Browsing the internet, you may have wondered what UGC is. This type of content is becoming increasingly relevant on YouTube, so stick around to find out what User Generated Content is, how we claim it and what advantages it has for content creators.
UGC stands for User Generated Content.
In this sense, User-generated Content on social media refers to content that has been created by different users and that is related to a brand or company without working for them.
UGC or User Generated Content is content created by users, related to a brand or company.
In other words, users create content on any digital platform without being paid by the brand or the company, but they do it because they are followers, fans or have an incentive such as, for example, a contest.
Some of the User-Generated Content can be:
- A comment on a post
- An image
- A video
- A blog article
- A review
For a better understanding, let’s take an example:
In 2020, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bruno Mars’ first album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, a campaign was launched encouraging his fans to write congratulatory messages to celebrate.
Actually, what Bruno Mars was doing with this campaign was encouraging his fans to share UGC content.
Another example of UGC content is the challenge that J Balvin did on the social network TikTok. In this case, the singer encouraged his fans to dance to his new song “Qué Más Pues?” with María Becerra.
By doing this, he managed to get his song played many more times than expected on this platform.
UGC content is one of the trends that is currently influencing but you can still take a look at these other trends within the music industry.
What are UGC videos on YouTube?
On the video platform, as you might have guessed, there is also UGC content. There are a lot of channels on YouTube that are dedicated to making User-Generated Content.
On YouTube, however, the definition changes a bit. In this case, they are videos that use assets from a copyrighted work. These protected works can be sound recordings (a song) or a music video.
Have you ever seen video reactions? These are videos in which the person reacts to a content such as a music video, for example. This is the perfect example of UGC content on YouTube.
UGC videos on YouTube are videos that use assets from a copyrighted work
To make sure you understand what we are talking about, here is a video of Coreano Loco TV, a youtuber who is dedicated to making this type of content:
Now, many content creators have an essential doubt about this type of video: “If they are using my video, shouldn’t I make a profit?”
And the answer is yes; it’s your content, so you own part of the revenue!
How to claim UGC videos on YouTube?
There may be a situation where a YouTube user uses assets from some of your videos to create new content.
In this sense, there are two options and both depend on whether you want to give that user permission to use your content or, on the contrary, you prefer not to do so.
On YouTube, you can choose who has permission to use your content
If you do not want to give permissions to the user who is using your assets in their videos, you will have to send a request to YouTube to claim that content.
In this case, we recommend you read this step-by-step guide on how to make a copyright claim on YouTube.
In short, from here YouTube can accept or reject your request.
If it accepts it, you will be able to:
- Claim your share of revenue
- Add ads
- Restrict the video in some countries or regions
- Block it directly from YouTube.
On the other hand, if they reject it, that person will still be able to use your content for that video.
Can Republic Network claim UGC videos that use my content?
Yes, companies like Republic Network can help you technically manage your channel.
By technically managing your channel, we mean making use of YouTube’s CMS to identify all your content. Thus, using YouTube’s Content ID tool we monitor your assets to claim them if someone uses them without permission.
Content ID is a YouTube tool to identify and track all the assets of your videos
If you’d like to learn more about how the YouTube CMS works and how you could benefit from working with a Multi-Channel Network like Republic, check out this blog on what the YouTube CMS is and what advantages it has.
Whitelist: Allow you to use my content in UGC videos
On the other hand, User Generated Content can also help you boost your content and get new followers.
If there is a very famous youtuber who is using some of your assets to make new content, maybe you are interested because this way their followers can reach you.
In this case, on YouTube there is a tool known as Whitelist.
The whitelist on YouTube allows content from selected channels to be unclaimed
By doing this, the channels you whitelist will not be automatically claimed by Content ID when they use assets that belong to you.
Therefore, if a youtuber you are interested in uses your content, contact him to reach an agreement and, finally, add them to your YouTube whitelist.
For example, Matt Steffanina is a very famous dancer on the platform for several years who uses different songs. You, as a singer, might be interested in having such a profile use one of your songs in a video.
Here is a YouTube Shorts of him dancing to the latest BLACKPINK song:
To add a channel to your whitelist you must:
- Log in to YouTube Studio.
- In the left menu, click on “Whitelist”.
- Now, in the upper right corner, click on “add channels”.
- Add the channel ID or its URL.
The channel ID is the 24-character alphanumeric part starting with “UC” in the channel URL.
If you want to add more than one channel at a time, you can paste a comma-separated list of channel IDs of the channels you want to include.
- Finally, click “add”.
If you want to find out how to get more out of the different YouTube tools, you can always read this article on how to make money on YouTube with Content ID.
Benefits of User-Generated Content
Nowadays, companies and brands have discovered that using UGC content to their advantage can be a great strategy.
Some advantages of UGC content are:
Better reputation and positioning
If a person searches for your name or your brand’s name on the Internet and there is a lot of UGC content about it, it will increase users’ trust, as well as your online reputation and SEO.
Increased engagement
If you decide to add UGC content to your marketing strategy, you will make your followers feel special by actively participating with you or your brand.
This could be a photo contest, a raffle with comment participation or a video voting on a related topic.
More relatable and authentic
Most social media users find that User Generated Content is more authentic and easier for them to relate to. Thus, there is a stronger connection between you and your fans.
Higher number of sales
If your brand’s followers are engaged in reviewing your products on different social networks, they will be promoting your content making you get more web traffic and sales.
Low cost
This type of strategy does not have a high investment cost since the content is being created by the follower. This way, you will only have to invest in case you want to give a gift to your followers.
This is a strategy to improve your SEO on the Internet. Still, if you’re interested in improving your YouTube reputation, keep this step-by-step guide on how to improve your YouTube SEO handy.
As you’ve seen, you can take advantage of UGC content by both claiming it or leveraging it as a social media strategy.
