Part 2: rates I've seen over the years hiring UGC creators.

Bonus material including: allowlisting (formerly 'whitelisting'), video editing + creative strategist rates.

Hey UGC + Marketing friends! Before starting on Part 2, read (or listen to) Part 1 if you haven't already. In Part 1, I discussed my rates as UGC Creator. In this newsletter, I will discuss the rates I've seen over the years hiring UGC creators, along with bonus materials, including allowlisting, video editing, and creative strategist rates. Without further ado, let's dive in!

I'm going to go in the order based on these four experience levels:

• Beginner/Intermediate

• Advanced/Expert

*As a note, I prefer to hire creators at all experience levels so long as they understand and apply DR best practices. There's much to learn from a diverse ad set featuring UGC concepts from all experience levels!

Beginner + Intermediate UGC Creators: These creators are relatively new to UGC but showcase their understanding of direct response best practices and organic social nuances. Compared to creators who fall under "advanced" or "expert," these creators may have slight or noticeable imperfections in their portfolio. Still, they could easily be tightened up with a round or two of revisions.

For beginner + intermediate UGC creator rates, I've seen the following:

• For more intro-level creators, I've seen UGC concepts go for $125-$150+. I've noticed that creators that charge below $150/concept will base their rate on the finished concept's length (15 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.). This fee is usually a flat rate without alternate hooks, resizes, or usage rights. So hypothetically, if I wanted 1 concept with 2 hooks total, in 2 aspect ratios (4 deliverables + usage rights), we're looking at $250+ "per concept." *As a note, it's been said many times in the TikTok UGC Community that $150/concept should be the "industry minimum" to protect the industry.

• For more intermediate-level creators, I've seen UGC concepts go for anywhere from $150/concept with 12 months of usage rights upwards to $250+ per concept. This doesn't include alternate hooks to A/B test or resizes, so we'd be looking at an additional $150+ for those, putting us at $300 - $400/concept.

Advanced + Expert UGC Creators: These are creators that are experienced when it comes to UGC ad creation. They aren't new; however, their time spent working on their craft may range from 6 months upwards to years of experience as a UGC creator. Compared to creators who fall under "beginner" or "intermediate," these creators have a portfolio of work that tastefully executes industry best practices. Their content upholds overall industry standards, and their work mirrors a high-converting UGC ad. Their showcased work in their portfolio likely doesn't need any revisions, and working together looks like a maximum of one round of edits - if that.

For advanced + expert UGC creator rates, I've seen the following:

• For more advanced level creators, I've seen UGC concepts go for $250/concept and upwards to $375+ per concept (includes an alternate hook to A/B test). I will say these creators that fall under "advanced" will sometimes charge what an intermediate UGC creator is charging. If you are a relatively new creator, but your work falls under the advanced creator category, I challenge you to charge closer to $300+ per concept. Your work offers value, and brands should be okay with paying a more competitive rate for your concepts if they do offer that ROI. Most of these creators have a 12-month usage right agreement.

• For expert-level creators, I've seen UGC concepts go from $500 per concept upwards to $700+ per concept. This rate normally includes at least one alternate hook and option to resize. Usage rights are either tacked on or applied depending on the creator and how they run their business. The creator’s rate depends on their overall experience and accomplishments in the space. I haven't met many UGC creators that charge rates similar to mine (they are considered expert-level and come out to $$$ - $$$$ per concept). If you have the skillsets, expertise, portfolio, and case studies that reflect this expert level, consider raising your rates.

Bonus materials: allowlisting (formerly 'whitelisting'), video editing + creative strategist rates.

• Allowlisting rates (or Spark Ads for TikTok): as a creator offering this service you can go one of two ways - charging per day or month. For me, I charge per month to make it easier for invoicing (it also enables me the opportunity to make the total amount, compared to a few days worth). I mentioned in "Part 1" that I charge $500/month for Allowlisting on my Facebook page (3k+ likes) and Instagram account (50k+ followers + verified). I've offered day rates as high as $100/day for "trials." Believe it or not, a brand paid for 11 days to test out my account ($1,100 make it make sense - lol).

  
  I've seen micro-influencers charge $300/month or $10/day. Transparently, I've been trying to find a sweet spot rate to guarantee a "set and forget" relationship with my clients where they feel more encouraged to turn on allowlisting and just let me invoice them every month versus a brand feeling that I'm charging a higher price that leaves them being pickier on the months they use me. A point of contact has told me that I should consider charging more… but that is still TBD, and I will 100% come out with a future article discussing allowlisting and spark ads more thoroughly when I crack the code on a rate that genuinely "makes sense." I say this because brands make so much money when they run ads and can make even more money on your account running ads since it feels more native and less sales-y. $500/month may sound like a lot, but it's minuscule compared to the money the brand will make from allowlisting ads on your account.

  *If you're a creator that does allowlisting or Spark ads, I'd love to learn your rates and your page likes/follower count to better dive into this topic in a future article.

• Video editing rates (iPhone app editor + industry-standard video editor): Whether you're a video editor that edits content for brands on their phone or the computer, you shouldn't charge less than $30/hour. Editing is a craft that requires skill, time, and resources - so please make sure you're quoting projects wisely. I stick to my hourly rate and refuse to work with brands that prefer "project rates." I'm against a quoted project rate compared to hourly because it's easy to have a video editing project go way over the initial SOW - whereas charging by the hour protects your time as a freelancer.

  
  Industry-standard video editors will always make more than iPhone app-editors just because of the capabilities of Adobe Creative Cloud and other third-party professional editing tools. When I started as a professional organic social and direct response video editor using Adobe Creative Cloud, I was charging $50/hour, which eventually increased to $75/hour, and overtime increased to $100+ per hour. If you're a motion graphics editor, we're easily looking at $150+ per hour!

• Creative strategist rates (content ideation, scriptwriting, iteration suggestions, etc.): similar to video editing, it depends on the strategist's career experience. I'd say don't charge less than $30/hour, and depending on your expertise, we're looking at $100+ per hour (this is what I charge as a Creative Strategist). Depending on the working arrangement, I'll even charge $100/script concept [includes an alternate hook(s) for A/B testing] - which a DR script usually takes me 15-30 minutes to write! Outside of that, I've been headhunted for full-time Creative Strategist roles that pay anywhere from $150k upwards to $200k+. I know many UGC creators are "anti-corporate," but it can pay to know creative strategy in the corporate world (and that's not including benefits, health insurance, bonuses, etc.). 

Alright, hopefully, this helped give you some clarity to the money-making potential there is as a UGC Creator, Video Editor, and Creative Strategist. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below, and I'd be happy to follow up! Outside of that, I have these articles I'm looking to release as soon as this week:

• Building your UGC portfolio

• Marketing your USPs as a UGC creator

• Case Studies

• Allowlisting + Spark ads

• The Questionnaire I send to new clients

• And many more topics to come!

Thank you again for subscribing; I look forward to sharing everything I've learned in my career and what I continue to learn in the industry every day. Wishing you the best of luck on your UGC + marketing journey!