How to Scale Your TikTok Shop Using UGC Creators

Sales on TikTok Shop in the U.S. are expected to rise by 120% year-over-year in 2025, marking a major shift in e-commerce. TikTok has become a powerful sales channel driven by short videos that spark quick, impulse buying, especially among Gen Z and Millennials.

To scale your brand, it’s not enough to list products; success depends on creating native, authentic content that feels natural on the platform. That’s where User-Generated Content (UGC) creators can play a great role. Acting as genuine advocates, they help brands turn engagement into consistent, high-return growth.

TikTok’s rapid rise is built on trust and relatability. Users often buy instantly after seeing a product in their feed or a livestream, but only when the content feels real, not overly polished. With the U.S. market reaching approximately $9 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in 2024 and Southeast Asia’s GMV collectively reaching $38.2 billion in the same year, growth clearly depends on using large-scale creator programs and smart paid campaigns powered by authentic UGC

Why UGC is Your Best Engine for TikTok Shop Growth

To scale your TikTok Shop effectively, you need to understand how UGC creators drive performance and why they outperform traditional influencers in delivering consistent, high-ROI results.

Understanding the Difference: UGC Creators vs. Influencers

Brands often struggle to scale on TikTok Shop when they confuse UGC creators with traditional influencers. Knowing the difference is critical to avoid wasted budget and slow growth.

UGC creators are your content production engines. They are like actors in a commercial, making videos that feel real and relatable. You pay them per piece of content, giving you speed, cost-effectiveness, and complete creative control. The content they produce is yours to use across TikTok ads, websites, and marketing channels. Full usage rights are essential if you want to amplify these assets in paid campaigns.

Influencers, in contrast, have a strong personal following. Their value lies in credibility, reach, and discovery, they post directly to their audience. While they are great for awareness, partnerships with influencers cost more, take longer to set up, and give you less control over the content. If you want predictable ROAS and conversion-driven growth, working with UGC creators is the smarter choice.

UGC vs. Influencer: Strategic Deployment Comparison

Why UGC Works: Performance and ROI

The numbers speak for themselves. UGC drives 29% higher web conversions compared to professional content because people trust it. 6 in 10 consumers say UGC is the most authentic marketing content. On TikTok, where social proof drives purchases, this trust is crucial.

TikTok ads also deliver fast results. 75% of advertisers say it’s their top-performing channel within 1–6 weeks, making it ideal if you want quick growth. But not all UGC performs the same. Story-driven content that’s relatable and contextual generates 70% higher ROI than purely tactical videos. When your content tells a story, people watch longer, engage more, and are more likely to buy.

Scaling isn’t just about short-term sales. TikTok also offers a long-term ROI of 4.5 for brands that invest in creative storytelling. The most effective strategy mixes direct-response UGC (for immediate sales and ad testing) with storytelling UGC (for long-term loyalty and brand recognition). This way, you get fast results while building a sustainable presence on the platform.

Phase 1: Building Your UGC Engine

Scaling your TikTok Shop starts with creating a steady pipeline of high-quality UGC that can feed your paid campaigns.

Finding the Right Creators and Setting Up Your Funnel

Brands need a different approach when sourcing creators for ad performance compared to traditional influencer outreach. You want creators who can consistently produce authentic, high-quality content quickly. Since UGC is all about speed, you need systems in place for fast onboarding, quality checks, and timely payments to keep your content machine running.

Using specialized UGC marketplaces like Billo and Trend.io makes this process much easier. These platforms let you submit briefs, match with vetted creators, and receive videos within days. This reduces manual work and ensures your content scales quickly. Streamlined workflows also reduce the risk of low-quality UGC, which can feel fake and harm audience trust.

To understand how to effectively source and manage creators, check out our guide on The Rise of User-Generated Content Creator Platforms: A Strategic Guide for actionable insights.

Crafting a High-Conversion UGC Brief

The UGC brief is the backbone of effective content. If your brief isn’t clear, creators may produce content that misses your goals. Start with explicit objectives: for awareness, suggest hooks like “Did you know 70% of customers prefer eco-friendly products?” For sales, include direct CTAs like “Shop now and save 20%!”

Provide a tactical, scene-by-scene storyboard. The first three seconds are crucial to catch attention. Include believable demos or social proof, such as “before and after” shots, and always integrate a clear CTA linking to your TikTok Shop.

Detail your audience profile so creators can tailor content to your target viewers’ demographics, interests, and behaviors. This ensures content resonates, boosting ROAS when amplified through TikTok Ads Manager.

Finally, balance control and authenticity. Give clear guidelines, dos and don’ts, and visual examples, but allow creators the freedom to use their unique style. Over-controlling can make content feel staged and reduce trust.

