Reinventing Myself: 3 Smart Moves I'd Do to Reboot My UGC Career

I've gotten this question a lot lately:

How did I get started in UGC?

UGC is all about making high-converting content, focusing on the types of content clients are looking for, how to build your best pitch strategy, having a damn good portfolio, and a bunch MORE!

I’ve learned SO FREAKIN MUCH over the past few years of working in this area. So much that it makes my head spin.

So I wanted to take you on a deep dive into the top three things I would do if I were restarting my UGC journey today. If I had to start all over and do it differently, what have I learned that would make this part of my business succeed even more?

What kind of content do I want to make?

I would go back in time and think about 1-3 different niches I want to be a part of and make content about.

You don't wanna be a jack of all trades when it comes to UGC.  

Because then brands that you really wanna work with will be like

How can you actually help me?

So, for example, my three niches are

• self-care

• pets

• things that help online businesses

When I was first starting out I did anything and everything to make money and that honestly negatively impacted my portfolio.

You need to hone in on those areas that interest you, that makes you excited to make content and invest your time building content around those things.

Make an Excel spreadsheet

I would take those 1-3 niches and make an Excel spreadsheet of at least 30 brands per niche that I wanna actually reach out to work with.

Yes, you heard right — 30 brands.
Don’t be afraid of the hard work!

Then, do a lot of research to find 

• email addresses

• contact information

• who actually is the decision maker for their business

You must reach out to the right people instead of just cold DM’ing because that doesn't work.

Work that portfolio

I would make damn sure my portfolio matches every single one of my selected niches.

I would make multiple examples like these:  

• Product deconstruction - Breaking down a product or service and creating content based on those components. For example, if you want to work with a pet video camera, and one of its features is motion detection, create content of your doggo triggering the motion detector and how accurate the product is.

• Product review - Same example here, make a video of you reviewing a pet video camera, and include how easy it is to set up and monitor your pet’s activity using their camera.

• Testimonials - What sets this pet camera apart from others? Do you know a friend who also uses the camera for their pet? How has it benefitted their daily life?

• GRWM - Get Ready with Me is trending in so many areas. Want to do something different with it using GRWM and a pet camera? What happens every time you go to the bathroom? Your puppy follows you, which is fine, except when you’re running late, need to finish your makeup, and Rufus just peed on the bathroom floor. So, keep the little guy in his fenced-off play area and get ready while you watch him on your trusty new pet cam!

• Vlog style - Leave for an afternoon and see what kind of footage your pet camera shows you. How many shoes did Rufus take into the living room and destroy? That box of crackers you left out last night? Yeah, they ended up all over the couch. Take these clips and turn them into content that can show viewers all the advantages the pet camera can offer them.

• Trending sounds - There’s nothing cuter than Rufus when he sings. Take his songs, add some trending sounds, and you’ve got a viral video in no time.

You need to have a variety of different types of videos, so you're not boxing yourself into providing only one kind of content.

I hope you find this information valuable and that you can learn from my experience of what works and what doesn’t.

If you’d like to talk about your own UGC journey, I’d love to hear from you. Maybe I could help you reinvent yourself, too.