In short: To run a UGC campaign, work through seven steps: pick one goal and one number to judge it by, write a one-page brief, choose creators, settle rights and product delivery before filming, review every video in one place, use the winners, and write down what you learned for the next batch. Vidovo’s July 2026 guide says campaigns rarely stall because brands cannot find creators; they stall in the management after that. This guide covers each step and what to decide in it.
Why campaigns stall
Vidovo, a UGC platform, wrote in July 2026 that “creator marketplace campaigns usually do not stall because brands cannot find creators”. It names five places where they lose time: treating sourcing as the whole strategy, briefs that are either too vague or too controlling, feedback scattered across email, chat and spreadsheets, usage permissions that nobody tracks, and results that are reviewed late and never linked to what was in the video. Vidovo sells the software it recommends, and its article gives no survey data, so read it as one practitioner’s checklist of failure points. The seven steps below answer each of them.
The seven steps
| Step | Decide |
|---|---|
| 1. Goal | One aim and one number |
| 2. Brief | What the video is for and must show |
| 3. Creators | Who makes it, and how many |
| 4. Rights and product | License, delivery, dates |
| 5. Review | One place, one decision per video |
| 6. Use | Where each video runs |
| 7. Learn | What to change in the next batch |
1. Set one goal and one number
Influentials, a creator platform, starts its first-campaign guide with goals and KPIs, set before any creator is contacted. It lists example measures for three goals: brand awareness (reach, impressions, video views), content generation (asset volume, hooks, paid ad performance) and direct sales (click-through rate, promo-code use, cost per acquisition). Pick the one that matches why you are commissioning videos. A campaign to fill a product page with proof and a campaign to find a winning ad hook need different briefs. How to choose and read the numbers is covered in how to measure UGC performance.
2. Write the brief
Influentials says a brief should cover the brand background and objectives, do’s and don’ts, the specification of what is delivered and the deadlines. Vidovo adds that a good brief is built around outcomes: product details, the audience, a direction for the hook, must-say points, an avoid list, usage rules and past examples, while leaving room for the creator’s own voice. Keep it to one page. Templates for beauty and skincare and fashion are ready to copy.
3. Choose creators, and start small
Influentials names three ways to source creators: manual outreach, open briefs on creator marketplaces and specialized platforms. Whatever you use, look at the work rather than the audience size; the checks are in how to choose a UGC creator, and the places to look in how to find UGC creators. Vidovo uses “one or two creators” as an example of a small start and says problems appear quickly at 10, 20 or 50 creators. Those are illustrations, not research findings, but the logic holds: a first batch you can review closely teaches more than a large one you cannot.
4. Settle rights and product delivery before filming
Influentials puts contracts and usage rights before sending products or payments, and says the agreement should cover where the video may run (organic social, website, paid ads), whether whitelisting is included, exclusivity and payment terms. The levels are explained in UGC usage rights explained. If creators need the product, plan the shipping now: see how to send products to UGC creators.
5. Review in one place
Vidovo’s fix for scattered feedback is to keep submissions, comments, revisions and approvals in one place, so everyone sees one version of the request. Insense, another platform vendor, suggests a review checklist built from the original brief, so a video is judged against what you asked for and not against a new standard. The method is in how to review UGC videos.
6. Use the videos
Decide before filming where each video will run, because that decides the format and the license: a product page, paid social, email or your own feed. See UGC on product pages and UGC ads for beauty and fashion.
7. Learn and brief the next batch
Vidovo recommends recording what went into each video next to what came out: the creator, hook, format, length, call to action, platform, type of use, spend, and results such as click-through rate, hold rate, conversions, cost per acquisition and return on ad spend. It adds that performance should be judged by creative angle, not just by creator name. If you test ads, see UGC ad creative testing.
A campaign checklist
- One goal, one number, written down before the brief.
- A one-page brief with the must-show points, the avoid list and the dates.
- A small first batch you can review closely.
- Rights and product delivery settled in writing before filming.
- Feedback and approvals in one place, judged against the brief.
- A note of the hook, format and result for every video.
On Usicri
On Usicri, steps 2 to 5 live in one campaign. You write the brief in the description, choose the category, set the payout per video and how many videos you want, and say whether you send a product. Creators come to your campaign; there is no creator search or direct invitation, and a campaign is not guaranteed to receive submissions, so a clear brief and a fair payout matter. You watch each submission and approve or reject it, and you can add a short reason that the creator sees. You pay only for the videos you approve, with no platform fee at the moment, so there is no deposit. An approved, paid video comes with a non-exclusive, worldwide license without time limit that covers advertising (section 5 of the Terms of Service). See how it works for brands.
To set a campaign up on Usicri field by field, see how to launch a UGC campaign on Usicri.
When several videos come in for the same campaign, see how to choose between UGC submissions. For the campaign page itself, read how to attract creators to your UGC campaign.
For the brief, read how to turn customer reviews into UGC briefs and how much creative direction to give.