Hey everyone, I’ve been running UGC campaigns for the past 3 years and noticed some major shifts in what’s working. Spent the last couple weeks analyzing our top 100 performing videos from 2024 (across fashion, beauty, and SaaS) and thought some of you might find this interesting (might be obvious to others, figured I’d share anyways).
Quick methodology note - I only looked at videos that hit over 100k views and had at least 2% engagement. All were organic posts, no paid promotion.
The biggest surprise to me is that length doesn’t really matter anymore. In 2023 everyone said “keep it under 30 seconds!” but our best performing videos averaged 1:47. People are actually watching longer UGC if (big if) it’s actually useful.
Here’s what seemed to work consistently:
“Behind the scenes” style content crushed traditional testimonials. Videos showing real usage/implementation got 3x more engagement than straight reviews
Raw, imperfect footage > polished content. Videos with minor mistakes or bloopers actually performed better
Specific numbers/results > generic claims. “I saved $436 last month” performed way better than “I saved money”
The biggest change in trend I’ve seen is that lower production quality videos often outperformed professional ones. Seems like people are getting suspicious of overly polished content.
Big pain points we faced:
Coordinating with creators is getting harder and more expensive
Turnaround times killed several campaigns
Keeping messaging consistent across multiple creators was a nightmare
Looking at 2025, I’m seeing a few emerging trends:
More focus on process/implementation videos
Growing demand for quick-turnaround content
Audiences wanting more authentic, less scripted material
Rising creator costs (saw 40% increase in rates last year on average)
Curious what trends you all are seeing? Also, any tips for managing creator coordination? That’s been our biggest headache lately.
Luca said:
Some good insights here - thanks for sharing.
One trend I’m seeing is brands mixing AI content with creator content to scale faster. Anyone tried this hybrid approach?
Yeah, we’ve been experimenting with this. Using real creators for our main campaigns, but started testing AI for daily content and variations. Most AI platforms we tried looked pretty fake, to be honest, but we found one called Sprello AI that’s surprisingly decent. Think they’re still in early access, though. Been using it for about 2 months—not perfect but helps with the scaling issue and we’ve seen good engagement with the videos still
This is interesting! Just out of interest, looking at the bigger picture, what percentage of your videos qualified for this study (i.e what percentage of your videos hit over 100K views?)
I might add that organic vs paid ad UGC is worlds apart and need to be approached differently… paid style UGC ads do not work as organic at all and organic and viral style often don’t perform well in paid ads… so keep this in mind…
Great insights here. I agree that authentic material is going to be crucial in 2025. People have a pretty easy time identifying AI, and as more companies try to implement it, audiences will be looking for real human beings.
I think it’s a good idea to find a creator who feels and understands your product. Such a creator can make a more valuable and interesting video with a poorly written script. I think a good option is to give the creator more freedom to create content.
What were your KPIs in determining what worked? What does your typical fee structure look like? It’s seeming like it’s becoming more common to create affiliate partnerships with creators instead of front-cost UGC videos. This could help reduce some of your costs in 2025 or at least increase your ROI