THE BEST USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) “TERMS OF USE” DOCUMENT TEMPLATE IN 2024

The best User-Generated Content (UGC) Terms of Use document template in 2024. The best terms of use rules when using User-Generated content. The best template to document your rules in relation to UGC content.

Brought to you by Mau, a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at eDigital.

**THE TOP BENEFITS OF “UGC TERMS OF USE” DOCUMENT**

Wondering how you can legally repost photos and videos from people, influencers and customers on your social media channels?

Save thousands of dollars in disputes, lawyers and lawsuits with this exclusive and premium “User Generated Terms of Use” document template.

Avoid any concerns and get this premium template today!

Before you start collecting and re-posting (publishing) your user-generated content (UGC), you may want to understand the rules of how to repost UGC and protect your company and brands with a professionally written “User Generated Terms of Use” document that is accepted by all your content creators.

Learn below how you can legally repost content (photos, videos) using this best “User Generated Terms of Use” template and start having great success with UGC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A must-have template

This UGC Terms of Use template has become an essential tool for our team. It covers everything we need to ensure we can use UGC content with no issues. It’s an absolute must-have for any marketing team.

Alexandra P. ✅ Verified user

MARKETERS LOVE USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC)

A consumer survey commissioned by the social media platform: Olapic, found out UGC is 76% more trustworthy than branded advertising. It was also confirmed UGC is a great social media marketing strategy for curating and publishing unique content that – in some cases – your brand cannot create. And the best: it is free!

WHAT IS USER-GENERATED CONTENT?

Some of the best user-generated content examples are pieces of content created and shared on social media channels, blogs, websites and apps by the general public, content creators (videographers, YouTubers, TikTokers, photographers), brand ambassadors, influencers and/or customers that include your product, your handle, branded hashtag or a mention about your brand, business or employees.

A request for usage of this user-generated content is a common activity led by marketing and social media departments.

User-generated content example – Nike Air White Cement 3 – One of the World’s top 10 most followed brands on Instagram

IS IT LEGAL TO REPOST USER-GENERATED CONTENT?

A few years ago, Max Dubler, a professional photographer wrote a blog post that went viral about a brand that re-posted one of his photos without his approval or permission.

In “No, You Can’t Use My Photos on Your Brand’s Instagram for Free,” Dubler explains that he usually charges $25 for brands to repost his photos.

The brand replied that they “don’t pay for Instagram shares” and were willing to take the photo down. Dubler screenshot the conversation and shared it on Reddit where it quickly got 2,200 upvotes and 400+ comments.

This created a brand reputation issue that could have otherwise been easily successfully managed if they had had a well-crafted “UGC Terms of Use” document being accepted by each creator the brand reposted content from.

To avoid a PR disaster of your own – and to be fair to all content creators, influencers and customers posting about your brand – it’s important to write and publish a “User Generated Content Terms of Use” protecting your business and brand from any legal dispute.

Video equipment company GoPro uses UGC to sustain its Instagram, TikTok and YouTube channels, with its most viewed photos and videos all originally created by customers. Not bad for content that cost GoPro nothing to produce. In fact, UGC for GoPro become so important, that the GoPro marketing team now run their own awards show and promotes daily photo challenges to inspire its consumers to get creative.

Mau, A Senior Digital Marketing Specialist at eDigital

GoPro Redbull David Colturi diver – Instagram

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️What we needed it

We wanted to find a way users’ posts tagged with our promoted hashtags were ok to use for our marketing. This template was the solution. Thanks

Hannah R. ✅ Verified purchaser

ASK FOR PERMISSION

Always ask for permission before reposting someone else’s photo or video on your organisation’s social media channels. Giving credit by tagging or mentioning the content creator in your post is not enough.

Many marketers have the idea that if they ask for permission, the content creator will not accept or might not reply back. In fact, according to Crowdriff, 65 % of people will grant permission to use their photos within 24 hours.

Some of the best examples of “UGG request for usage” rely on having a “UGC Terms of Use” document already published on their official sites.

✪Expert note: When social media users hashtag your brand, it does not necessarily mean these users are giving you permission for your brand to repurpose their content.

All UGC – by default – is copyrighted by the owner or creator of that content.

You – as the brand manager – should explicitly ask for permission to repurpose it. You may also need the permission of any person depicted in that user’s photograph or video.

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HOW TO GET UGC APPROVALS

Step 1: Craft your “User Generated Content Terms of Use” Document

This is where this premium UGC Terms of Use template comes in handy.

Step 2: Publish your document on your official website

Make sure a link to your “UGC Terms of Use” is added to your website footer and sitemap, this way, visitors can easily access your document.

Step 3: Link to it from different pages and social media channels

Post regularly a link to your UGC Terms of Use document from your social media channels, making it easy for anyone to find your UGC Terms of Use document.

sephora ugc permission example

Step 4: Define the exact wording when asking for permission

Some options include:

“Hi [NAME] We love this photo! Can you let us use it for our social media channels and marketing materials? If so, please agree to our Terms of Use located on (your terms of use URL), reply with #yes[COMPANYNAME]”

By replying with “#yes[companyname]” your users are giving you permission to use your photo on your channels. Ensure you credit them (credit means mentioning her/his name and handle)

four seasons lodge Serengeti ugc permission example

Four Seasons Lodge – Serengeti Africa – UGC permission example

Give all UGC content pieces the same level of importance as any other copyrighted content. When reading your UGC terms of use, your customers should have no doubts about how you intend to use their content. Playing fast and loose with permissions may risk your brand’s reputation in the long run.

Step 5: Run a test for a couple of weeks

Ask some micro-influencers ( influencers with less than 5,000 followers) to give you permission to use their content and evaluate their responses

American Eagle UGC permission example

Step 6: Find a UGC management tool

Manually finding and asking for “content usage” permission can be a laborious task, especially for popular brands with millions of mentions on social media. You can use one of the best UGC management tools to search, ask permission & repost UGC at scale and report progress.

Step 8: Ensure records are kept

When paying for a UGC management tool, ensure the service level agreement (SLA) includes a section in relation to how they manage and keep “permission of usage” records. How often do they back up the records? will you have a copy of all the “permission of usage” records when leaving the tool? etc.

THE BEST USER-GENERATED CONTENT TERMS OF USE DOCUMENT TEMPLATE IN 2024

WHAT YOU GET

A three-page document professionally crafted by the eDigital team.
This exclusive and premium template covers all the points you and your content creators need to be aware of when re-posting or using other people’s content.
Easy format on Microsoft Word for quick edits.
Immediate download after payment, no need to wait 🙂

HOW TO GET THE TEMPLATE – STEPS

Complete payment on Paypal.
Once you complete payment, Paypal will show you a “return to merchant” link. Please click on that link to be taken to the page where you will find this premium template.

You can always contact us if you have any questions or issues. We respond fast! ⚡️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Great template

After publishing our new UGC Terms of Use on our website, we feel more confident using UGC content across our organisation. Really happy with the template.

Liam D. ✅ Verified purchaser

Note: Leveraging UGC on Social Media is surely a great way to supercharge your digital marketing for free. It’s incredibly important to follow the UGC rules to ask for permission and give credit to the content creator.

Next: Get your “UGC Terms of Use” template now!

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Conclusion

UGC is used across all stages of the customer’s purchase journey to help influence engagement and increase conversions.

When having the right UGC terms of usage, UGC content can be used on social media and other channels, such as email, landing pages, banner ads and even checkout pages.