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User-Generated Content (UGC) creators have emerged as key players in modern marketing strategies. Their unique, casual, and relatable style resonates with audiences, making UGC an essential component of many successful campaigns. With tools like Canva, UGC creators can easily design and showcase their work, elevating their portfolios and attracting top brand collaborations.
The global UGC market is projected to reach $18.65 billion by 2028, reflecting its growing influence in the creator economy. This trend underscores why brands are increasingly adopting UGC to build trust and foster engagement. As digital platforms become the go-to medium for sharing messages and running campaigns, UGC has become more crucial than ever.
If becoming a UGC creator sounds exciting, this article will guide you through the process of building a standout portfolio using Canva: just sign up for a free account, choose a template, and customize it with your content, style, and info. Include your intro, best videos and photos, past work, pricing, and a clear call to action to help brands understand who you are and why they should work with you. Learn how to showcase your skills effectively and attract top brand collaborations.
A UGC Portfolio is your cover letter. The document that connects you and the brands you want to work with. Everything you´ve done and know is supposed to be included to make a great first impression.
Due to the amount of possibilities on social media platforms, brands are often exposed / receive tons of portfolios with people who want to work with / for them. That´s why you really need to stand out on those pages / slides in order to get those job opportunities / brand alliances you seek.
The key is to really remark on your previous experiences as they prove the way you work, especially if you seek for partnerships in the same niche.
A strong portfolio is what is going to make you stand out from other UGC creators wanting to partner with brands. First impressions matter and so does your portfolio.
Having a UGC Portfolio will allow you to:
Think of your UGC portfolio as your business card. It’s a way to tell brands who you are, what content you do and let them decide whether or not they’ll want to partner up and work with you. Canva is a great tool to make your portfolio in simple steps.
You can go to canva.com and create your account for free.
There is a paid version available ($6.50 a month) as well that includes premium features, templates and branding tools but the free version it’s really good to start from as well.
You can try out the free version and if you believe you could benefit from the paid version, go ahead and purchase your membership to disclose all the premium features. But that’s up to you!
Canva offers limitless amounts of templates you can start from. You can use the search bar to look for “UGC Portfolio”, “Portfolio” or “UGC Templates”. Keep trying words until you get to the results you want.
Browse Canva’s template library until you find the one you want to work from. You can pick a design and later on customize it by changing the fonts, colors and layout to better match your style and tone.
Start adding essential information about yourself and your work to showcase your voice, style, and audience to brands.
This section is the first look brands are gonna get from you. Make sure to keep it simple and clear. You can include:
Add a slide of a little section about you. You can write a short paragraph describing your style, values and what makes your content stand out.
This section is to make you shine. Think of it as your personal pitch. Talk yourself up and convince brands to partner with you.
In this section you shine through your UGC videos. You can upload your best content to Canva and then add it to your presentation.
Pro Tips:
Here you let your best photos make the work! Find your best ones and upload them to Canva to add them to your portfolio. Give a panoramic view of your style and content type.
Pro Tips:
You can take some space to briefly mention your previous work or partnerships. You can add some logos of the brands you’ve worked with as a visual reference.
Pro Tip:
This section is optional. If you have the right amount of previous work and compelling analytics to support it, include a section highlighting your best-performing content.
You can add simple metrics such as engagement rate (ER), reach and views and some advanced metrics like conversion rate and click through rate (CTR). Keep it simple and visually appealing.
Offer different packages and prices. A good starting point can be:
You can state the rate for the basic one and clarify that you are open to conversations to fix the other rates. Always be transparent with your information and be clear into how much you charge for UGC content.
This section is the last impression the brand gets from you. So make sure to:
So we’ve covered the steps on how to make your portfolio on Canva. However, you might be asking yourself why is Canva good for making portfolios?
Canva is an ideal tool for any creator mainly because it offers a beginner friendly interface that allows you to create really professional looking assets. The platform brings visually appealing templates and the possibility to customize every element on them so creators can reflect their own style.
Last but not least, you can access your portfolio from the mobile or desktop version to update any information you need to keep it updated at all times.
Want to skip the design struggle? Here are some Canva templates you can customize in minutes.
Click here to make a copy and start editing.
Click here to make a copy and start editing.
Click here to make a copy and start editing.
Click here to make a copy and start editing.
There are some non-negotiable elements that help brands quickly understand what you do, who you are and why they should work with you. Make sure to include them in your portfolio so you can start your journey of becoming a UGC Creator!
Brands want to know who you are and what you can bring to the table. If you create content within a specific niche, let’s say beauty and makeup or wellness tips, brands can get a clearer picture of your audience and how aligned it can be with the product or service they are offering.
You can pick different niches that you’re passionate about and make videos for each niche: a Testimonial, Unboxing, How To and a Storytelling, among other types of videos. Each of these content types resonates differently with audiences and their performance is better tracked using specific metrics:
This strategy showcases versatility within a specific domain, making your portfolio more appealing to targeted brands.
