If you want to know how to become a UGC creator, start with the part most guides bury: brands are paying for a video, not for your audience. A UGC creator films short, natural-looking content (a product demo, an unboxing, a "here's why I switched" clip) that the brand then runs on its own channels and ads. Your follower count doesn't enter into it. What matters is whether you can take a brief, film something people actually watch, and deliver it on time.
This guide covers what the job involves, the kit and settings that are enough to start, how to build a portfolio before anyone has hired you, what to check before you accept a deal, and how joining a curated network such as ScoutBerry works. There are no income figures here, because nobody can honestly promise you one.
What a UGC creator actually does
A UGC creator is a freelancer who produces content in the style of user-generated content: shot on a phone, spoken to camera, about a real product in real use. The difference from an influencer is where the video ends up and what the brand is buying.
| UGC creator | Influencer | |
|---|---|---|
| What the brand buys | The video and the right to use it | A post to your audience |
| Where it runs | The brand's own accounts and ads | Your own profile |
| Followers needed | No | Usually, yes |
| What you're judged on | Craft, fit, reliability | Reach and engagement |
The two can overlap. A brand may ask you to publish a video on your own profile too, but that's a separate job with its own fee and its own rules on labelling (more on that below).
Do you need followers?
No. On ScoutBerry there are no follower minimums: creators are matched on craft, fit and reliability rather than reach, and reach only matters if you agree to publish a brand's video on your own profile. A brand hiring for UGC will look at your portfolio, listen to how you sound, and ask itself whether your last three videos would hold attention in a feed full of ads.
So a small or private account is not a handicap. When the video runs on the brand's accounts, nobody watching it knows or cares how many people follow you.
The skills brands pay for
Good UGC looks effortless, which is exactly why it takes practice. Start with the opening: TikTok's own video advertising guide tells advertisers to grab attention in the first three seconds and, in a quick product demo, to show the product in use within the first two. If the hook doesn't land, the rest of the video doesn't get watched.
Then comes delivery. Brands selling in Italy, Spain or the UK want someone who sounds local, not a translated script read aloud, and they want every point of the brief covered in your own words rather than recited. If you have to choose where to spend effort, fix the sound first: muffled audio is much harder to rescue in the edit than a slightly soft image.
You also need basic editing (tight cuts, captions, two or three alternative openings for the same video) and the unglamorous part, reliability. Replying on time, delivering by the deadline and handling revision requests calmly is what gets you hired a second time, and on a curated network it becomes part of your reputation.
The minimum kit, and the settings that matter
You can start with what you probably own: a recent smartphone, a window with soft daylight, and somewhere quiet. Two inexpensive additions make a visible difference: a small clip-on microphone and a tripod or phone clamp, so your framing stays steady and your hands are free for the product. A ring light helps on dark winter afternoons, but daylight from the side is often more flattering.
A video in the wrong format is a revision you could have avoided. Check the brief first, and if it says nothing, use the platforms' own specifications:
- Shoot vertical. TikTok recommends 9:16 and an export of 1080×1920 or higher; Meta's ads guide for Instagram Reels lists 9:16 at 1440×2560.
- Respect the safe zones. Meta advises keeping text, logos and key elements out of the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% on each side, where the interface covers the video.
- Leave out licensed music. Reels ads cannot contain it, so deliver with original audio and leave the soundtrack to the brand unless the brief says otherwise.
- Mind the length. TikTok says in-feed ads can run up to 60 seconds, with 21–34 seconds performing best, and brands often ask for shorter cuts as an extra.
Sources: TikTok for Business, video advertising guide and Meta Ads Guide, Instagram Reels video, both checked in October 2026. Specs change, so check them again before a big delivery.
Build a portfolio before your first brief
Nobody hires a UGC creator without seeing their work, which is the usual chicken-and-egg problem. The way out is spec work: videos you make on your own initiative for products you already own, to show what you can do.
- Make three to five short videos in different formats: an unboxing, a problem and solution, a quick tutorial, a talking-head review, and one with several alternative hooks.
- Pick products from the categories you want to work in (skincare, food, tech accessories, home), so a brand can picture you in its niche.
