BFCM is upon us. Here’s a UGC framework to get you ready.

Leaves are falling, temps are dropping, and inboxes everywhere are bracing for the first wave of holiday deals.

It’s officially BFCM season, which means now’s the time to lock in your strategy. One of the most effective ways to stand out this year? Show up across every channel with real customer stories.

Eight in ten consumers now consider user-generated content (UGC) essential to their buying journey. Before they hit “buy,” they’re looking for proof: photos, videos, and reviews from people like them.

In this article, we’ll walk through a proven framework for building a high-impact UGC strategy that drives visibility, builds trust, and converts during the busiest shopping season of the year.

To guide the way, we’re using the 5 Rs framework from Kristen Tumasonis, Sr. Marketing Director at SuitShop and longtime UGC creator. It’s a practical system for turning content into a repeatable, revenue-driving asset—and the perfect playbook to implement ahead of BFCM.

But first! Why is UGC a smart play this BFCM?

User-generated content isn’t only a social media play anymore. It’s become a core part of how people discover products across platforms. And nowhere is that shift more visible than in search.

Google’s recent algorithm updates and the rise of AI-generated overviews now surface UGC (e.g., customer reviews, creator videos, and social posts) directly in results.

For example, a search for “best lipstick” surfaces AI-generated answers citing creators like Marlena Stell, Amenda Benko, and Gail McNeil. These reviews no longer live in silos on YouTube or TikTok—they’re front and center on the search results page. This is significant considering 73% of purchases start with a Google search. 

The UGC framework that scales: Kristen Tumasonis’s 5 Rs

To help brands turn UGC into a repeatable, revenue-driving system, Kristen developed the 5 Rs framework:

“Recruit the right creators/customers, lock Rights (12–18 months or perpetual), collect Raw files, Recut regularly into new hooks and lengths, and Retail—place winners across ads, PDPs, email, and social storefronts.”

Here’s how each step works, and what it looks like in action.

1. Recruit

The first step to great UGC is choosing the right people to create it, and they’re not always influencers with massive followings. Think doulas, photographers, local experts, superfans, and long-time customers. You want to engage people who genuinely love your product and can speak to its value in a specific context.

That’s what makes this “R” so powerful: it’s not about reach, it’s about resonance.

One brand putting this into action is The Monterey Company. They focus their BFCM campaigns on real customers, not stylized photo shoots, celebrities, or mega-influencers.

“A lot of the photographs we use are actual pictures of customers wearing our branded products,” says Aqsa Tabassam, Marketing Manager at The Monterey Company. “Those customers posted photos on social media platforms like Instagram and then tagged us.”

That authenticity drives results. “Using real-life images of customers wearing our products establishes authenticity. This, in turn, boosts our brand's reputation,” she says.

To take it a step further, The Monterey Company created a BFCM photo contest, inviting customers to submit their own photos for a chance to be featured in an ad. The result?

“We featured the most relatable photo in a BFCM advertisement. The success of this contest and its positive impact on our campaign serve as an inspiration for future initiatives.”

You don’t need a studio for shareable video content. You need real people, real use cases, and a clear way to bring them into your brand story.

2. Rights

Before a single video or photo goes live, brands need to think about rights. Ownership and licensing are what make UGC scalable. Because without the ability to reuse, repurpose, and re-edit, that content’s shelf life ends the moment a campaign does.

Kristen emphasizes that smart brands negotiate long-term rights from the start:

“Operationally: secure 12–18 months (or perpetual) usage rights, and always collect raw footage so you can recut hooks and CTAs. As a brand operator and early UGC creator (I’ve been creating UGC weekly since 2019), I’ve found simple, long-term usage terms make scaling possible; I price perpetual usage into my personal creator rates and prioritize creators who do the same.”

Why does this matter? UGC performs best when it’s flexible. The best-performing clips today can easily become next month’s remarketing ads, website visuals, or email banners, but only if you have the rights to reuse them. Building longer-term usage into your creator contracts lets you recut, remix, and redistribute high-performing assets without legal friction or extra cost.

