own channels. Its key tactic still stands as written: build long-term relationships with creators rather than one-off posts, because repeated, genuine use reads as more believable. Our guide to influencer collaborations covers that side.

Reason five: AI is everywhere, so human content stands out

The original's fifth reason was that as AI-generated content spread, brands would turn to UGC to keep their marketing human. This is the prediction that has strengthened most.

A Klaviyo survey of 8,000 consumers in eight countries, the UK among them, found that visible AI in marketing was four times more likely to make people trust a brand less than more: 31 percent against 7 percent, as EMARKETER reported in April 2026. In a separate survey by Clutch in August 2026, 53 percent said they were less likely to buy from brands they know use AI in social media content, and nearly 90 percent wanted brands and creators to disclose AI-generated content, according to Business Wire.

On the rules, the ASA said in May 2025 that there is no blanket UK requirement to disclose the use of AI in adverts, but that the existing rules apply however content is made, and that a disclosure will not fix an advert that is misleading in the first place, in its guidance on AI in advertising. An AI image that overstates what a cosmetic does is misleading with or without a label.

The original's example still works: a travel company might use AI to plan itineraries, but rely on real travellers' videos, diaries and reviews to show what the trip is actually like. Its key tactic, pair AI tools with UGC to support human storytelling rather than replace it, is the approach we take. We use software to help with planning, captions and editing; the person on camera, the product in their hands and their reaction are real. We wrote more about this in the cost of easy content.

The UK rules for UGC

The original did not cover the rules, and in 2026 that is the part a brand most needs. UGC is advertising when a brand pays for it or uses it to sell, and it has to be honest in the same way as any other advert.

None of this makes UGC harder to use well. It simply means writing the claims into the script, getting the script approved before filming, and being clear about where each piece of content will appear. Our guide to the ASA and CAP Code rules for social media covers the detail.

How to build a UGC-first plan

The original closed with four steps for a UGC-first brand. We have kept all four and added the two that make the difference in practice: rights and briefs.

1. Create a UGC hubGather your best customer and creator content in one place and use it everywhere: product pages, emails, social media and adverts. Real faces next to the "Add to basket" button do a lot of quiet work.
2. Reward the people who createThank customers who share great content with a discount, a giveaway or a feature on your account. If the reward depends on posting, the post needs to say so.
3. Turn the best UGC into advertsYour top-performing organic videos are often your best advert candidates. Make sure you hold the rights to run them as paid adverts first, and for how long.
4. Ask for stories, not slogansInvite your community to share how your product fits their life. Real stories persuade better than scripted lines, which was the heart of the original article.
5. Get the rights in writingAgree where the content can be used, for how long, and whether it can run as a paid advert. GOV.UK's guidance on intellectual property explains that the person who makes a work usually owns the rights in it unless the contract says otherwise.
6. Brief properlyOne goal, one audience, the key message, the claims you can prove and the formats you need. Approve the script before anything is filmed.

Before you commission anything, our free UGC rate calculator shows what a set of videos is likely to cost on the open market, and the UGC Rates Report UK 2026 has the data behind it. If you are not sure which kind of video you need, the UGC quiz takes a minute.

Our UGC packages

Our team plans, films and edits every video in house, and you choose who is on camera: Velena, Dragos, both, nobody with a voiceover, or no preference, at the same price. Nothing is filmed until the brief is agreed. These are the packages brands most often start with when they want the kind of content this article describes.

UGC Monthly Plan£430a month, fromThree Standard videos every month in the range you choose, with advert rights on all three.

Testimonials UGC: Standard£180one videoOne scripted testimonial video with 2 opening hooks and all three formats, licensed for paid adverts.

Testimonials UGC: Bundle (3 Videos)£480three videosThree testimonial videos, three ideas you choose, filmed in one session with advert rights on all three.

Paid Ads Creatives UGC: Standard£230one videoOne paid ads video of a hook, the benefit and a call to action, made as an advert from the first second.

Paid Ads Creatives UGC: Bundle (3 Videos)£620three videosThree paid ads videos filmed in one session, with advert rights on all three.

There are ranges for beauty and skincare, fashion and clothing, food and drink, e-commerce and more. If you are weighing up an agency against hiring creators one by one, our guide to choosing a UGC agency in the UK sets out the trade-offs, and UGC rates in the UK explains what drives the price.

See UGC we have made

Tap a video to play it. There is more on our work pages.

Why brands prioritise UGC: questions

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Velena NikolovaCo-Founder and Creative DirectorVelena co-founded Velena Lifestyle and leads its creative work, from social media content to UGC. She has built an Instagram following of more than 13,000 and her work has been featured in Women's Health. She writes about UGC, creators and the craft of content. Velena and Dragos both guest lecture at the University of Greenwich on social media and content strategy, and are invited back several times a year.