In short: UGC has its own vocabulary, and the same word often means different things on different platforms. This glossary explains the terms brands and creators meet most, in plain language and grouped by topic: the basics, rights and licenses, creative, performance, rules, and money. Where a term links to a longer guide, start there if you need the detail.
The basics
- UGC (user-generated content): Content made by people rather than by the brand. In paid UGC marketing, a creator films a video to a brand’s brief and the brand licenses it for its own channels. See what UGC marketing is.
- UGC creator: A person who makes such videos for brands. Brands pay for the video, so the quality of the work matters more than audience size.
- Influencer marketing: Paying a creator to post to their own audience. You pay for distribution as well as content. See UGC vs influencer marketing.
- Faceless UGC: Videos that do not show the creator’s face, for example hands, product close-ups and a voiceover. See faceless UGC.
- Brief: The brand’s instructions to a creator: the product, the message, do’s and don’ts, format and deadline. See the UGC brief template.
- Campaign: A request for a number of videos for one product or goal, usually with a stated price per video.
- Gifting (seeding): Sending free product in the hope that someone creates content. It does not guarantee a video. See free product vs paid UGC.
- Marketplace: A platform where brands and creators find each other and agree on work, often with payments handled by the platform. Compared in UGC platforms compared.
Rights and licenses
- Usage rights (license): What the brand may do with a video: where, for how long and with which edits. The creator normally keeps the copyright. See UGC usage rights explained.
- Organic usage: The brand posts the creator’s content on its own channels.
- Paid usage: The brand runs the content as an ad from its own account.
- Whitelisting: The brand runs paid ads through the creator’s own social account, so the ad appears under the creator’s handle. Also called creator licensing, and usually priced separately. See partnership ads, Spark Ads and whitelisting.
- Spark Ads: TikTok’s ad format that lets advertisers use organic TikTok posts as ads. For other creators’ posts it needs the creator’s permission, given with an authorization code. See UGC for TikTok Shop.
- Partnership ads: Meta’s name for ads that run from a creator’s or other partner’s handle on Facebook and Instagram, with the partner’s permission. See partnership ads, Spark Ads and whitelisting.
- Exclusivity: A promise not to make similar content for competitors for a defined category and period. One contract guide suggests keeping it narrow.
- Work for hire: A model in which the brand owns the finished work. In a license model, the creator owns it and grants rights.
- Raw footage: The unedited clips, so a brand can re-cut them. Ask for them in the brief if you need them.
- Portfolio rights: The creator’s right to show the finished video in their own portfolio.
Creative
- Hook: The first seconds of a video, designed to make the viewer keep watching. See UGC video ideas and hooks.
- Call to action (CTA): The line or visual that tells the viewer what to do next.
- B-roll: Supporting footage, such as close-ups of the product, that is cut in over the main shot.
- Talking head: A shot of the creator speaking straight to the camera.
- Voiceover: Narration recorded over footage, instead of speaking to camera.
- Unboxing: A video of opening a product and giving a first impression.
- Fit check: A fashion video that shows how an item fits, with size and height stated. See fashion try-on and fit videos.
- Get ready with me (GRWM): A format in which the creator talks through a routine or outfit while getting ready.
- Safe zone: The area of a vertical frame that stays clear of the platform’s buttons and captions. See UGC video specs.
- Burned-in subtitles: Text that is part of the picture, as opposed to closed captions that the viewer can switch off. See captions and subtitles for UGC videos.
- UGC ad: A UGC video used as paid advertising. See UGC ads for beauty and fashion brands.
- Revision round: One request to change a delivered video. Agree how many are included before filming.
Performance
- Creative testing: Running variations of a video against each other, changing one thing at a time, to learn what works.
- Creative fatigue: The drop in results when the same ad is shown to the same people too often.
- Hook rate (thumb-stop rate): The share of viewers who stop and start watching. Platforms and tools define it differently, so write down your definition. See how to measure UGC performance.
- Hold rate: How well a video keeps viewers after the opening.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The share of people who saw an ad and clicked it.
- Cost per acquisition (CPA): What you spend to win one customer or one purchase.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): Revenue earned for each unit of ad spend.
- Social proof: Evidence that other people use and like a product, such as real-person videos and reviews.
Rules
- Disclosure (#ad): Telling viewers about a payment, a free product or another connection with a brand, clearly and with the content itself. See UGC disclosure rules.
- Cosmetic claim: Anything a video says or shows about what a cosmetic product does. It needs evidence behind it before it is made. See cosmetic claims in UGC.
- Synthetic media (AI-generated): Images, audio or video produced or altered by AI. Platforms and some laws require realistic examples to be labeled. See AI-generated UGC vs real creators.
- Affiliate link: A tracked link that pays its owner a commission on sales. The commission has to be disclosed. See referral vs affiliate programs.
Money and platforms
- Payout: The money a creator receives for a video or a balance of videos. See how UGC creators get paid.
- Platform fee: A charge a platform adds to, or takes from, payments. Models differ widely; see UGC platforms compared.
- Escrow: Money a platform holds until the brand approves the work.
- Retainer: An ongoing agreement for a set number of videos each month.
- Rate card: A one-page list of a creator’s base price, add-ons and what each includes. See the UGC rate card template.
- Minimum payout: The balance a creator has to reach before a payout is made.
- Referral program: A program that rewards a person for bringing someone to a platform. See UGC creator referral programs.
On Usicri
On Usicri a brand’s campaign sets the payout per video and the number of videos; the creator submits a video, the brand approves or rejects it, and an approved, paid video comes with the license described in section 5 of the Terms of Service. Payouts are made through Stripe once the balance reaches the minimum payout. See open campaigns. When creators bring a brand, they can also earn 10% of its video spend for 12 months, plus a 50 USD bonus once its paid videos reach 150 USD; the details are in how to refer brands and earn commission.