UGC content, short for user-generated content, is any content about your brand made by people outside your marketing team: customers, users, employees, or paid creators. It looks and sounds like something a real person made, because a real person did.
UGC started with customers posting unprompted reviews and photos. Today most brands also pay creators to produce content in that same native, unpolished style. For B2B companies, UGC does a job that brand content struggles with: it shows a buyer that someone like them uses the product and rates it.
Why UGC works in B2B
B2B buyers are sceptical of brand claims, and they do their homework before they speak to sales. LinkedIn's research found 77% of B2B marketers say buyers need to trust and know a brand before they will engage. The 2024 Edelman-LinkedIn study found nearly 73% of decision-makers trust thought leadership more than marketing materials and product sheets when assessing a company.
Consumer data points the same way. In Bazaarvoice's 2025 Shopper Preference Report, 1 in 3 shoppers said they had bought a product because a creator recommended it, rising to 56% among 18 to 34 year olds. Those 18 to 34 year olds are now your junior buyers, champions, and end users.
5 types of UGC content for B2B brands
1. Customer testimonials
A customer talking to camera about the problem they had and what changed. Selfie-style clips often outperform produced case study videos because they feel unscripted.
2. Creator-made product content
Paid creators film demos, walkthroughs, and problem-solution videos. This is the fastest way to get volume, and it is the engine behind Canvas UGC, where creators post daily to accounts your brand owns.
3. Employee content
Your team posting about their work, your product, and your industry. On LinkedIn, you can amplify these posts with Thought Leader Ads. It pairs well with founder-led marketing.
4. Industry voice content
Practitioners, analysts, and LinkedIn creators your buyers already follow, talking about your product or the problem it solves. This is B2B influencer marketing, and it carries the most credibility with a defined buyer group.
5. Community content
Reviews on G2 and Capterra, Reddit threads, Slack community posts, and user-built templates. You can't script this, but you can encourage it and share it with permission.
Where to use UGC content
- Paid social ads. UGC-style creative often beats polished brand ads on cost per click. On Meta, TikTok, and LinkedIn you can run creator content through the creator's own handle. Our paid social team builds campaigns around it.
- Landing pages. A 20 second customer clip near your call to action answers "does this work for people like me?"
- Organic social. Mix UGC into your organic social calendar so your feed looks like a company people use.
- Sales enablement. Give your sales team clips that answer common objections, to send between calls.
- Email and onboarding. Show new users how others got value in the first week.
How to get UGC content
Ask your customers. Time the ask to a win: after a renewal, a support ticket closed fast, or a milestone in the product. Make it easy with 3 prompt questions and a 60 second limit.
Pay creators. For volume and consistency, paid creators are the practical route. Choose between one-off video orders and an ongoing programme. We compare the options in Canvas UGC vs Traditional UGC vs Influencer Marketing.
Enable employees. Give your team topics, examples, and permission. Keep it voluntary.
Partner with industry voices. Brief them on the problem, not a script, and let them say it their way.
Rights, permissions, and disclosure
Before you use any UGC in marketing:
- Get written permission for every piece of customer or community content you reuse.
- Agree organic and paid usage rights, and how long they last, with every paid creator.
- Label paid content clearly. In the UK, the ASA's guidance for influencers sets the rules. In the US, see the FTC's Disclosures 101.
How to measure UGC content
Views and likes tell you whether people watched. They don't tell you whether UGC is growing your business. Track:
- Click-through rate and cost per click on UGC ads against your brand creative
- Trials, signups, and demo requests from UGC traffic
- Conversion rate on landing pages with and without UGC
- Pipeline and revenue influenced by UGC touchpoints
When we relaunched AI workspace Finden, creator-led video outperformed static creative across every placement. The average click-through rate across Meta reached 4.24%, and cost per landing page view fell to £0.57.
How Regen helps
Regen plans and runs UGC for SaaS, AI, and tech companies through our creator partnerships service, from one-off creator content to high-volume Canvas UGC programmes. For ideas you can use this week, see 9 UGC formats B2B brands can copy.
Want UGC that drives pipeline rather than likes? Book a strategy call.
UGC content FAQ
What does UGC stand for?
User-generated content: content about a brand created by customers, users, employees, or creators rather than the brand's marketing team.
Is paid creator content still UGC?
In marketing, yes. The term now covers paid creator content made in a native, unpolished style, as long as it is disclosed as paid.
Does UGC work for B2B?
Yes. B2B buyers want proof from people like them before they engage with sales, and UGC supplies that proof at scale.
What is the difference between UGC and influencer marketing?
UGC is about the content. Influencer marketing is about the creator's audience. A UGC creator might have no following at all, while an influencer's value comes from the people who follow them.
Want a direct view on your marketing?
Book a strategy call and we will tell you plainly where the opportunity is and what it would take to capture it.