UGC and influencers: how to turn authentic content into actionable data

For years, brands have chased “authentic” content as if it were hidden treasure. We went from glossy ads to vertical video, from the studio to the mobile phone, from models to everyday people showing everyday things.
Every time we open TikTok, Instagram or any short-form video platform, we see the same scene repeated in different versions: someone, without lights or a studio, showing how they use a product, sharing an opinion naturally or teaching a trick you “didn’t know you needed”.

Sometimes it’s an anonymous creator, other times it’s a well-known profile.

It always looks spontaneous.

It never completely is.

UGC has become the most brutal laboratory that exists today to understand what activates your audience, what blocks their purchase decision, which angles work and which ones die after three seconds.

And in parallel, influencers have stopped being simply “accounts with millions of followers” to become cultural curators, key pieces to generate credibility and, above all, signals of trust that algorithms are increasingly taking into account.

The problem is that many brands still throw everything into the same bucket:
UGC, influencers, creators… as if they were interchangeable. They aren’t.
And when you use them the same way, you lose the only thing that makes them work: their difference.

The key is not choosing one over the other.

The key is understanding what each one brings and how to turn both into actionable learning.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• UGC: natural on the outside, structured on the inside

• Influencers: they don’t sell content, they sell context

• Quick comparison: UGC Creators vs Influencers

• The synergy between AI, data and business
  
  

UGC: natural on the outside, structured on the inside

An UGC video doesn’t need a familiar face, a studio or an epic storytelling. It needs something much harder to manufacture: naturalness that doesn’t distract.

UGC works because it:

• shows the product before the narrative,
• answers questions the user already has,
• recreates real conversations,
• doesn’t demand attention… it holds it,
• and speaks from usefulness, not from sales.

But its real value isn’t in the video. It’s in what the video allows you to learn.

Behind every UGC piece there are signals you can measure:

• which hook works,
• which pace keeps people watching,
• which framing people like,
• which CTA moves them,
• which tone really connects.

A UGC creator doesn’t sell you their fame. They sell you variations, and those variations are data. 

The more pieces you have, the more signals you get.
The more signals you get, the more creative intelligence you build.
The more intelligence you build, the better decisions you make.

In fact, the evolution of formats on social platforms shows that this type of content not only grabs attention but also keeps it, and that explains why in certain environments, especially highly visual verticals, UGC has shown a disproportionate impact on discovery, conversion and formats. 

Influencers: they don’t sell content, they sell context

Influencers have evolved a lot. Most brands still see them as “someone who gives us reach”, but that’s already outdated.

Today an influencer brings: social proof, a distinct voice, topical authority, emotional affinity, communities that actually listen.

An influencer doesn’t tell you “this is how you use this product”.
They tell you “this fits who you are”.

That doesn’t optimise CTR. That shapes brand perception, something no algorithm can force if the audience doesn’t feel it.

The common mistake is asking an influencer for direct performance when their strength lies elsewhere: making people trust, understand and care.

While UGC optimises, influencers contextualise. They don’t stand out for showing the product (that’s what UGC is for), but for something more intangible and valuable: credibility. If UGC feeds the algorithm, the influencer feeds the user.

And here’s something many brands overlook: micro-influencers, precisely because they’re not celebrities, generate a much more organic and persuasive type of impact, especially when it comes to triggering decisions.

The perfect clash: UGC generates signals, influencers generate meaning

When a mature brand understands this, it stops asking an influencer to “do something UGC-style”, and stops asking a UGC creator to “do content in your influencer style”.

Each one plays a very different role:

• UGC lets you learn fast → what works, what to repeat, what to discard.
• The influencer lets you grow solid → why you exist, why you matter, why you stand out.
  
  

The magic happens when they work together:

• The influencer creates the emotional frame.
• UGC turns that frame into action.
• AI translates all of this into learning.
• The campaign starts optimising itself.

The brand stops being just a message and becomes a system.

📊 Quick comparison: UGC Creators vs Influencers

How does all this turn into actionable data (for real)?

Here’s the secret almost no one talks about: it’s not about producing more content, it’s about producing content that generates signals.

When you analyse UGC and influencers from the right angle, you see things like:

• which type of narrative works best depending on the product price,
• which tone triggers intent in certain audience segments,
• which style the algorithm reads as relevant,
• which shot generates more retention on each platform,
• which message has more impact when it comes from an influencer vs from UGC,
• which value angles are universal and which are niche.

And suddenly, content stops being a bet
and becomes a scientific tool.

When you look at UGC and influencers as sources of signals, you get:

1. Creative data

Which narrative, pace, tone or style works best by platform.

2. Strategic data

Which values resonate and how brand perception changes.

3. Operational data

Which pieces support each stage of the funnel best, and which ones you should scale, pause or replicate.

This turns creativity into a continuous optimisation engine instead of a guessing exercise.

The perfect combination: signals + meaning

Real performance appears when you combine both worlds:

• The influencer provides the emotional and cultural layer.
• UGC validates, explains and accelerates the decision.
• AI connects the dots and learns which elements work best.

UGC without influencers → performance without brand. 

Influencers without UGC → brand without actionability.

Both together → a creative system that learns and scales.

UGC and influencers don’t work because they’re authentic; they work because they speak the language your audience and AI understand

2025 isn’t about creativity vs performance.
It’s about how you use creativity to generate performance, and how you use performance data to improve your creativity.

UGC and influencers are part of the same game, but they follow different rules.

UGC tells you what works.
The influencer tells you why it matters.
Data tells you how to repeat it.
AI tells you how to scale it.

And if you do it well, your brand stops relying on creative luck
and starts operating like an intelligent system.