How Brands Craft Engaging UGC Video Ads (Step-by-Step Guide)

Every day, people share little moments online: a quick clip of their morning coffee, an unboxing of a new gadget, or a short review of a skincare product. Those tiny snippets are more than casual posts—they’re a goldmine for brands. UGC video ads take these real-life moments and turn them into marketing content that feels authentic, relatable, and shareable.

In this guide, you’ll learn how brands create engaging UGC video ads that connect with real people.

• What Are UGC Video Ads?
  
• The Rise of AI in UGC Video Advertising
  
• Step-by-Step: How to Create UGC Video Ads Easily with AI
  
• How to Encourage Your Audience to Create UGC for Your Brand

What Are UGC Video Ads?

UGC video ads are just what they sound like: video content made by real people, not a brand’s creative team. Imagine your customer filming themselves showing how they use your product, or a friend sharing their honest reaction after trying something new.

The magic of UGC video ads is that they don’t try to sell—they show real life. People relate to what other people are doing, not polished commercials. When a viewer sees someone like them enjoying your product, it’s more convincing than any scripted ad.

In practice, this could be:

• A 15-second clip of someone using your app and sharing a tip
  
• A reaction video of someone unboxing your product
  
• A quick tutorial filmed by a fan showing the creative use of your product

These videos are short, relatable, and easy to share–precisely what makes UGC so effective. Your audience becomes both the storytellers and the amplifiers of your brand.

The Rise of AI in UGC Video Advertising

Real users rather than polished commercials capture some of the most compelling short clips. While brands recognize these moments are valuable, collecting, editing, and turning them into ads has traditionally been a slow and complicated process. AI has now come into play.

AI does not replace human input, but enhances it. Here’s how it helps brands produce UGC video ads more efficiently:

• Clever Editing: AI can automatically identify the best sections of raw footage, trim clips, and improve audio and lighting, maintaining authenticity while adding a polished touch.
  
• Captions and Enhancements: The AI UGC video tool can recommend subtitles, text overlays, and music that align with your brand’s tone without seeming artificial.
  
• Personalization at Scale: You can generate multiple versions of the same video, customized for different audiences, to find what resonates most.
  

With AI, brands can turn casual, user-generated content into videos that look both professional and authentic. Video remains relatable, but creation becomes faster, wiser, and more consistent.

Step-by-Step: How to Create UGC Video Ads Easily with AI

Imagine your product being shown by a friendly, relatable avatar – almost like a real user picking it up and sharing their honest thoughts.

This is precisely what Topview allows you to do. With a few simple steps, you can turn a product image and some text into a UGC-style video where the avatar naturally holds, presents, and talks about your product.

Here’s how you can create one:

Step 1: Pick Your Avatar

Start by logging into your Topview dashboard and opening the Product Avatar tool. Browse through the available avatars and choose one that fits your product’s style.

You can select gestures like holding a product in one hand or showing it from different angles, so it looks natural in the final video.

Step 2: Upload Your Product Image

Next, upload a clear, well-lit image of your product. The quality of this photo makes a big difference. After all, that’s what your avatar will look like.

Step 3: Position Your Product

Drag your product image into the avatar’s hands and adjust as needed. You can refine the placement or change the background mask, so the product sits seamlessly in the scene, making it look as if the avatar is really holding it.

Step 4: Preview and Choose the Best Look

Once positioned, click to preview your avatar with the product. Topview generates a couple of options, so you can pick the one that looks most natural.

Step 5: Add Voiceover and Generate the Video

Now comes the fun part: let your avatar speak. Enter your script and adjust the voice settings to match your brand’s tone. The avatar will present your product in a conversational, UGC-style way – like a real person giving a mini-review.

Once you’re ready, hit “Generate” to create your video. From here, you can download it or share it directly to social media or ads.

With Topview’s Product Avatar, even a single product image can be transformed into a lively UGC-style video ad. It’s quick, accessible, and still feels authentic—because your audience sees the product “in the hands” of someone who looks and speaks like a real user.

How to Encourage Your Audience to Create UGC for Your Brand

Once you’ve seen how easy it is to showcase a product with a Topview avatar, the next step is getting your real users involved. After all, nothing beats authentic content created by people who genuinely love your product. So how do you inspire your audience to pick up their phones and start sharing?

1. Make It Fun and Shareable

Challenges, contests, or simple prompts work wonders. For example, ask users to show their favorite way to use your product, or create a hashtag around a small, achievable task. Keep it fun – people love sharing when it feels like part of a trend or game.

2. Highlight Real Users

Feature user content on your social channels. When your audience sees others being recognized, it motivates them to achieve the same recognition. Sharing stories, reactions, or tips from fans creates a loop where engagement fuels the creation of more content.

3. Offer Incentives

Small rewards, discounts, or shoutouts can encourage participation without feeling forced. The key is to keep it authentic: the incentive is just a nudge, not the primary focus of the video.

By combining these strategies, you create an environment where your audience naturally becomes storytellers. The content they produce is authentic, relatable, and often surprisingly creative.

Conclusion

UGC video ads are powerful because they capture real moments in ways polished commercials rarely can. From product avatars to authentic user content, the key is to keep it relatable, shareable, and engaging.

With Topview, you can quickly create UGC-style videos, showcase your product with a digital avatar or enhance user content – keeping it authentic and engaging.