Influencer vs UGC creator — what’s the difference? Content creation has become a necessary marketing tool for brands and companies in the last decade. The road to building a career as a creator used to be shrouded in mystery. Today, there’s an increasing demand for authentic content. That means monetizing your content now has two prominent paths: becoming an influencer or a user-generated content (UGC) creator. Understanding the differences between these roles is crucial for aspiring and experienced content creators aiming to make informed career decisions. In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between pursuing an influencer career versus a UGC creator career. As always, I’ve packed it with actionable insights to help you choose the right path for your content career. 

Influencer vs. UGC Creator: What are the differences?

Influencers, as we traditionally know them, are content creators who have built loyal followings on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Despite popular belief, vanity metrics such as follower count don’t determine someone’s title as an influencer. Anyone can be an influencer regardless of the size of their community. What makes an influencer an influencer is their primary focus on growing and engaging a community of their own, while influencing purchasing decisions through their authentic recommendations. When influencers work with brands on sponsored campaigns, they create content about that brand or product on their own social channels, in order to reach their followers. 

Unlike influencers, UGC Creators produce content specifically for brands to use in their marketing strategies and campaigns – not content to grow an audience of their own. UGC (user-generated content) itself encompasses any and every type of content from text, videos, images, and reviews. The emphasis is that these assets are created by real, everyday people, and not the brand itself. 

Brands pay UGC creators to produce a set number of content deliverables. These are then leveraged as social media posts on the brand’s page, ads, and websites. The deliverables are posted by the brand and are not meant to be posted on the UGC creator’s social channels. 

Understanding Key Differences: Influencer vs. UGC Creator

Now that you’re familiar with the different roles, let’s jump into the key differences in responsibilities as either an influencer or UGC creator. These differences cover 3 main areas:

• Audience Interaction
• Commitment
• Earning Potential
• Creative Freedom

Audience Interaction

Influencers: A key responsibility of an influencer is to build and maintain a relationship with their followers. Building an engaged community is a crucial aspect as brands collaborate with influencers in order to get in front of their communities to influence their purchasing decisions.

As such, influencers often share personal stories and behind-the-scenes experiences with their communities to form a closer, more trusting relationship. They’re also posting regularly to their own Instagram accounts. Additionally, they’re incredibly public-facing as they film themselves speaking to their audience.

UGC creators: The sole focus of a UGC creator is on creating content for brands. A UGC creator has no obligation to build a following. They also don’t have a responsibility to interact with a brand’s audience.

Simply put, UGC creators don’t need to have a single follower to successfully turn content creation into a lucrative career. They also have the option to refrain from creating and posting their own organic content, and might even find UGC opportunities that allow them to remain faceless.

Commitment

Influencers: Time plays a huge role in choosing between pursuing a career as an influencer vs. a UGC creator. There are two different aspects to think about when considering commitment and time. The first is how soon you’d like to make money from content. Secondly, how much time would you like (or do you have) to dedicate to content creation?

To me, there’s nothing more satisfying and fulfilling than building a career that allows you to do more of what you love while fostering a community of like-minded people who share those interests. It’s a rewarding experience that is worth every minute of the journey. 

But building a career as an influencer takes time and effort. It took me 2 years of consistently investing most of my free time into this path before I could safely quit my corporate job. The commitment and time investment will definitely compound over time, leading to an incredibly rewarding career.

UGC creators: One of the biggest differences between influencers and UGC creators is the amount of time needed to build a successful career and how much time is spent creating content each day. Because UGC creators don’t have an obligation to build a community of their own – one that knows, likes, and trusts them – they don’t need to dedicate as much time as influencers each day to their creative careers. It also means they can focus solely on creating content for brands, so they can get started on monetizing their content pretty quickly. Overall, it requires fewer hours on the day-to-day and takes less time to see success. 

It’s why getting a start as a UGC creator is a popular path for many aspiring influencers. UGC can be a fast-starting side hustle that can eventually earn you a full-time salary. Which brings us to…

Earning Potential for Influencers

Influencers: Generally speaking, influencers have multiple opportunities to establish several streams of income. While the bulk of an influencer’s earnings typically come from brand partnerships, their earnings can also come from affiliate marketing, selling their own digital or physical products, as well as UGC opportunities and more.

Influencers can also choose to monetize their communities through paywalling exclusive content with Instagram’s Subscriptions feature, or they could monetize their influence on platforms such as Tiktok, YouTube, Patreon, and Substack.

Focusing solely on brand partnerships, influencers earn more than UGC Creators. That’s because a brand is also paying to get in front of the influencer’s audience in addition to having content created. While pricing greatly depends on a number of factors, including size of audience, rights, whitelisting, etc… Influencers typically see an average monthly income of $5000-$8000, and they have the potential to grow their income to the high 6 and 7-figure marks and beyond.

