You're Spending Budget to Get Consumers to Create Content. But Do You Actually Own Any of It?
UGC, incentivized reviews, fan communities. The strategy is smart. The part most brands miss is what happens to the content after it's made.
Big brands are starting to lean into something that's been true for a while. That the most credible content they'll ever have isn't coming from their agency partners. It's actually coming from their customers.
Big brands are starting to lean into something that's been true for a while. That the most credible content they'll ever have isn't coming from their agency partners. It's actually coming from their customers.
So, as a result, brands are designing and building programs to get more of it. Fan communities. UGC campaigns. Tiered communities where members earn rewards for posting, reviewing, referring. The strategy decks look great. The member experience is thoughtful. The content starts flowing in. All is well and you're thinking, "I nailed this!"
And then someone asks the question you didn't plan for… can we actually use any of this?
Can we put it on our product page? Can we run it in a paid ad? Can we share it with a retail partner for their PDP? Can we repost it? Do we have permission to do any of that, and more so, can we prove it?
For most brands right now, the honest answer is probably "not really", or at least not easily, or cleanly.
Why the FTC made this non-optional
Back in 2019, the FTC released updated guidance on influencer disclosure and ran its first enforcement actions in social media. The cases were instructive. One brand faced a 20-year recordkeeping obligation, another a $2.5M penalty. (Source: FTC v. Devumi, 2019) But the more lasting impact was the clarity the guidelines created around what counts as a sponsored endorsement.
The definition is broader than most people expect (shocking, right?). Any content created in exchange for something of value (e.g., points, rewards, tier access, free product) is considered an incentivized endorsement. That means when a member earns points for writing a review or posting a photo, a material connection exists between them and the brand. The FTC doesn't care that it was gamified or that it felt organic. They just care that it happened. The connection was there.
Once that material connection exists, the brand can't just take that content and put it to work in-market without the right permissions structure in place. Well, at least not legally. And not in a way that holds up to scrutiny from a retail partner, your legal team, or a regulator.
So the question then becomes how can your program be built so you can actually do something with all that great content?
The gap most programs are experiencing
Here's a scenario I see often. A brand builds a thoughtful loyalty program with incentivized content mechanics. We’re talking UGC challenges, ratings and reviews, community posts. The content gets created and it starts coming in. It gets counted in the dashboard. And then it sits there, because, whoops! They forgot the step about collecting the permissions at the point of creation. The rights weren't established, and nobody considered how to build that into the workflow.
So the brand goes back to paid creative. Produced content. Agency shoots. Stuff that costs more and converts less because consumers can tell the difference between something made for them and something made by someone like them. (Nielsen Consumer Trust Index: 92% of consumers trust peer recommendations over brand advertising.)
Loyalty & Reward Co has written about this pattern directly. Specifically around programs that generate plenty of activity but can't connect that activity to real business outcomes. This is one of the clearest versions of that problem. The asset exists, but the infrastructure to use it is missing entirely.
What "built to use" actually means
When a program is designed with content deployment in mind from the start, the rights and permissions are captured as part of the member interaction. A member submits a piece of UGC and the platform has the capability to handle the disclosure language, the usage rights, and the content governance in the same transaction that delivers the incentive. There's no separate legal process and there's no ambiguity about where the content can go. It's ownable.
That's when member content can be put to work. It can go on a product detail page. It can run in a paid ad. It can be shared with a retail partner. IT CAN BE ANYTHING! Ok, maybe that's too far, but it can do the thing it was always capable of doing. Influence the next person's decision, but now it can do it legitimately, traceably, and in a way the brand controls.
April Dunford talks about best customers as a blueprint in her book "Obviously Awesome." And Peter Fader speaks to this in "The Customer Centricity Playbook." Once you understand your best customers more deeply, everything they say and do becomes something you can use to bring in more people like them. Member content is exactly that. Real people, their real experience, in their own words or expression. The brands figuring this out aren't just collecting it, they're building the infrastructure to put it back in market and do what no marketing budget can replicate.
Incentivized content without rights management is just expensive UGC you can't use. But when you own it, that content becomes the thing that brings new customers in. Pair that with a loyalty program or fan community and you can nurture that relationship, influence desired behavior, and grow their value over time.
The conversation worth having now
If you're building a fan community, a UGC program, a tiered advocacy structure, or if you're evaluating platforms to run one, the rights and permissions question shouldn't come up in legal review after the program launches. It should be part of the program design and tech strategy conversation early on.
When brands take this approach they end up with something most of their competitors don't have. A content engine that feeds directly into retention and more effective acquisition (did someone say reduced CAC?!). Every member interaction that produces content makes the next campaign more cost effective and more credible. That's a huge growth asset!
We've worked with brands building exactly this kind of program and we've seen what happens when the rights piece is an afterthought versus when it's designed in from day one. If you're in that planning stage, or you’ve already got something running and want to talk it through, we're easy to talk to.
Sources: FTC Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, ftc.gov · FTC v. Devumi, FTC.gov/news-events, October 2019 · Nielsen Consumer Trust Index · April Dunford, Obviously Awesome (2019) · Peter Fader, Customer Centricity Playbook (2020)
