UGC glossary

The vocabulary is deliberately dull, which is how creators end up agreeing to things worth far more than they charged for them. Here is what each term actually means for your money.

Deals & outreach

UGC (user-generated content): Content created by an individual for a brand, which the brand then uses on its own channels and in its advertising. The brand is buying the footage and the licence to use it, not access to the creator's audience.; This is the distinction that makes UGC accessible without a following — and the reason UGC is priced as a production service rather than as sponsorship.; What is UGC (user-generated content)? →Read the full guide →
Brief: The brand's written instructions for a piece of content: the product, the message, required talking points, format, length, and any legal or claim restrictions.; A vague brief is the leading cause of unpaid revision rounds. Ask for deliverable count, format, hook direction, and mandatory claims in writing before you shoot.; What is Brief? →
Spec work: Content shot on your own initiative for a product you own, made to client standard, used to demonstrate capability rather than fulfil a paid brief.; The standard way to build a first UGC portfolio. Label it clearly as a concept piece — brands judge it on execution and don't expect every reel item to be paid work.; What is Spec work? →Read the full guide →
Pitch: A short outreach message proposing a specific piece of content to a specific brand, with proof of your work and your rate.; Effective pitches are around four sentences and name a concrete angle. Reply rates of 5–10% are normal for well-targeted cold outreach with follow-up.; What is Pitch? →Read the full guide →
Inbound vs. outbound: Outbound is you contacting brands; inbound is brands finding you through your portfolio, content, or referrals.; Outbound gets you your first clients. Inbound compounds and negotiates less, because those leads arrive already convinced — which is why a public portfolio page is worth building in month one.; What is Inbound vs. outbound? →
Retainer: A recurring arrangement where a brand pays a fixed monthly fee for an agreed volume of content, rather than commissioning each piece separately.; The single biggest stability upgrade available to a UGC creator. Two retainers cover the bulk of a month's income and remove most of the pitching load.; What is Retainer? →
Kill fee: A pre-agreed payment owed if the brand cancels a project after you have started or completed the work.; 50% of the fee is a reasonable ask. Without it, a cancelled shoot costs you the day and pays nothing.; What is Kill fee? →Read the full guide →

Rights & licensing

Usage rights: The licence defining how a brand may use your content: which channels, for how long, in which territories, whether exclusively, and whether they may edit it.; The most commonly under-priced element of a UGC deal. Always establish intended usage before quoting — a video for paid advertising is worth far more than one organic post.; What is Usage rights? →Read the full guide →
Organic usage: The brand posts your content as a normal, unpaid post on its own accounts.; The cheapest and most common licence; usually included in a base rate.; What is Organic usage? →Read the full guide →
Paid usage / paid media: The brand runs your content as an advertisement backed by ad spend, typically for a defined term such as 30, 90, or 365 days.; Directly revenue-generating for the brand, so it commands a meaningful uplift over base — commonly 25% to 100% depending on the term.; What is Paid usage / paid media? →Read the full guide →
Whitelisting / spark ads: The brand runs paid ads that appear to originate from your handle rather than the brand's account, borrowing your identity for credibility.; Distinct from ordinary paid usage and priced on top of it. You are lending your name, not just your footage.; What is Whitelisting / spark ads? →Read the full guide →
Exclusivity: A clause preventing you from creating content for competing brands for a defined period.; You are being paid to turn down work, so it carries a fee — commonly 15–30%. Negotiate the category definition narrowly and always bound it in time.; What is Exclusivity? →Read the full guide →
Perpetual buyout: A licence granting the brand use of the content forever, across all media, with no expiry.; Eliminates every future renewal conversation and all control over the asset. Price it as a multiple of your base rate, and prefer a term-limited licence where you can.; What is Perpetual buyout? →Read the full guide →
Work made for hire: A contractual arrangement in which the brand owns the copyright in the content outright, rather than licensing it from you.; Stronger than a buyout: you may lose even the right to display the work in your portfolio. If you sign one, carve out portfolio rights explicitly.; What is Work made for hire? →
Raw footage: The unedited source material from a shoot, as opposed to the finished delivered cut.; Handing over raws lets a brand produce unlimited new edits without you. It is a licensing question in technical clothing — price it separately or decline.; What is Raw footage? →

