Hire UGC
How to hire UGC for your brand
Updated 27 August 2026
Hiring UGC means commissioning a creator for a natural-looking video you publish on your channels. You write the brief and pick the profile. On HICARI the price is closed and the rights are included. You pay for a file you can use on social, web or ads.
What UGC is and why brands buy it
Hired UGC is content with a real face, hands or setting that you publish. It is not a production-house spot and not an influencer post. You buy it because it performs in paid at a lower cost per piece, and because viewers do not flinch the way they do at a polished ad.
It is the wrong tool for a brand film that needs cinema. It is the right tool for an ecommerce team testing 8 hooks a month. The longer definition is on What UGC is.
Examples of UGC produced for brands
Food, beauty, automotive, telecoms and leisure share the same bar: readable product, clean audio, hook in three seconds. The full gallery lives on UGC examples.
What you can ask a UGC creator for
Three different jobs. Mix them in one WhatsApp thread and you pay for revisions. Decide which one you need this month.
Content for your channels
The file for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, web or the product page. The creator shoots to your brief and delivers the master. You can start with one video. This is UGC in the strict sense.
A post on the creator’s profile
A post on their account, sometimes with paid on top. It fits if their audience is your niche. Metrics come from the network. Do not call it UGC: it is amplification. You can combine both, but the brief must split deliverables.
Creatives for paid media
Variants of the same product with different hooks for Meta Ads or TikTok Ads. Ask for several creators if you are testing. On HICARI, one year of paid is already included. UGC for Meta Ads and TikTok Ads covers variants and measurement.
UGC for Meta Ads and TikTok Ads
How to hire UGC in three steps
The flow has not changed: brief, creator, review. Each step has its own page, so this hub does not swallow templates and price tables.
1. Write the brief
Product, tone, length, language, forbidden claims and where the video will run. A vague brief creates revisions; a precise brief creates a usable first cut. The template is on How to write a UGC brief.
2. Pick the creator
Check portfolio, city, language and whether the profile fits your customer. Do not pick on followers alone: pick on product evidence on camera. On HICARI you can post the brief or request a specific profile.
3. Review and publish
Validate the piece against the brief. If it fits, publish it on your channels or request the profile variant. Book one revision round in the agreement, not in an endless chat.
What it costs to hire UGC
On HICARI the price is closed: from €70 for a Standard 15s video. That €70 is what the brand pays. It includes one year of paid use and unlimited organic. No subscription. No fee to register and post a brief. Volume is the number of creators, not a pack or minutes ladder. There is a 30-day refund.
Length, creator level and number of creators move the total without an invented tier table. A small shop asking for three creators is not a 12-person production house. It also does not replace a TV spot. What a UGC video costs lists inclusions and the comparison.
Which usage rights you need
On HICARI you do not open a rights table. The closed price includes unlimited organic on your channels and one year of paid. There is no extra line for “if we later put it on Meta”. When the year ends, the next job is another video.
Off-platform each brand writes its own contract: terms, whitelist, territories, exclusivity. That is another world, and it sits on paper before the shoot. Here the brief already carries the use. Whitelisting (ads from the creator’s profile) is not the Standard video default; if you need it, the brief states it as a different job.
UGC versus influencer marketing
With UGC you buy the file. With influencer you buy a post on their profile. Influencer wins when you need a specific audience on Tuesday. UGC wins when you need ad variants. You can combine them. The comparison table is on UGC vs influencer marketing.
How to post the search
Signing up on HICARI is not a “tell us your brand dream” form. It is a search: product, format, deadline and number of creators. If you cannot write that on one page, you are not ready to hire. The brief template is the same content, copyable.
A community manager can post the search. A paid lead should review claims before the take enters Ads Manager. Legal should see banned lines. If those three people do not talk, the video comes back in week 3.
Do not ask for “a creator with good energy”. Ask for city or accent if they matter, language, whether a face must appear, and three tone examples (links, not adjectives). The portfolio filters more than a Pinterest moodboard.
Ecommerce, ads and what you should not brief
If the take goes on the PDP, ask for proof of use, not an aggressive hook. If it goes on Meta, ask for several hooks: on HICARI that means more creators or more videos, not a rights surcharge. If it goes to both, say so: two cuts. UGC for ecommerce and UGC for Meta Ads and TikTok Ads stop an intern from cropping the master badly.
Do not brief a 90-second slate spot and call it UGC. Do not brief 40 SKUs with one video. Do not ask for “worldwide all use in perpetuity” as if the closed model did not exist: on HICARI the use is already defined.
A common mistake is briefing “five videos to see what happens” with no internal owner. Someone has to upload the file, measure and pick the next hook. If that person does not exist, the UGC sits in a drive. Name the owner in the brief.
If this is the brand’s first job, limit the experiment: one SKU, one format, a few creators. You learn in two weeks. A twenty-video “launch kit” with no hypothesis only fills a folder and an invoice nobody defends on Monday.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of content can I request when I hire UGC?
Testimonials, unboxings, tutorials, soft comparisons, “a day with the product” or objection handlers. You set format, length and tone. The creator brings natural delivery, not a rigid teleprompter script unless you ask for one.
Can I choose the creator?
Yes. You can search profiles and send a direct request, or post an open brief and review applications. In both cases you decide who you work with.
What does it cost to hire UGC?
On HICARI, from €70 for a Standard 15s video. It includes one year of paid use and unlimited organic. No subscription and no signup fee. Volume is the number of creators. There is a 30-day refund.
What rights do I have over the video?
The ones in the closed model: unlimited organic on your channels and one year of paid. Do not assume “all rights forever” or a whitelist if the brief does not ask for it. Off HICARI each side writes the contract.
Are UGC and an in-profile campaign the same?
No. UGC is the file for your channels. An in-profile campaign is a post on the creator’s account. You can combine them, but the brief must split deliverables.
Is this website the marketplace?
No. The guides live here. To post a brief or apply, the site is HICARI, which this project is part of.