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How to Run a User-Generated Content Campaign

By PostMediaAI7 min read

A user-generated content (UGC) campaign invites your customers or community to create posts about your product, brand or cause, then shares the best of them. Done well, it gives you content that feels real because it is real, and it brings your customers into your feed.

What counts as user-generated content?

UGC is any content made by people outside your company: photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, comments or stories. In a campaign, you actively ask for it around a theme.

A note on terms: "UGC" is also used for paid creators who make ad-style videos for brands. That is closer to a creator partnership. This guide is about organic campaigns with your real customers and community.

Step 1: Choose the goal

Pick one, because it shapes everything else:

  • Social proof: real customers using your product.
  • Content supply: a steady stream of posts you couldn't produce yourself.
  • Community: customers feeling seen and connected to each other.
  • Launch or seasonal push: a burst of activity around a specific moment.

Step 2: Write a specific, easy prompt

Vague asks ("share your photos!") get few responses. Specific asks with a clear format work better.

Good prompts:

  • "Show us your desk setup with [product]. Post a photo and tag us."
  • "Your first cup of the morning, in one photo, with #[BrandHashtag]."
  • "Tell us in 15 seconds how [product] helped you finish [task]."
  • "Before and after: your garden with our seeds."

Keep the effort low. A photo is easier than a video, and a video is easier than a written review.

Step 3: Decide how people share

  • A branded hashtag that is short, unique and easy to spell. Check that nobody else is already using it. See our guide to branded hashtag campaigns for how to create one.
  • Tagging your account in the post.
  • Submitting through a form, if you need files in high resolution or want to collect permission at the same time.

Say clearly which one counts, and where.

Step 4: Decide whether to offer an incentive

Many UGC campaigns work with no prize: being featured is reward enough. If you do offer something:

  • A feature on your account or website.
  • A discount or small gift for everyone who takes part.
  • A prize draw, which turns the campaign into a giveaway or contest with its own rules. Read our guide on how to run a social media giveaway first, because platform promotion rules apply.

On Facebook, Instagram and Threads, be careful with rewards tied to posting. Meta's spam policy prohibits offering anything of monetary value in exchange for engagement, and its examples of engagement include likes, shares, follows and use of specific hashtags [3]. A safe pattern is to invite people to share and to feature the best posts, rather than paying out or entering people into a draw simply for using your hashtag. If you do want a prize, run it as a properly structured contest with official rules, judged on the content itself, and check the current policy first.

If people receive something in exchange for posting about you, the FTC expects that connection to be clearly disclosed, for example with a simple "#ad" or "I got this free from [Brand]" near the endorsement [1]. Tell participants this in your campaign rules.

Step 5: Get permission before you repost

This is the step brands skip most, and it matters. A customer posting a photo with your hashtag does not automatically give you the right to reuse it. Instagram's own guidelines say to share only content you have taken or have the right to share [2].

A practical permission process:

  1. Comment or message the creator: "We love this! May we share it on our Instagram and website, credited to @yourname? Reply YES to agree."
  2. Keep a record of the reply (a screenshot or a note in your tracker).
  3. For use in ads, on packaging or on your website, get explicit written permission that names those uses.
  4. Always credit the creator when you share.
  5. Respect a no. And if someone asks you to remove their content later, do it.

If minors might appear in submissions, get a parent's or guardian's permission, or don't use the content.

Step 6: Launch and promote the campaign

  • An announcement post explaining the prompt, how to share and what happens next.
  • A pinned post, story highlight or profile link to the rules.
  • An example from your team or an early customer to show what a good entry looks like.
  • Reminder posts during the campaign.
  • Email or community posts to your most engaged customers, who are most likely to take part early.

Step 7: Collect and track entries

Use a simple tracker:

  • Date | Creator handle | Platform | Link | Content type | Permission (yes / pending / no) | Where it may be used | Scheduled date | Notes

Search your hashtag and mentions on each platform every few days so entries don't get lost.

Step 8: Schedule the best entries

Don't share everything on one day. Spread approved entries across the next few weeks so the campaign keeps paying off:

  • Single features: one customer post, credited, with a short caption about them.
  • Roundups: a carousel or video compiling several entries.
  • Stories: quick reshares with tags.
  • Website and email: a gallery of approved entries, if permission covers it.

Fit UGC into your existing content pillars, usually a "prove" or "community" pillar. Our content strategy guide explains how pillars work.

User-generated content campaign examples (templates)

These are patterns, not case studies:

  • "Show us your setup": product in real homes, desks or kitchens.
  • "Before and after": results customers can photograph.
  • "Your favorite way to use it": recipes, outfits, routines.
  • "Why I started": customers telling their own story with your product as a supporting role.
  • "Spotted in the wild": your product seen in places, for brands with visible packaging.

Measuring a UGC campaign

Decide up front what success looks like for your goal. For content supply: the number of usable, approved entries. For community: the number of people taking part and repeat participants. For social proof: how featured UGC posts perform against your usual posts, and clicks to product pages from them. Track these in the same tracker and compare against your normal month.

Common UGC campaign mistakes

  • Reposting without permission or credit.
  • A hashtag that is already in use for something else.
  • Prompts that are too hard or too vague.
  • Running a prize draw without official rules.
  • Forgetting incentive disclosure.
  • Collecting entries and then never sharing them, which tells participants their effort didn't matter.

Where PostMediaAI fits

PostMediaAI helps with the sharing half of a UGC campaign. Keep approved images and videos in the media library, polish crops in the Advanced Picture Editor, let the AI draft a credited caption for each channel, and schedule features and roundups across the weeks after your campaign on one calendar.

FAQ

What is a UGC campaign?

It's a campaign in which a brand asks customers or fans to create and share content around a theme, then reshares the best submissions with permission.

How do you get user-generated content?

Ask for it with a specific, easy prompt, make sharing simple with a hashtag or tag, feature people who take part, and make it a regular part of your content.

Do you need permission to repost user-generated content?

You should always ask. Posting with your hashtag doesn't automatically grant you the right to reuse someone's work, and platforms expect you to share only content you have rights to [2].

Do participants have to disclose if they get a reward?

If someone gets a free product, discount or other benefit for posting, the FTC's guidance says the connection should be disclosed clearly [1].

Related guides: How to Plan a Social Media Campaign (With a Template).

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