Clean and trendy layouts are great, but nothing beats a video or photo that feels real. Choose content where you seem natural, relatable, and genuinely interested.
Brands are not choosing you for your looks, they seek your influence. So find ways to showcase genuine and relatable content. You can take pictures of products you usually own and love and this will demonstrate a personal connection to the brand.
Use your portfolio as a way to showcase your narrative style. Don’t just put basic information, guide the viewer and present your content strategically.
You can use short sentences like “This was a local collab with a brand targeting Gen Z” or “This product unboxing reached 25k views in just 3 days”. Show your work while telling the story around and behind it.
Even if you are just a beginner, add some kind of metric that supports your good performance. For instance:
Avoid inflating numbers or exaggerating. Being honest builds more credibility and in most cases brands don’t care for big numbers but rather truly engaged and loyal audiences.
There are tons of UGC creators available. So make sure to clarify what makes your work you. Your tone, style, humor, calm or whatever way you use to address your community. Let your unique personality come through your portfolio, copy’s, images and videos.
Make sure to include these strategic elements to elevate your portfolio from a slide presentation to a convincing pitch that converts!
In order to make your portfolio stand out you should be clear, visually appealing and go straight to the point. These are the key sections to include:
This is your bio as a creator. Tell who you are: your name, age, location and niche. Set clear what style you have and your tone. You can also add any relevant experience with other brands in the past.
A great example can be: “Hi, I’m Elizabeth, a lifestyle creator based in NY who loves turning everyday moments into engaging product stories”.
This is the time to show off your work. Induce a variety of material: unboxing videos, testimonials, trending challenges, voice overs, anything you have done that can speak the truth of your content.
You can share the videos by linking to Google Drive or unlisted videos on YouTube for a more organized look. Always make sure to properly label the type of video you have and the platform. For instance “TikTok Style review”.
If you’ve already worked with brands or posted content that performed well, show the numbers:
Be super clear about what you offer and your process. Brands appreciate clarity.
Set the type of content you are going to produce, the quality of the deliverables and the turnaround time to produce and share everything you make. For example: 3 15 seconds long TikToks videos + 2 vertical photos due to be delivered in 72 hours.
If you have worked with big brands before, this is your chance to let other brands know you and your work. You can include:
Make sure the brand knows where to reach you. Include:
There are some red flags you should avoid including in your portfolio in order not to sacrifice potential new clients.
Avoid adding low quality videos and always make sure to focus on quality over quantity. There´s no point in adding random or unrelated videos just to fill space. If it does not match your niche or style, they are better left out.
A portfolio is not a curriculum vitae. It needs to be concise and relevant. Brands don’t need your full biography or all your work history.
You should only include your professional experience related to your work as a creator or content strategist. Include only meaningful information that showcases your skills for brand collaborations.
You don’t need to explain how UGC works and the benefits brands can get from it. If brands are looking at UGC creator’s portfolio they probably already know that.
If you want to, you can have a fox presentation or brief text about it to send in the email body along with your portfolio. But don’t add unnecessary info to your portfolio.
Authenticity is the key to UGC. When creators are authentic their content resonates better with audiences. Real videos work better than perfect videos.
Videos with minor mistakes or even bloopers actually perform better. Raw imperfect footage in most cases works better than really edited and polished material on social media.
Think of yourself as a brand presenting itself in your portfolio. Brands are seeking clarity and consistency so they can know what to expect out of the partnership.
Avoid mixing random fonts, colors, or images. Stick to your own style and tone and let the brand get to know you for who you are.
While crafting your portfolio, these extra tips can make a huge difference. So take notes!
Here’s a quick list of the last but not least important things you should know to make the best portfolio to showcase your work and secure brand deals.
Once your portfolio is done, the last thing to do is sharing it with brands. What is the best way to pitch it effectively? Here’s how:
1. Do Your Research before Reaching Out: Follow the brand, engage with their content, try some of their products to see if they align with you and focus on understanding their tone and target audience.
2. Personalize Your Pitch: Don’t use generic mail asking to work with several brands. Mention the reasons you want to work with a particular brand and show them how your content style aligns with their image.
3. Attach or Link Your Portfolio: Use Google Drive, Notion or a pdf version to share your information. Make sure it's desktop and mobile friendly.
4. End with a call to action: Always end the conversation with a clear CTA: “I’d love to create content for your next campaign. Let me know if you’d like to chat more!”
If you want to take your job as a UGC creator seriously you must master the ability to make a good looking portfolio. Canva offers an intuitive platform for designing and refining your portfolio making it easy to update as you gain experience and secure brand deals.
A standout portfolio is the gateway to landing lucrative brand collaborations, securing influencer partnerships, and showcasing your skills to brands on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. What are you waiting for? Go to Canva to create your own portfolio so your creator journey can begin today!
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