What You Need to Become a UGC Creator: The Full Checklist

UGC stands for user-generated content: videos that look and sound like a real person talking about something they use, because that is what they are. On a UGC campaign on SEMA Rewards, a brand asks you to film your own short video about its product and post it on your own account. Like every campaign, it pays for the views the video gets.

That is the difference from clipping. A clipper cuts footage that already exists; a UGC creator makes the footage. So this list has more about filming and less about finding moments in someone else's video.

1. The same free SEMA account

There is no separate sign-up. The creator account you make at semarewards.com joins clipping and UGC campaigns alike, and the Type filter on the Campaigns page shows only UGC. You need to be at least 18, or legally able to enter a binding agreement where you live, as the Terms of Service say, and one person has one SEMA account.

Your UGC work is counted on its own ladder. Your creator rank climbs with approved UGC videos and their views, separately from your clipper rank, and UGC campaigns look at your creator rank. UGC videos also earn double XP. How Ranks Work has the details.

2. A phone, good light and a steady shot

Brands choose UGC because it looks like real life rather than an advert, so a phone is the right camera. What matters more than which phone:

• Light. Face a window in daylight, or put a lamp in front of you, never behind you. Good light is what makes a product's colour and texture look true.
• A steady shot. A small tripod, or the phone propped against something. Shaky footage is hard to watch.
• Clear sound. A quiet room with the phone close to you. A clip-on microphone helps, but it is not required.
• A clean background. Nothing that pulls attention from the product, and no other brand's products in shot.

You also need the same editing basics as any creator: trim, export vertical 9:16, add subtitles, and use your phone's screen recorder, since most campaigns ask for a recording of a video's analytics when you claim what it earned.

3. Being on camera, or a way around it

Most UGC shows a person using the product, but your face does not have to be in every video:

• Beauty and skincare usually needs your face or skin on camera: the texture, the finish, the before and after.
• Tech and apps can be faceless. Your hands, the screen and your voice are enough for an unboxing or a feature shown working.
• Games can be played on screen with your voice over the top.

If a brief asks for something you are not comfortable filming, pick another campaign. Clipping by Niche describes what UGC campaigns in each category usually ask for.

4. The product, and the brief that comes with it

You cannot film a product you do not have. The brief names the product and what to say about it. If it does not say how you get the product, ask in the campaign's chat before you spend anything.

Most UGC briefs answer the same questions. Find each answer before you film:

• The product: what it is, and the facts you may state about it.
• Key message: the one thing viewers should remember.
• What to film: the scenes to show, such as an unboxing, using it in your morning routine, or a close-up a week later.
• Opening hook: how to grab attention in the first three seconds.
• Style and format: tone, length, subtitles and music, for example "casual and honest, filmed on a phone in daylight, 30 to 60 seconds".
• Call to action: what viewers should do next, such as buying through the link in your bio.
• Example videos: the kind of video the brand has in mind.

Then check What You Must Include on the campaign page: the hashtags, mentions and tracking links your caption must carry, and anything your bio needs. Look in Resources too, for files the brand has put up for your posts.

5. Honesty, inside the brief's limits

A UGC video works because viewers believe you. Use the product before you talk about it, and say what you actually noticed.

Stay inside what the brief allows. Briefs often list the claims you may make and the ones to stay away from, such as prices, comparisons with other brands, or results the product does not promise, and some say whether filters are allowed. A wrong spec or price, or a filter that changes your skin in a before-and-after, is a reason to reject a video. Follow your platform's own rules for labelling paid or branded content as well.

6. A social account that fits the product

The account you post from follows the same rules as a clipper's: on a platform the campaign accepts, public, verified on SEMA with a code in its bio, and with analytics switched on (on Instagram, that means a professional account). Some campaigns also set a minimum number of followers, and the campaign page says so.

Match the account to the product. A skincare video on a gaming account reaches gamers, who scroll straight past it. One account per niche, warmed up for a few days before your first campaign video, puts your video in front of people who might actually want what you show.

7. A way to get paid

The same as every creator on SEMA: a claim moves what a video earned into your wallet, and you withdraw it to a bank account or e-wallet in your own name. For a withdrawal above Rp 100.000 you send your KTP once. At the time of writing, the minimum withdrawal is Rp 50.000 and each withdrawal costs a flat Rp 10.000. How to Withdraw Your Earnings covers every step.

What you do not need

• To be an influencer. You are paid for views, not followers. Unless a campaign sets a minimum, a small account can join.
• A studio or a professional camera. Polished footage tends to look like an advert, which is exactly what UGC is not.
• Experience. The SEMA Academy and the daily class on Discord cover the basics, and once you join a campaign, its top posts show what works on that brief.

What gets a UGC video rejected

• Footage that is not yours, including the brand's example posts. They are for style reference only: never download or re-upload them as your own.
• The same video on two accounts, or posted twice. Every submission is its own video.
• A missing hashtag, mention or link, or a post on a platform the campaign does not accept.
• Claims or edits the brief rules out.
• Deleting or hiding the post after you submit it. It is checked again before your withdrawal is sent.

Checklist

1. I have a phone, good light, a steady shot and a quiet place to record.
2. I have the product, and I have used it.
3. I have read the brief: the key message, the scenes to film, the claims I may make and the call to action.
4. My account fits the product's niche, is public, is verified on SEMA and has analytics switched on.
5. I have a bank account or e-wallet in my own name.

Learn it live

New UGC campaigns are announced first in the SEMA Rewards Discord, and the daily class there looks at the videos creators bring. No account yet? Create one free at semarewards.com. Would you rather cut existing footage? Read What You Need to Become a Clipper.