How to Brief UGC Creators and Influencers: Use Our Free Template!

Why Is a UGC Brief Important?

Are you trying to work with UGC creators or influencers but aren’t sure how to get them to create the content you have in mind? Relaying your vision or ensuring that creators understand the audience, goals, and ideas that need to be incorporated isn't always easy.?

Putting our brief template together took trial and error, working with creators and our own internal team to figure out what needed to be included, what could be left out, and how to clearly communicate expectations and creative visions.?

Our template was designed with flexibility in mind, allowing it to be adapted for a variety of campaigns and content types. We’ll provide the hook and CTA we want, as well as tons of language and visual examples, but we also always encourage creators to lean into authenticity.?

Here’s a deep dive into how to effectively brief UGC creators and influencers using insights from our internal UGC brief template.

Learning How to Brief UGC Creators

A comprehensive brief serves multiple purposes: it aligns the creator with the brand’s goals, sets clear expectations, and provides all the necessary details to produce content that resonates with the target audience.?

The brief you provide should communicate not just what you want but why you want it, providing creators with the context they need to produce their best work. Adding some context and information upfront in the brief will likely reduce the revisions you’ll have to do later.?

Here’s how we outline our briefs:?

Content Creator Details: First, we include all relevant details about the content creator we’ll work with. This includes their name, home address (often, products have to be shipped to be used in their videos), and email address. All of this is essential because multiple team members will occasionally be working with the creator, so storing their information centrally ensures that anyone necessary has quick, easy access to the details they’ll need.

Client Details: This is where we help the creator understand all the essential information we have about the brand or product they’ll be promoting. This includes things as simple as pronouncing the brand name (you’d be surprised how often this is helpful!) and links to all of their socials so the creator can get a feel for what type of content they usually create.?

Other important elements of this section include the target demographic and product details. We want our creators to be as informed as possible about the brand they’re representing and the audience they’re appealing to.?

The Brief: This is where we specify things like the deadline, deliverables, content usage, goals and objectives, the creative theme (or ‘hook’), and the preferred style.?

This section is broad but summarizes everything the creator needs to know to ensure the final product aligns with our vision. Deadlines and deliverables are essential to agree on so you’re not left scrambling if expectations aren’t met.?

For example, we negotiate upfront with our content creators that we have lifetime usage of the videos and raw footage they provide. Rather than paying ongoing usage rights, we pay an upfront fee. Access to raw footage and audio allows us to create more videos with unique themes and objectives later.

This section also includes all specific shooting specifications, such as:?

- Film all content vertically, in the 9x16 aspect ratio

- Please add an extra 1-3 seconds at the start and end of all raw clips?

- Please turn off all ACs, fans, and other loud devices while filming

- Avoid wearing clothes with logos

- Please add subtitles/captions as text overlays, summarizing critical parts of the script

Shot List & Scripting: In addition to providing scripting and shot outlines, we assume that many content creators are visual by nature. That’s why we include a section with visual examples of shots from other creators’ videos as a reference. These are incredibly helpful in establishing what we’re looking for.?

One thing to remember is that consumers are increasingly savvy, and they don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to. That’s why UGC is so popular–it feels natural, not forced. It shouldn’t be too obvious that the video is completely scripted, so it's important to encourage your creators to have some fun with it (while still adhering to the core messaging and brand guidelines).?

Download Our Free UGC Brief Template!

Want to start creating your own UGC or influencer briefs? Visit our blog to download our FREE UGC brief template!?