Production

Hook: The first one to three seconds of a video, designed to stop a viewer from scrolling past.; The highest-leverage part of any UGC deliverable. Offering two or three alternate hooks per video is a strong selling point, because hook testing is exactly how brands buy paid media.; What is Hook? →Read the full guide →
B-roll: Supplementary footage — product close-ups, hands, environment — cut in alongside the main shot.; Cheap to shoot and disproportionately valuable. Always capture more than you think you need.; What is B-roll? →
Talking head: A piece where the creator speaks to camera, usually as a review or testimonial.; What is Talking head? →
Shot list: A planned list of every shot needed for a piece, written before the shoot.; The difference between a 40-minute shoot and a three-hour one. It also prevents the reshoot that happens when you discover in the edit that you missed the product close-up.; What is Shot list? →
Revision round: One consolidated set of change requests from the brand, followed by one re-delivery.; Cap the included rounds in writing — one is standard — and price additional rounds. Uncapped revisions are how a profitable deal becomes an unprofitable one.; What is Revision round? →
Aspect ratio: The shape of the frame. 9:16 is vertical (short-form social), 1:1 square, 16:9 horizontal.; Shoot 9:16 by default for UGC, and frame with enough headroom that a 1:1 crop still works if the brand asks for one.; What is Aspect ratio? →

Money & admin

Rate card: Your published pricing by deliverable, with the licence terms each price includes.; A structured rate card gives you something to trade in a negotiation other than your price — you can concede a revision round or a shorter licence instead.; What is Rate card? →Read the full guide →
Media kit: A one-page document covering who you are, selected work, your rate card, usage terms, and turnaround — built to be sent to a brand and forwarded internally.; What is Media kit? →Read the full guide →
Net 30 / net 15: Payment is due 30 (or 15) days from the invoice date, not from delivery or from month end.; Always state the actual calendar due date on the invoice. Requiring the payer to calculate it adds delay for no reason.; What is Net 30 / net 15? →Read the full guide →
Deposit: An up-front portion of the fee, typically 50%, paid before work begins.; Standard in production work. It protects you against a client vanishing and quickly identifies brands that never intended to pay.; What is Deposit? →Read the full guide →
Gifted collaboration: An arrangement where the creator receives product instead of a cash fee.; Defensible once or twice to fill a portfolio gap. Note that in many jurisdictions gifted product is taxable income at retail value — log it when it arrives.; What is Gifted collaboration? →
Tax set-aside: A fixed percentage of every payment moved into a separate account to cover self-employment tax owed later.; The simplest defence against a first-year tax surprise. Set the percentage once and apply it from your very first invoice.; What is Tax set-aside? →Read the full guide →
P&L (profit and loss): Income minus expenses over a period, showing what the business actually earned rather than what it collected.; Knowing your per-client and per-category profit is what tells you which work to take more of and when your rates are due for a rise.; What is P&L (profit and loss)? →

Platform & performance

Ad library: A public, searchable archive of the advertisements a brand is currently running on a given platform.; The most reliable free way to identify brands that actively buy creator content — if they're running creator-style video ads, that footage is being purchased and replaced continuously.; What is Ad library? →Read the full guide →
Creative fatigue: The decline in an ad's performance as the target audience sees it repeatedly.; The economic engine of UGC demand: brands must continually replace tired creative, which is why a brand that buys once usually buys again.; What is Creative fatigue? →
Engagement rate: Interactions divided by reach or followers, expressed as a percentage.; Relevant when a brand is partly buying your audience. For pure UGC work — where the brand posts the content — it matters far less than the quality of your portfolio.; What is Engagement rate? →
CPM / CPA: Cost per thousand impressions, and cost per acquisition — the two metrics brands use to judge whether an ad is working.; Worth knowing because they are the language of the person approving your invoice. Content that lowers a brand's CPA is content they will buy again at a higher rate.; What is CPM / CPA? →

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