“Pair this with creative analytics (e.g., Motion) and AI pattern spotting (e.g., ShowStop) to identify winning themes and refresh quickly,” adds Kristen.

In other words, usage rights aren’t a formality. They’re the foundation for speed, scalability, and consistency. They keep your best content working harder, longer.

3. Raw

To make the most of UGC, ask your customers for the raw files. With raw files, you can quickly optimize top-performing content, repackage strong visuals for different placements, and test new messaging without starting from scratch. It gives your team the flexibility to move fast and stay ahead of changing shopper behavior.

There’s a second reason raw content matters: relatability.

Unedited moments feel real. They often resonate more than polished ad creative, especially during high-pressure sales cycles like BFCM. That’s why smart brands are leaning into micro- and nano-influencers to create “in-the-moment” content.

“Smart brands are whispering exclusivity through micro-influencers who share authentic product stories, like raw shopping cart hauls or wishlist predictions,” says Inigo Rivero, Managing Director at House Of Marketers.

He also advises to “Allocate 30% of your ad budget to co-created, imperfect content over polished ads. It’s the secret to building trust during high-pressure sales periods.”

Raw content is both versatile and human. And in a season where shoppers are overwhelmed, that combination truly stands out as the most authentic. 

4. Recut

Even the best-performing UGC has a shelf life, unless you know how to repurpose and refresh it. That’s where Recut comes in.

A strong hook stops the scroll. A clear CTA drives action. Together, they can make or break performance, especially during high-volume campaigns like BFCM. That’s why smart teams aren’t only launching one version of a creator video. They’re building modular content kits, remixing the same footage into dozens of variations, and testing which ones hit.

Aaron Whittaker, VP of Demand Generation at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, shared a real-world example of this in action. “We onboarded 12 creators ahead of BFCM to produce modular asset kits—reaction clips, teardown demos, and lifestyle use shots. Our team then remixed those weekly, swapping hooks, captions, and background tracks to keep ad fatigue low.”

For one skincare ecommerce brand, the impact was immediate. They saw:

• +27% click-through rate
  
  
• +19% repeat orders
  
  
• –22% cost per acquisition
  

All from shifting away from polished studio content to authentic “morning routine” UGC, and continually testing new versions.

To scale this kind of optimization, some brands are turning to AI pattern recognition tools (like ShowStop). These tools use AI to identify which creative elements drive performance. They auto-tag UGC based on tone, visuals, copy, and other variables, then surfaces insights like:

• Which hook has the highest engagement rate?
  
  
• Do ads perform better with or without music?
  
  
• Which creator resonates most with a specific audience segment?

ShowStop’s creative fatigue scorecard also helps teams stay ahead of declining performance by suggesting fresh iterations before results drop off.

With the right system in place, one piece of content can generate dozens of high-performing variants, each one tailored, tested, and ready to convert.

5. Retail

Once you’ve identified what content performs, put it to work everywhere. That’s the core of Retail — repurposing your strongest UGC across all high-intent surfaces, including ads, product detail pages, emails, and creator storefronts.

Kristen explains that one brand doing this exceptionally well is Loop Earplugs.

Loop runs a SKU-specific UGC program that touches every part of the buyer journey, including:

• UGC-powered ads designed for specific products
  
  
• PDPs stacked with creator content and real user reviews
  
  
• Lifecycle emails that highlight customer quotes and demos
  
  
• Social storefronts where followers can shop directly from creator posts

This UGC saturation works because it creates continuity. No matter where a shopper encounters the brand(an ad, an email, a Google search result)they’re met with the same consistent proof: real people and real outcomes.

If your best-performing UGC is only running on Instagram, you’re leaving revenue on the table. Great content should be everywhere your customers are making decisions.

Put the 5 Rs to work for your BFCM campaigns

This BFCM, shoppers are looking for validation. They want real voices, relatable proof, and content that builds trust at every stage of the journey. Kristen Tumasonis’s 5 Rs framework gives you a repeatable system to make that happen. Start now, and let your customers do the talking