How to Find The Right TikTok UGC Creators Among Thousands

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Do a TikTok search, and you’ll literally find thousands of TikTok UGC creators.

But picking the right creators is different from throwing a dice and going with whatever number you get.

You have to set up guidelines for picking the right creators for your business and UGC campaign.

Because the wrong creator can easily destroy the brand trust you’ve worked so hard to build.

So, this guide will go into steps to take to find the right TikTok UGC creators.

I also spoke with experts to tap into their experience in finding and collaborating with UGC creators. 

Let’s dive in.

1. Specify UGC campaign goals

Your UGC campaign goals guide every decision you make about your campaign, including the UGC creator you work with.

Some common goals for your UGC campaigns include:

• Product awareness
• Sales
• Lead generation
• Brand awareness

When setting goals, ensure they’re specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

These goals help you judge the success of your campaign.

Once you set a goal, the next thing is to define your ideal UGC creator.

2. Define the TikTok UGC creator you’re looking for

After setting your campaign goals, the next step is to define a TikTok UGC creator that can help you achieve those goals.

Defining the characteristics of your ideal UGC creator will help you sieve the wrong candidates from consideration.

The characteristics to define include:

• Follower size
• Popular content type
• Industry 
• Age range
• Engagement rate
• Cost range
• Location

Beyond these characteristics, the UGC creator should also be similar to your customers. 

After all, the UGC creator is creating content like a customer.

And a UGC creator similar to your ideal customer will have a bigger influence in terms of sales. 

For example, Shein usually collaborates with creators in their twenties as they’re more similar to their ideal buyers.

Before picking any UGC creator, you have to go through their profile to ensure they already create the type of content you want.

3. Consider UGC creators you already know

If you use TikTok regularly, you already encounter many UGC creators every day.

And if you engage with industry content, the TikTok algorithm is good at recommending similar content.

This means you already know some UGC creators before you need them.

But beyond the creators you see daily, other categories of creators you know include:

• Creators you follow
• Creators who have engaged with your content 
• Creators who have created content about your products

With creators you already know, you can easily assess if their content quality, audience engagement, and account fit your needs.

Also, people who already engage with your content and create content about your product without any incentive will be more open to collaboration.

And since they already know your product, they can easily draw from their personal experience when creating UGC.

Steven Hahn, digital marketing specialist at Online Optimism, says:

“Our team regularly digs through client comment sections and brand mentions – some of our best UGC partnerships started with someone who was already a fan posting great organic content. Got a customer who makes cool videos with your product? Reach out!”

For example, when I see Saje Wellness’s TikTok videos, I often see creators in the comments.

And many of them say positive things about the product featured. These people are potential UGC collaborators.

So, explore your accounts to find people you know or who have used your products. These are the low-hanging fruits to start with.

4. Use the right platforms and tools to find UGC creators

While you’ll find some good creators among those you know, they may sometimes be the wrong fit for your campaigns.

Then, if you want to promote a new product, there’s a low chance that creators have created content about it.

In this situation, you have to research creators who fit your needs.

Here are some platforms to find creators:

• TikTok
• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• Reddit
• Industry communities and forums
• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Collabstr (has a free search)

Search industry keywords to uncover people who create content about your industry.

From these searches, you can find the best fit for your campaign.

For example, if I’m looking for UGC creators for my beauty product, I’ll search for a term like “grwm” (get ready with me).

Many TikTok users who create these videos already create UGC. So I can easily find creators for my beauty product.

Whatever industry you work in, search for relevant terms creators can use in their content.

Beyond that, you can use creator tools like:

• TikTok Creator Marketplace
• Hypr by Julius
• Grin
• Insense

These tools let you search for creators based on criteria like location, size of following, industry, engagement, and more.

The option you go for will depend on the budget you’re working with. 

If you have a tight budget, you don’t want to spend money on an influencer marketing tool on top of paying UGC creators. In this case, you can use free platforms to find your TikTok UGC creator.

However, if you have a good budget and need creators with specific characteristics, spending on a tool will be worth it. 

Steven says,

“For clients with bigger budgets, TikTok’s Creator Marketplace has gotten much better lately. Used to be a mess, but now it’s decent for finding creators who fit specific demographic targets – especially useful when we need someone who speaks to a very particular audience.”

So, choose how you research UGC creators based on your needs and budget.

After considering the TikTok UGC creators you know and using these tools, you should have a shortlist of UGC creators to collaborate with.

5. Reach out to prospective UGC creators

Once you have a shortlist of UGC creators, you have to reach out about collaboration.

Many creators put their email addresses in their TikTok bio.

But if that’s missing, you can send your message on TikTok or other social media platforms.

What should be in your message?

You want to explain what attracted you to the creator and your campaign needs.

You should also explain why you think a creator will be a good fit for your campaign.

From the get-go, this shows the creator you know what you’re doing and have done your homework.

From here, you can discuss other aspects of your campaign.

An important discussion to have is exclusivity and usage rights. 

You don’t want a UGC creator to create content for your brand and competitors at the same time. This can destroy the trust you want to build with your UGC campaign.

So, exclusivity defines the amount of time the creator is unable to create content for a competitor.

Usage rights define where you’ll use the created content. Will you use it on your TikTok profile only or on TikTok profile, TikTok ads, and billboards?

The usage rights can affect how much a UGC creator will charge you. It also ensures you’re on the same page with the creator.

Refer to your attorney on these issues and let them draft your creator agreement.

Another important discussion is the creator rates and deliverables for the campaign.

After these discussions, you can decide if the creator will be the right fit for you.

Keep in mind that some creators will leave your messages unanswered. In some other cases, a creator may be unable to take on your work because of current engagements.

This isn’t a slight on your business. It’s not just the right time to collaborate.

When this happens, move on to the next name on your shortlist.

6. Provide campaign brief

Once you reach an agreement with a creator, you need to send them a campaign brief before content creation.

Campaign brief helps the creator deliver the best content for your campaign.

Then, it ensures you’re on the same page with the creator. Another thing you get from your campaign brief is a benchmark to judge the success of your campaign.

But what should go into your brief to get these benefits?

• Campaign overview
• Campaign objectives
• Brand messaging and tone
• Deliverables
• Content specifications
• Compensation details
• Legal requirements
• Content submission deadline

Here’s a campaign brief template by Meltwater:

Remember that a campaign brief template is just a guideline. You can customize your campaign brief to your business needs.

While your brief should be detailed, it should also give a creator some creative freedom.

Rather than restricting a creator with your brief, go through a rigorous shortlisting process to find creators who already create content in your brand tone.

This way, you’ll do less policing during the content creation process.

In some cases, you may have to pay a creator in advance before they get to work. This should have come up during your discussions.

Whether you’re paying 50% in advance or 100% after content submission, payment should always be when promised.

Steve says:

“Pay. On. Time. Honestly can’t believe I have to say this, but we’ve picked up so many creators from agencies that drag out payments. We typically do 100% payment on publish but consider 50% deposit, 50% on publish. Depends on the influencer.”

Once you deliver your campaign brief to your UGC creator, you’re ready to launch your UGC campaign.

Conclusion

UGC delivers a lot of social proof to sell more products.

And if you don’t have customers doing organic UGC, finding UGC creators is a route to get the benefits of UGC.

Again, you also have more control over the type of content you get when you hire TikTok UGC creators.

That said, hiring UGC creators should be a way to complement your content strategy, not be the whole strategy.

If you want to find and hire the right TikTok UGC creators, follow the steps in this guide.