Earning Potential for UGC Creators

UGC creators: UGC creators are paid for the content they deliver to a brand. This can range from videos, images, reviews, and text. This model allows creators to earn without relying on having established a personal audience, or having to worry about how a sponsored post will perform on their pages. 

Getting started as a UGC creator is much more accessible than building a career as an influencer since your earning opportunities can start as soon as you want them to – even with zero followers. However, the earning opportunities for UGC creators don’t have the same upper limits that Influencers do. Typically, UGC creators earn on average $150 – $212 per post delivered to the client, compared to a wider range of $100 – $5000 per post for influencers, with mega influencers and more making up to $10,000+ per post. It’s because of these factors that UGC creators don’t break beyond the 6-figure income line without expanding their experience into becoming influencers.

Creative Freedom

Influencers: Because of the various types of content that influencers have to create (e.g. content to nurture, educate, inspire, or entertain their audience), Influencers have more autonomy and creative control over how they present their personal content. When it comes to brand partnerships, influencers have to follow the brand’s guidelines to ensure that their content aligns with the goals of the brand but they typically retain some creative freedom.

UGC creators: Given the nature of UGC, UGC creators have to work within a brand’s guidelines to align with the specifics of the campaign for which they’re being hired. While there certainly may be flexibility depending on the company, the parameters for how creative you can get depend on the brand you’re working with, but they tend to be a lot more rigid than when brands work with influencers.

Choosing UGC: Opportunities for UGC Creators

There has never been a better time to start your career as a creator. UGC is becoming a cornerstone of modern-day marketing strategies. Brands value authentic, consumer-style content that feels relatable and trustworthy. According to a survey conducted by Billo, 93% of marketers who used UGC in 2024 saw significantly better results through UGC campaigns versus traditional branded content.

Unlike influencers, UGC creators don’t need to stretch themselves too thin. The focus is solely on creating content for brands. They also don’t have to familiarize themselves with the algorithm and analytics, since the backend information isn’t visible to the creator themselves. And while UGC creators create assets for different platforms, knowing how to navigate platform specifics isn’t a necessary part of building a successful UGC career. 

Couple UGC’s low barrier to entry with the ever-increasing demand for authentic content from brands, and UGC is a great place to start if you’re just taking your first steps to becoming an influencer.

However, there are some crucial skills you need to be familiar with to succeed and create a lucrative career through UGC. Knowing how to create visually appealing, on-brand content will position you to thrive. Similar to a résumé, UGC creators should develop a portfolio on Canva or Adobe Express that showcases the types of content they can offer to brands before pitching brands and UGC agencies, joining job boards, or UGC platforms.

Growing Your Digital Presence: Opportunities for Influencers

Graduating to the role of influencer is a natural next step for UGC creators. Influencers have the unique opportunity to cultivate a personal brand and community. This long-term investment can lead to consistent – and lucrative – sponsorship deals. 

It also lends itself to establishing a diversified revenue model, including affiliate marketing, audience-supported subscriptions, and merchandising. 

How to Choose the Right Content Career Path

The choice to become an influencer or a UGC creator is entirely up to you. The best part? Both these roles aren’t mutually exclusive. Many influencers continue to accept UGC opportunities, further diversifying their income. On the other hand, many UGC creators are simultaneously building their platforms and audiences as influencers.

Here’s a quick guide on what to consider if you’re at the crossroads of starting your content career:

• Start Where You Are: You don’t need thousands of followers to start as a UGC creator. Brands care about the quality of your content, not the size of your audience. It allows you to get paid while keeping your Instagram profile between you, your friends, and your family.
• Focus on Your Strengths: If you’re interested in the creative aspects of creating visually stunning, brand-oriented content without having to show up online, UGC is the ideal creator career path for you. But if you have a desire to build a community of your own, eventually expanding your career to have more influence and opportunities, the influencer path is a great fit for you. 
• Invest in Skills: Learn photography, videography, and editing—these are skills that benefit both influencers and UGC creators. There are tons of free resources to help you do this, including posts like these on this blog, or helpful tips that you can find on the Catarina Mello Instagram page. 
• Network Strategically: Whether you’re an aspiring influencer or UGC creator, networking is key. Connect with brands and other creators in your niche. Finding a community of influencers and UGC creators is a great way to attract more opportunities your way.

Wrapping Up

Both influencers and UGC creators have an array of unique opportunities in today’s digital landscape. By understanding the distinctions and aligning your goals with your strengths, you can carve out a successful path in content creation. Whether you’re building a personal brand, focusing on crafting stellar content for brands or doing both! The possibilities are endless—and 2025 is the perfect time to start.