User-generated content (UGC)

Authentic, creator-style content, often short-form, made to look native rather than like a produced ad.

UGC is content that looks like it came from a real user rather than a brand studio. As an ad format it outperforms polished creative in social feeds because it reads as a recommendation, not an interruption. For B2B, UGC-style clips that show a product solving a real problem are increasingly used as paid social creative, with usage rights secured so the brand can run and iterate on them.