10 Best UGC Platforms for Brands

User-generated content (UGC) is a marketing strategy that changed the game for brands focused on driving local behavior and looking for ways to diversify their channels. Instead of producing all your social media content in-house, you can lean on followers, customers, and influencers to produce it for you.

But it still takes work to find the right influencers, build creative relationships with them, and generate authentic, high-quality content.

UGC platforms help brands:

• Find creators.

• Verify their engagement rates.

• Check for culture fit.

• Create contracts.

• Agree on rewards or payment.

They can be a lifesaver for solo marketers or small teams, saving time on searching and taking the uncertainty out of creator relationships.

Sound like a great strategy for your brand? Here are the 10 best platforms to find UGC content creators if you want to generate more buzz based in specific areas.

1. Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds is a platform for discovering influencers that's built on one idea: local is better. 

It's the only location-based influencer platform on the market — and it's supported by research, too. A study by the American Association of Marketing found that geographic location makes word-of-mouth marketing more effective.

And, while "local" may make some people think "small," it's a fact that smaller influencers tend to have higher engagement rates. They're closely in touch with their audiences, they interact with local brands instead of global ones, and they often pick up on UGC trends faster than brands can spot them. 

Hummingbirds connects brands with hyperlocal UGC creators who actively want to collaborate with them.

Here's how it works:

Hummingbirds finds real people who create authentic content for small audiences.

• These UGC creators — called hummingbirds — are based in specific cities, so they have a wealth of hyperlocal knowledge and connections.

• The hummingbirds choose which brands they're interested in, so you can pick from a shortlist without spending time on outreach.

• Brands reward hummingbirds for their posts with products or gifts.

• You can view posts and their impact from within the Hummingbirds dashboard.

Hummingbirds is ideal for brands that want to build that hyperlocal buzz and sales. From large CPG brands like Olipop and Goodles to franchises like Waxing the City to tourism organizations like Experience Grand Rapids, these companies turn to Hummingbirds to activate real people who can experience and share their brand.

2. Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice is a social content platform with a huge stack of features. In addition to collecting UGC, fast-growing e-commerce brands can take advantage of more advanced tools to do things like: 

• Add shoppable tags to UGC posts for social commerce.

• Get product reviews from their community of on-demand reviewers.

• Use in-store activations and retail syndication to showcase their social media content in stores.

Bazaarvoice is built for e-commerce brands that are scaling up fast. It's a powerful platform, but there are some downsides for smaller and more local businesses. For example:

• The pricing structure is complicated, with a lot of add-on features.

• Customer support levels vary depending on your pricing plan.

Many of Bazaarvoice's features are focused on the online shopping experience rather than social media.

3. Flowbox

Flowbox is one of the top UGC platforms on the market right now. It comes with a lot of smart enterprise features, including:

• Automated collection of social media posts from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube

• Moderation tools for social media channels

• Media rights management framework for campaign management

• Integrations with e-commerce platforms like Shopify and multi-currency support

Flowbox describes itself as "built for the most demanding brands" across a huge range of industries. Like Bazaarvoice, it's made for big businesses — with the pricing to match. In addition:

• Some reviewers found it difficult to use the platform effectively.

• There's no free trial currently available.

4. Tint

Tint is billed as "the community marketing platform." In addition to collecting UGC from social media platforms, it also offers:

• AI tools for sourcing and curation of UGC

• Tools for collecting reviews and social proof

• Interactive contest and polling features to engage followers and collect UGC

Marketers like Tint for its ease of use — especially for running contests. However, there are a couple of downsides:

• Tint uses AI profiling to optimize targeted campaigns instead of relying on real local knowledge.

• Some users found it difficult to sort through content and find details for specific posts.

5. Yotpo

Yotpo is built for customer retention rather than branded content. However, it still works for digital marketing efforts across social media, email marketing, SMS, and loyalty programs. You can use it to:

• Automate the collection of reviews with AI

• Add shoppable tags and widgets to UGC galleries

• Streamline your metrics using a simple analytics dashboard

Overall, Yotpo has some useful tools. But if you're specifically focused on local influencer marketing, it may not be right for your brand, since:

• You can only contact customers to ask for reviews as a paid add-on.

• Many features are geared toward subscriptions and loyalty programs, which may not be useful for small businesses or destination brands.

6. Aspire

Aspire is a user-generated content platform that's mostly built for paid marketing campaigns. Its tools have a strong focus on paid affiliate marketing, branded ads, and sponsored posts. Aspire’s features include:

• Tools to search for and reach out to influencers

• Task management for influencer marketing campaigns

• Convert UGC videos, customer reviews, and unboxing videos into ads

• Agency Services team that can run full campaigns on your behalf

For small brands on a budget, Aspire may lean too much on paid marketing channels. In addition:

• Users say that the analytics can be limited.