- Label them clearly as spec or personal projects. Don't imply that a brand hired you if it didn't.
- Put them on one clean page. ScoutBerry gives every creator a free public portfolio at their username, which you can publish and share with or without joining the marketplace.
Set your rates before someone sets them for you
Decide what you charge for a base video and for each extra (an alternative hook, raw footage, a shorter cut, paid usage by the month) before your first conversation with a brand. Our guide to building a UGC rate card walks through every item and how to present it.
On ScoutBerry, you price each service on your rate card in whole euros between €10 and €5,000 and mark it as a Firm Rate or Open to Offers. Some brands use Campaign Rate instead: one amount for the whole brief, which you see before you apply and accept or decline as it is. Either way you keep 100% of the compensation you agree. The ScoutBerry Service Fee is charged to the brand, and payment processing, payouts and taxes depend on your provider and your country.
Know what you're licensing before you accept
Beginners tend to skip this part, and it's the one brands take most seriously. When a brand pays for a UGC video, it is paying for specific usage rights, and those rights have a value. Before you accept any deal, check:
- Is it organic use only, or paid usage in ads too? For how many months, and on which platforms?
- Will the brand run the video from your handle (whitelisting or Spark Ads)? That needs its own terms.
- Which territory: worldwide, the EU, or named countries?
- Is there exclusivity in a product category, and for how long?
- How many revision rounds, what deadline, and how long the brand has to approve?
- Who pays for travel, props or shipping?
On ScoutBerry all of this sits in the Deal Terms of each collaboration, which you see before you accept. A right that isn't written there isn't granted, you keep your copyright, and the contract is generated online, in your language. If the brand wants more after the agreement, it sends a Change Request that you can accept, decline or counter. Expenses are paid by the brand: you never spend your own money on a brand's product.
If you post on your own profile, label it
When a brand pays you to publish on your own profile, that post is advertising and your audience has to be able to tell. Free products can count too, depending on the deal and the country. The labels differ by market. In the UK, the ASA and CMA influencers' guide asks for a clear "Ad" up front. In Italy, the IAP Digital Chart lists wording such as "pubblicità", "advertising" or "adv" with the brand name. In Spain, the 2025 influencer advertising code asks for terms such as "publicidad" or "publi", and an English "Ad" isn't enough in a Spanish post. Read the source for your market before your first paid post.
How joining ScoutBerry works
ScoutBerry is a curated network that connects European brands with vetted local creators. Italy is live; Spain and the UK are opening now, with local rosters being built. Joining takes four steps:
- Create your profile: portfolio, skills, languages, rates and availability. Once it passes our vetting, you start at Sprout.
- Discover opportunities: apply to an Open Pod or get invited to a Private Pod by a brand.
- Agree on the terms: deliverables, deadlines, revisions and rights, before anything starts.
- Create and get paid: the brand pays when the deal is agreed, before you start. Once your work is approved, the compensation lands in your wallet in euro. If a brand stays silent for 1 day after you deliver, the work approves itself.
Creator Free has no platform fee and no subscription. As you complete collaborations, deliver on time and keep your ratings up, you can move from Sprout to Scout and Ranger. A tier shows brands your track record; it never sets your price.
Your first 30 days
- Week 1: set up your corner (window light, tripod, mic), test the 9:16 settings and film two spec videos.
- Week 2: film three more spec videos in different formats, each with two or three alternative hooks.
- Week 3: publish your portfolio, write your rate card and decide which rights you will license and for how long.
- Week 4: create your ScoutBerry profile, apply to the Open Pods that fit your niche, and read every Deal Terms page before you accept. Also send a short pitch to two or three brands you already buy from, with one spec video from their category and your portfolio link.
Taxes and invoicing depend on where you live. Talk to an accountant before your first paid job rather than after it.
Ready to start?
If your portfolio has a few spec videos and you know your rates, you have what a brand needs to judge your work. Join ScoutBerry as a creator, set your rates and see the Pods that match your skills. You can read more about how it works on the creators page and follow which markets are opening on our roadmap.