People trust people. That is why user generated content has become such a big deal for brands. Brands use real customers to show how great a product is instead of just telling consumers․
The format has changed over time․
These days‚ UGC can be anything: a photo of a customer taking a selfie with a product‚ TikTok reviews‚ unboxings‚ product tutorials‚ customer-designed products‚ memes‚ even screen recordings․
In 2026‚ Sprout Social discovered that consumers wanted brands to prioritize human-generated content above all else on social media platforms․
So, what does a good UGC actually look like? Here are 17 user generated content examples worth stealing ideas from.
1. LEGO Ideas (Let Customers Build the Product)
LEGO Ideas is a platform for users to submit designs for LEGO models․ When submitted models reach 10‚000 votes‚ LEGO may decide to produce them․
Why it works: Customers aren’t just buying the product․
Steal this: Give your audience a chance to influence your next product.
2. GoPro (Let Customers Do the Filming)
GoPro has built much of its social presence around footage captured by its customers. People submit everything from travel adventures to extreme sports clips.
The result? GoPro gets incredible product demonstrations without making every video itself. Hootsuite reports that three of GoPro’s top customer-submitted videos have generated hundreds of millions of combined views.
Steal this: Show your product doing its job in the real world.
3. ASOS #AsSeenOnMe (Turn Customers Into Models)
ASOS developed a hashtag‚ #AsSeenOnMe‚ asking shoppers to upload photos of themselves wearing the site-advertised outfits‚ which then appear in a stream for future shoppers․ It is simple‚ but useful․
Steal this: Let customers show prospective customers what it looks like to use your product․
4. Apple #ShotOniPhone (Let the Product Prove Itself)
Apple leveraged customer photography as a marketing campaign‚ #ShotOniPhone․
Instead of saying‚ “Our camera is amazing‚” Apple finds real photos people took and shows them on the screen․ This brings the product claim closer to reality․
Steal this: Let customers show your strongest product feature․
5. Chipotle (Make a Simple Challenge)
With Chipotle’s Lid Flip Challenge‚ customers were asked to record themselves quickly flipping a lid onto a burrito bowl․ The rules were easy to understand‚ and anyone could try it out․ That’s the beauty of a good UGC idea․
Steal this: Make participation so easy that people can join without thinking twice․
6. Fenty Beauty (Real People, Real Routines)
Fenty Beauty relies on creator videos‚ shade demos‚ GRWM videos and reactions that feel less like a beauty commercial and more like a friend’s recommendation to sell products․
Steal this: Show products being used instead of simply displayed.
7. Notion (Let Users Share Their Systems)
Notion’s template ecosystem gives users a reason to create and share their own workflows. People post templates, productivity setups, dashboards, and tutorials. The community effectively creates a huge library of content for the product.
Steal this: Turn your customers’ creative uses of your product into content.
8. Figma (Users Become Teachers)
Figma has a similar community advantage. Designers share templates, tutorials, workflows, plugins, and creative projects. The content does double duty: it teaches people something while showing what the platform can do.
Steal this: Encourage customers to teach others how they use your product.
9. Airbnb (Sell the Experience)
Airbnb benefits from customer photos and videos showing real stays. A cozy cabin. A rooftop view. A morning coffee beside the ocean.
That kind of content sells the feeling of the experience.
Steal this: If your business sells an experience, let customers tell the story.
10. Lululemon (Show the Product in Motion)
Fitness clothing is easier to understand when you see someone actually wearing it during a workout.
Customer workout clips, reviews, and outfit posts give shoppers a better idea of how products perform outside a studio shoot.
Steal this: Put your product in the situation where customers will actually use it.
11. Wayfair (Turn Homes Into Showrooms)
Wayfair encourages customers to share decorated spaces featuring its products. This gives potential buyers something catalog photos cannot:
Context.
Seeing a sofa inside someone’s actual living room can make it easier to imagine that sofa in your own.
12. Duolingo (Turn the Community Into the Content)
Duolingo’s social team is famous for responding to comments, jokes, and fan conversations with its mascot. The audience often gives the brand the next content idea.
That creates a fun loop:
Comment → brand response → new post → more comments.
Steal this: Pay attention to what your audience is already saying.
13. Gymshark (Celebrate the Struggle, Too)
Gymshark’s community content often features everyday people training, progressing, struggling, and improving. It feels different from fitness advertising built entirely around perfect bodies.
Steal this: Don’t only show the final result. Show the journey.
14. Book Box (Turn an Unboxing Into an Ad)
Book Box worked with a TikTok creator whose unboxing video reportedly generated more than 100,000 views overnight. The brand later turned the successful organic content into a paid Meta ad.
That’s a smart UGC strategy:
Test organically → find a winner → put ad spend behind it.
15. Heaven Mayhem (React Quickly to Viral UGC)
When creator Becca Bloom went viral discussing a Heaven Mayhem laptop case, the brand responded with products designed for her needs and used the moment to create a giveaway.
The lesson is bigger than the campaign.
Don’t ignore unexpected attention.
If customers start talking about your product, join the conversation.
16. Kopari (Take UGC Offline)
Kopari used a creator image in an in-store display. That helped spark more social content when people photographed the display and tagged the creator and brand.
This is a great reminder that UGC does not have to stay online.
Steal this: Give people something worth photographing in the real world.
17. Tech Brands (Screen Recordings Are UGC Too)
UGC is not only for fashion, food, or beauty.
Tech companies can use:
- Product walkthroughs
- Customer reviews
- Screen recordings
- Before-and-after results
- “How I use this tool” videos
- Real problem-solving demos
For a software product, seeing an actual person use it can be far more useful than another polished commercial.
This is where UGC style content can become especially powerful for technology brands.
What Can You Actually Copy?
The best user generated content campaigns usually give people one of four reasons to participate:
| UGC approach | What motivates people |
| Challenges | Fun and competition |
| Reviews | Helping other buyers |
| Community creation | Recognition and belonging |
| Product demonstrations | Sharing useful experiences |
You don’t need a huge budget either. Some of the strongest UGC content ideas can start with something as simple as asking customers to show how they use your product.
And yes, brands can turn strong UGC into user generated commercials and paid social ads. Shopify’s 2026 research highlights this exact approach, including brands repurposing successful organic creator content into paid campaigns.
Finally, The Real Secret Behind Great UGC
If you’re still asking what is UGC content, the simplest answer is this: It is content made by customers, fans, creators, or community members instead of your brand’s regular production team. But great UGC is about more than handing someone a product and saying, “Make a video.”
Give people a reason to participate․ Give them something interesting to show․ Then actually use what they create․
If you have an ecommerce brand‚ app or a tech startup‚ a Digital Marketing Agency can help turn those customer moments into a broader content strategy․
The most successful user generated content campaigns are ones where it felt like people wanted to be part of it․
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is an example of user generated content?
For example‚ this could be a customer posting a video review‚ unboxing‚ product photo‚ or social media post about a brand․
What is UGC with an example?
UGC stands for user-generated content․ It is used to describe content created by a brand’s customers and users․ An example is a customer making a TikTok showing how they use a skincare product․
How to start UGC as a beginner?
Create a couple of videos with products you already have‚ build a portfolio and start contacting brands that are looking for UGC creators․ You don’t need a large following to start․
Can you give me some UGC examples of videos?
Yes. Common UGC videos include unboxings, product reviews, tutorials, before-and-after videos, “day in my life” clips, product comparisons, testimonials, and first-impression videos