• Setting up contracts with influencers can be tricky and time-consuming.

7. Skeepers

Skeepers is a UGC platform aimed at engaging shoppers, and it skews toward European brands. Their products focus on live-streaming and video content. With Skeepers, you can:

• Collect feedback from shoppers throughout the customer journey.

• Run live shopping events.

• Get reviews and posts from their influencer community.

• Works with text, video, and visual content.

Skeepers has some really useful features for customer retention and understanding the customer journey. However, it's difficult to assess the platform's performance overall.

• Skeepers has been through a few name changes, so it's difficult to find accurate and up-to-date reviews.

• The platform caters mainly to European brands and may not be as useful for U.S. brands.

8. Fohr

Fohr is both a platform and agency for influencer marketing strategies. Its biggest selling point is its search engine for finding influencers, which makes it easy to:

• Discover influencers through keyword search and granular filters.

• Get detailed demographics about each influencer's audience.

• Verify the reach of influencers before you invest in a collaboration with them. 

Fohr is a powerful platform for enterprise and large e-commerce brands. However, we found it was weaker for local businesses and campaigns. And, as you might expect from the software + agency combination, it's pretty pricey.

• Access to the platform can be a significant barrier.

• While you can easily search by industry or audience size, location filters are usually limited to major cities.

9. Insense

Insense is a straightforward platform for social media management and UGC. It focuses on paid relationships with influencers, offering:

• Global database of over 20,000 influencers in multiple languages

• Built-in portfolio and rating system to help you choose collaborators

• Budget controls so that you only hear from influencers in your price range

• Direct messaging with influencers to speed up communication

Like many other UGC platforms, Insense offers you a choice between self-service or extra support. 

• You'll pay extra if you have more than one person on your marketing team or more than one brand to promote.

• You have to pay for content creation individually

10. Brands Meet Creators

Brands Meet Creators does exactly what the name implies: it's a platform that connects businesses and social media influencers. Its flexible contracts allow you to:

• Reward content creators with cash, equity, gifts, affiliation, and more.

• Take your creator relationships off the platform.

• Hire creators for social media management, not just UGC posts.

Essentially, Brands Meet Creators puts you in touch with creators — then everything else is on you. Some people love the freedom that offers, but others might miss the analytics and structure of other platforms. In addition:

• Brands Meet Creators doesn't offer any verification of influencer audiences, engagement, or conversions.

• Anyone can apply to one of your job postings, which means that you could have a lot of irrelevant profiles to sift through.

Tips for comparing UGC platforms

There's a huge range of UGC platforms on the market, from complex AI-driven corporate solutions to simple databases of creators' email addresses.

The right choice for you depends on your brand, budget, target audience, and how you prefer to work with creators. 

When comparing platforms, be sure to look at factors like:

• Pricing: Some platforms charge a flat fee, while others have add-ons. You'll also need to factor in the cost of paying influencers.

• UGC quality: There's a big difference between UGC that you can re-share on Instagram vs. UGC that you can use in a TV spot. Depending on how you plan to use the UGC, you might need to work with more polished influencers.

• Creative control: Depending on your brand strategy, you might be looking for influencers to create scripted UGC, or you may need more authentic content from real customers. 

• Target audience: Who are you trying to reach, and where do they live? Major influencers with millions of followers tend to have a global audience. Local influencers might only have a few hundred followers — but they'll make up for it in engagement, authenticity, and hyperlocal expertise.

• Frameworks and support: Some marketers are happy to work over email, while others prefer the security of vetted influencers with ready-made contracts. Look for a platform that suits your working style and offers plenty of customer support.

Hummingbirds is built for local brands running UGC campaigns. It offers structure, verification, and extensive customer support, and its creator community is made up of authentic, local people who create content on their own terms. 

Choose a user-friendly UGC platform that supports your business goals

Hummingbirds is the best platform for brands that want to connect with a hyperlocal community and drive local awareness and engagement. But don’t just take our word for it — here’s what Amy Vowles from Optimum Wellness Solutions had to say about her Hummingbirds experience:

“Within one month, I already made back my investment in Hummingbirds in new bookings that I can directly attribute to the promotion. That doesn't even include the ripple effect of future bookings or future referrals. Not only that, but we were able to grow our social media following by more than 11%, and our social media reach improved by nearly 70% in that window of time.”

Book a call with us and see the Hummingbirds effect within your own brand!