There is a very unfortunate phenomenon going on around TikTok right now where UGC coaches are scamming everyday people with false promises. UGC stands for user generated content, and in theory it is a simple idea. You, a regular person, make videos that brands can use as ads. Brands love this because people trust normal faces more than influencers. Influencers have kind of destroyed the whole field with their endless sponsorships and dishonesty, so regular people became the new marketing gold.
So how is this turning into a scam. Because yes, some people have genuinely built careers out of UGC. They made portfolios, reached out to brands, and got real invoices paid. It can work for a small number of people.
But now there is an entire industry of coaches who claim they can help you do the same. And most of them are not helping anyone. TikTok is absolutely flooded with UGC creators and the financial situation everywhere is getting worse. When people cannot find stable work, they cling to anything that might offer money or freedom. And these coaches know it.
I ended up talking with one of them. Her angle was very clever. She said that if you want to become a creator, just message her because she has brands looking for creators. That was already a red flag, because no coach on earth has brands lined up begging to pay random beginners. Still, I replied, because I wanted to see what she was really offering.
The moment the conversation started, she went straight into interrogating my mindset. Why do I want to create videos, what is my experience, why now, what is my emotional relationship with work. I answered honestly. I said that yes, I am in a situation where I need regular income, but I would prefer freelancing over a boring normal job if possible.
She immediately flagged me green and switched gears into aggressive selling. And not just a casual pitch. She sent me a five page long sales message that was full of every dirty sales tactic imaginable. Emotional manipulation, scarcity talk, subtle guilt tripping, and the constant framing that if I did not grab the opportunity right now I was basically choosing failure. It was the classic fear selling pattern, just stretched out into a novel.
Her pricing was listed as 79 euros plus VAT per month, in total 790€. Except here is the thing. That is illegal when you sell to private people. In Europe you must always include VAT in the price for B2C. You cannot hide it behind a plus sign like you are running a secret corporate negotiation. In B2B yes, that is normal. In B2C never.
I told her that I am not taking the course because I do not have the money. Her response was even worse. She tried to push me to take a loan through some partner company so I could pay the coaching in installments. She also threw in a 200 euro discount in the hopes that I would panic-buy my way into debt. Absolutely not. It was ridiculous.
After that conversation, I threw her entire pitch into ChatGPT, and even ChatGPT looked at it and basically went, no, she is not offering anything special. It was a bundle of empty promises packaged in motivational buzzwords. And the funniest part was that ChatGPT explained to me how to get started with UGC for free, without paying even one euro. That was the moment when something clicked for me. If an AI can give you more practical information than a human coach charging 79 euros plus illegal VAT, something is very wrong with the industry.
And then it came to my mind that in my past gamer influencer era on Instagram, I created beautiful photos simply because I enjoyed it. That was the culture. We highlighted games and talked about them because we liked them. Now I want to run a public experiment with UGC. I want to see if I can create beautiful videos and photos and actually find real companies willing to pay. Or if this whole industry has become a giant illusion where almost nobody earns money and the real business is selling courses to desperate people.
I am not hopeful. I am pretty sure I will not make even a single euro from this. But maybe it will be fun or interesting or frustrating. I have no idea yet.
At least I will find out the truth instead of buying a dream that does not exist.
Most of what they package is likely prompted from AI anyway.
Just have fun creating stuff. While I know that there are people who make money as various kinds of influencers and what not, I am not sure how many there really are who are able to make ends meet with it. I do know a couple though, however they also have some kind of name before they started doing it.
The difference between influencers and UGC creators is that follower count doesn’t really matter. Companies buy the videos and photos, your name isn’t attached to them, and you don’t post them on your own account.
If you look at marketing videos running as paid ads, most of them are made by regular people. Those are UGC videos, and brands pay for them. It’s actually a pretty big industry.
In the US, companies pay around 1,500 USD and up per video, while in Europe it’s closer to 150 EUR, so in the US it’s a huge thing.
If you’re curious about what kind of deals brands are offering, there’s a Reddit thread called UGC where companies post what they’re looking for and what their rates are. It’s actually really interesting.
That's is why the "coaches" are able to sell their bullshit