How to Create and Execute a UGC Video Marketing Strategy That Grows Your Brand

Video is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience and drive action. In 2025, almost 90% of businesses are using a video marketing strategy, and most say it delivers a strong return on investment.

But not all video content performs equally. Highly produced ads often fall flat. What audiences really engage with is authentic content from real people. That’s why user-generated content (UGC) on Meta and TikTok is becoming a go-to tool for brands that want results without blowing their budget.

In this guide, you can learn the basics of developing a video marketing strategy, what to avoid, and how real brands are using Billo to grow with UGC that’s cost-effective and performance-driven.

TL;DR

Not ready to dive deep? Here’s what you need to know.

• Start with clear goals
• Use UGC to build trust and drive conversions
• How to create video marketing strategy: Tailor content for each platform
• Keep videos short, authentic, and focused on real user experiences
• Avoid over-polished content; authenticity resonates more with audiences
• Test different creatives and iterate based on performance data
• Leverage Billo to connect with creators and scale your UGC efforts efficiently

What is a Video Marketing Strategy?

A video marketing strategy is your game plan for using video content to reach the right audience, with the right message, on the right platforms. It’s not just about posting a few videos and hoping they land. It’s about creating content that aligns with your goals, whether that’s brand awareness, social proof, or direct conversions, and knowing how to measure its impact.

Right now, video is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolkit. People watch an average of 17 hours of online video each week, and that number keeps rising. But your audience doesn’t just want to be entertained, they want to trust the brands they buy from. That’s where a clear strategy comes in.

Why Video is so Powerful Right Now

Video works because it’s fast, visual, and easy to consume. You can explain a product in seconds, build emotional connection, and create content that’s made to be shared. Plus, most platforms prioritize video in their algorithms, especially short-form formats like Reels and TikToks.

More importantly, video helps you stand out in a crowded market. If you’re not using it, chances are your competitors are.

Beyond Brand Awareness: What a Strategy Should Do

If you’re only using video to build visibility, you’re leaving results on the table. A good video marketing strategy helps you:

• Explain how your product works
• Answer customer questions
• Show your brand’s personality
• Drive action, like clicks, downloads, or purchases

You don’t need a huge budget or an in-house team to make this work. You just need content that performs, and that’s where user-generated videos can shine. They’re flexible, scalable, and made for platforms where authenticity matters most.

For example, if you’re looking to connect through storytelling or product demos, UGC brand videos can help shape how people see and engage with your business.

Developing a UGC Video Marketing Strategy

If you’re serious about growth, you should approach how to create video marketing strategy with UGC in mind. It’s fast to produce, easy to scale, and built for platforms where polished content often gets skipped.

But for it to work, you need a clear direction, not just content for the sake of content.

1. Start with a Clear Goal

Every video should have a purpose. Are you trying to boost conversions? Drive clicks? Get people talking about a launch?

When you know what success looks like, it’s easier to choose the right format, the right message, and the right creators. That clarity is what turns casual scrolls into actual sales.

Did you know that 84% of people trust peer recommendations over ads? UGC works because it feels like a recommendation, not a pitch.

2. The UGC Brief

A strong UGC brief doesn’t need to be long. It just needs to be clear. What’s the product? Who’s it for? What’s the vibe?

Stick to essentials:

• One sentence on what the video should do
• Key product benefits
• Style direction (fun, relaxed, informative)
• Where it’ll be used, TikTok, Meta, Stories, etc.

Then let creators do their thing. The goal isn’t to script every word, it’s to help creators make something real that performs.

Monitor watch time, CTR, thumb-stop rate, and conversion data will show you what’s actually working. Use that data to adjust your briefs, test new angles, and scale what converts.

3. Think Beyond Content Volume

UGC isn’t just a way to fill your calendar. It’s a way to drive results, especially when you use it in paid ads.

Organic-looking content blends in with native posts. It builds trust faster and pushes users to take action without feeling like an ad. That’s what makes UGC such a strong fit for conversion-led campaigns.

Unboxing videos are a good example. They walk through packaging, product details, and first impressions, all the stuff buyers care about, filmed in a way that feels honest.

This video marketing strategy helped lingerie brand Bloomers Intimates increase its YoY revenue by 400%. The unboxing content showed real creators walking through product features and fit.

Create Video Marketing Strategy for TikTok and Meta

Not all platforms behave the same. What performs on TikTok might flop on Meta, and vice versa. That’s why a smart video marketing strategy takes channel behavior into account. You don’t need separate campaigns for everything, but you do need to tailor content to how people scroll, watch, and react on each app.

TikTok: Fast Hooks and Raw Energy

TikTok users scroll fast. You’ve got about 3 seconds to grab their attention, and keep it. That means ditching long intros and jumping straight into something that stops the scroll.

What works:

• Quick hooks (a bold claim, a surprising visual, a problem-solver)
• Real people talking straight to camera
• Trends, sounds, and voiceovers, if they feel natural
• No hard selling

TikTok is a “sound-on” platform, so audio matters. That could mean music, dialogue, or clever use of silence. Just make sure it feels native. The moment a video feels like an ad, most users are gone.

TikTok users now spend an average of 95 minutes per day on the app. If you’re not there, or not making content that fits, you’re missing reach and relevance.

Meta: Performance-Focused, Built for Testing

Meta (Instagram + Facebook) gives you more room to test and optimize. Reels, Stories, and in-feed placements can all work for UGC, but the approach is different.

On Meta, successful UGC tends to be:

• Short, snappy, and clear
• Focused on benefits and outcomes
• Captioned for silent viewing
• Designed for paid performance

Think of UGC here less like a lifestyle reel and more like a social-first product demo. You want to answer objections, build confidence, and make the next step obvious.

Want to go viral? Spoiler: it’s not luck. It’s structure, pacing, and clarity. UGC just happens to deliver all three if your brief is tight and your creative is real.

Trail Hound applied this viral user-generated video content marketing strategy on Meta. The shift helped them grow in a competitive market. 

Biggest Pitfalls in Video Content Marketing Strategy

Creating video content is easy. Creating video content that performs is not. 

1. Polished Doesn’t Mean Better

A studio-grade ad might look good, but that doesn’t mean it’ll convert. Viewers are trained to swipe past anything that feels like an ad, and most polished videos do. UGC wins because it blends in. It feels like content, not marketing. That makes it more likely to get watched, trusted, and acted on.

2. Skipping the Feedback Loop

One video won’t tell you much. What works for one audience, product, or format might flop somewhere else. The brands getting real results from UGC are the ones testing different creators, messages, and visuals, and learning from what the data tells them.

If you’re not iterating, you’re guessing.

3. Forgetting Your Audience

Trends change fast. So do buyer expectations. If your video content sounds off, uses outdated references, or misses what your audience actually cares about, it won’t land. Always start with what the customer needs to know, not what you want to say.

Staying on top of video marketing trends can help you build content that’s relevant and timely, without chasing every fad.

The team at Good Protein needed videos that connected with a diverse target audience without losing engagement or draining their ad budget. This is where finding authentic creators who could tap into the right trends helped.

4. Why Billo Makes Developing A Video Marketing Strategy Simple

You don’t need to chase down creators, write complicated briefs, or manage endless edits. Billo connects you with vetted creators who know how to make scroll-stopping UGC, fast.

You stay in control of the messaging, visuals, and review process, without the usual guesswork.

Ready to get started? Browse creators and launch your first UGC campaign in minutes.

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