Authenticity thrives on TikTok. The platform predicts that in 2026, users will come to TikTok for unfiltered and real content that shows “real process and people over curated perfection.” TikTok user-generated content (UGC) enables businesses to tap into genuine enthusiasm.
Paired with TikTok Shop and the platform’s other native shopping features, UGC also acts as a useful ecommerce tool. By incorporating UGC into product pages or including direct links to online storefronts from UGC videos, you can encourage customers to make purchases based on social proof.
Read on for a deeper look at what TikTok UGC is and how to incorporate it into your marketing. Plus, get inspiration from successful brands for working with UGC creators and encouraging real users to produce content.
What is TikTok UGC?
TikTok user-generated content (UGC) is content that customers create on the social media platform about their genuine experiences using brands’ products or services. An important element of UGC is that real people, instead of brands, make the content.
TikTok UGC can be content that users post without any prompting. Brands can later repost this content on their feeds or repurpose it as ads that blend in with the rest of the content on the app. Brands can also reach out to creators to make UGC on their behalf.
For example, through TikTok’s Branded Missions, companies can put out a call for UGC. As creators post their TikTok videos, brands boost posts that are performing organically. Brands then pay creators once the campaign ends.
UGC offers a form of social proof, the psychological phenomenon that describes people’s tendency to rely on the opinions of others to make decisions.
6 ways to use TikTok UGC
- Repost UGC
- Stitch UGC
- Create Spark Ads
- Invite UGC creators to TikTok Showcase
- Repurpose content on other channels
- Post on your website
Here are six ways to use TikTok user-generated content.
Repost UGC
If you want to draw attention to UGC, repost it to your TikTok account. This is a strategy that pimple patch brand Starface uses. In April 2026, it shared a video of rapper and songwriter Baby Miko wearing its patches while lip syncing to her and Luísa Sonza’s song “Safada.”
While the reposted video doesn’t appear on Starface’s main content feed, it can still appear on users’ For You page with a label that shows that Starface reposted it.
Stitch UGC
Another option for sharing UGC is to stitch the content, a feature that allows you to share clips of another user’s video in your own content. Pickle brand Good Girl Snacks uses this feature to share UGC.
For example, social media personality Alix Earle shared a video where she struggled to open a jar of Good Girl Snacks pickles she had been looking forward to eating all day. The video ends with her triumphantly celebrating getting the jar open after several failed attempts. Good Girl Snacks stitched the video to explain how they learned about the video and how many orders they received as a result.
The stitched video received more than 20,000 views, hundreds of comments, and hundreds of reposts.
Create Spark Ads
Another option is to take user-generated content that is performing well and create Spark Ads through the TikTok Ads Manager in partnership with the creator. This native ad format blends into the rest of the content on TikTok. According to TikTok, Spark Ads let brands create campaigns with minimal resources and establish brand trust by using organic content.
Spark Ads are also a type of shoppable ad, so you can link to one or several products within the video. If users click the link at the bottom of the screen during an ad, they can shop your products directly from TikTok Shop.
To find high-performing UGC, use Content Suite, a UGC catalog on TikTok.
Invite UGC creators to TikTok Showcase
TikTok Showcase is a curated storefront where creators can display products and earn commissions on any sales attributed to them. If there are any TikTok creators with whom you’ve had success, you can invite them to sell your products via TikTok Showcase.
Tyler Dulay Reyes creates user-generated content for a variety of businesses, including tattoo care brand Mad Rabbit. In one video, he applies the aftercare gel to his new tattoo. If users are interested in the product, they can purchase it directly from his video.
Repurpose content on other channels
If you have UGC that performs well on TikTok, consider using it on other platforms to get more value out of it. That’s what the curated book subscription Book Box did. After working with a nano-influencer on a video that received 100,000 views overnight and led to a stream of sales, it decided to repurpose the video as a paid Meta ad in partnership with the influencer.
“If it’s performing well organically, it will always perform well on paid advertisement because you are promoting it to the right audience,” says cofounder Carl Matheson in an interview with Shopify.
Similarly, the team at beauty brand Kopari repurposed a well-performing UGC image as an in-store display. “TikTok content being used in-store is really critical to our success because it not only drives efficiency, but it’s really that sort of less-polished content on TikTok that resonates across channels to drive more eyeballs,” says Toral Patel, Kopari’s senior vice president of marketing and ecommerce, on an episode of Shopify Masters.
Post on your website
UGC can also add a human feel to your website. According to Jaz Fenton, cofounder of design firm Otherhalf Studio, brands sometimes have great content from customers on their social media, but that UGC is noticeably absent from their websites.
“Their website is just super curated, and you don’t get that kind of human-to-human feel,” she says on Shopify Masters. “It’s very typical with a lot of out-of-the-box themes to have your social media grid at the bottom of your footer. I would definitely challenge people to use those other content blocks, where they might put more of a curated editorial image, and maybe play with some UGC video.”
Tips for TikTok UGC marketing campaigns
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when crafting your TikTok UGC strategy.
Work with creators who are fans
Partner with creators who post about your brand with sincere enthusiasm. Rosie Johnston, founder of fragrance brand By Rosie Jane, believes that customers won’t be moved if the content doesn’t feel authentic.
“Everything has to have meaning,” Rosie says on Shopify Masters. “If there’s no substance behind it, the average consumer is smart and knows they just saw this same influencer talking about the exact competitor’s fragrance.”
To combat this, Rosie works with creators who are already posting about the brand. “They already love our brand,” she says. “They’ve already had an interaction with it on their own, and then we will work with them or leverage content that they’ve already created.”
Hire UGC creators
Brands should post frequently on social media, according to Kenzie Epperson, cofounder of on-demand content creation platform Content Bar. If you hire UGC creators, your business can continuously add new posts, creating a more sustainable content engine.
UGC creators are similar to influencers in that they partner with brands to promote products. Unlike influencers, UGC creators’ primary focus is creating content for brands that shows products from the user’s point of view, and they don’t necessarily have a significant following. Instead of relying on their own reach, they create content for a brand to share with its existing audience.
Look for patterns in UGC
UGC can reveal patterns about how customers use your products. When prebiotic soda brand Olipop got on TikTok, Steven Vigilante, the brand’s director of media and partnerships, spent time seeing how customers engaged with the brand on the platform.
“This thing was happening where people were pouring creamer into soda, and they love it on the internet,” Steven says. “We said, ’Let’s lean in. Let’s pitch that to Starbucks, who’s a customer of ours, and launch it with them nationally.’”
Paying attention to how your customers feel and how they’re engaging with your product holds potential for discovering new ways to advertise and potential ideas for collaborating.
TikTok UGC FAQ
Why is UGC effective on TikTok?
UGC is effective on TikTok because it generally isn’t overly polished or stylized, which is the type of content that performs well on the platform.
How do brands use TikTok UGC campaigns to drive sales?
One way brands drive sales is to create Spark Ads from TikTok UGC creators’ content to drive sales. These videos can link directly to one or several products on their TikTok Shop.
Do you need TikTok Shop to use UGC?
While TikTok Shop is the app’s native ecommerce platform, you don’t need to have a TikTok Shop to use or benefit from UGC. For example, you can repost or stitch UGC content, which can still introduce your brand to a wider audience.