Phase 2: Creating a Reliable Creator Pipeline

To scale your TikTok Shop, brands need to move beyond one-off content deals and build a steady, high-volume creator network. This pipeline is best managed through the TikTok Shop Affiliate program.

Making Collaboration Official with TikTok Shop Affiliate

The Affiliate program is central to scaling because it handles tracking, commissions, and payments. You can work with creators in two main ways:

• Open Collaboration: List your products, set a commission, and optionally offer samples. This is great for mass outreach, letting many creators test your products and generate initial GMV.
• Target Collaboration: Invite specific high-potential creators and offer tailored commissions or product bundles. This builds consistent, long-term partnerships and more authentic content.

You manage both in the Seller Center by selecting products, setting commissions, and publishing opportunities. If you plan to boost creator posts as Shop Ads later, make sure to turn on the Shop Ads commission rate during setup.

Using Your Initial Outreach Wisely

New sellers often have a limited number of outreach messages, for example, 1,000. You need to use these strategically on creators most likely to drive high GMV per impression. Focus on creators with proven conversion results, not just follower counts.

Building Long-Term Partnerships

Scaling requires an “always-on” content approach. Consistent partnerships help creators understand your brand, produce authentic content, and build stronger trust with their audience, benefiting you, the creators, and your customers. Managing the TikTok Shop Affiliate system can be complex, vetting creators, sending invites, negotiating commissions, securing content rights, and handling outreach limits.

For brands focusing on audience-driven growth, a managed influencer outreach service handles sourcing, vetting, and contracting the right creators. Securing ad authorization upfront is essential to amplify viral content and maintain negotiation leverage, forming the foundation of Phase 2.

Phase 3: Turning High-Performing UGC into Paid Growth

Brands can see what works organically, but paid media is what turns that success into predictable, scalable growth. Using high-performing UGC in ads is the key to maximizing your TikTok Shop ROI.

How UGC Becomes Spark Ads

Even viral organic content can lose momentum quickly. You need to intentionally amplify the best-performing videos to reach targeted demographics, interests, and lookalike audiences through TikTok Ads Manager. This creates a “UGC-to-Spark Ad flywheel,” where proven content keeps driving conversions.

Spark Ads let you promote existing content from your account or from creators who give permission. The ads maintain the authenticity of the creator’s profile while giving you control over targeting, bidding, CTAs, and analytics. To make the most of your budget, focus on affiliate videos that have already shown strong GMV or GPM, this ensures you’re spending only on content that converts.

Spark Ad Authorization Workflow

Making Videos Shoppable with Video Shopping Ads (VSA)

For direct sales, Video Shopping Ads (VSA) turn authentic content into a shoppable experience. You can use a creator’s video as a Spark Ad asset and link it to any product you choose, even if the original video didn’t feature that product.

The critical step is getting technical authorization: the creator posts the video, enables the Ad Authorization toggle (required for accounts with 5,000+ followers), and shares the unique video code with you via Creator Connect in Seller Center. Doing this consistently builds a library of proven, high-converting content.

Optimizing for Performance and Lower CPA

Once you have a library of UGC assets, continuous A/B testing is key. Try different hooks, music, CTAs, and targeting options to see what resonates best. This testing can reduce Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA) by 25% or more compared to traditional paid campaigns.

Managing Spark Ads authorization, bidding, analytics, and continuously feeding top-performing UGC into your ad engine can be complex.

Managing Spark Ads authorization, bidding, analytics, and continuously feeding top-performing UGC into your ad engine can be complex. At Tiksly, we help you systematize this process, ensure proper content licensing, and maximize ROI by managing your TikTok Shop Ads efficiently.

Phase 4: Scaling with Data – Optimize for Maximum Profit

Brands that want sustained growth on TikTok Shop need more than vanity metrics. You need a system to track performance, measure monetization efficiency, and continuously optimize your strategy.

Key Metrics to Track

To know if your UGC strategy is working, focus on a few critical metrics:

• Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and Sales Attribution: Track how much revenue your videos generate and the percentage of posted videos that convert.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): For paid campaigns, ROAS is your top priority. Successful campaigns often hit high ROAS (e.g., 3.6X) with low CPA.
• Creative Metrics: Engagement rates (likes, comments, shares), reach, and audience growth matter, but also watch audience sentiment to avoid negative brand perception.

When and How to Optimize

Set clear timelines for evaluation:

• Days 31–60: Look at how many videos were posted and how many converted into GMV. Identify which organic videos perform well and are candidates for Spark Ads.
• Days 61–90: Focus on units sold. Track multi-post creators who generated sales and evaluate early ROAS and CPA from paid campaigns to guide budget allocation.
• Continuous Monitoring: Use TikTok Analytics to watch all formats (VSA, LIVE, Spark). Adjust bids in real-time to prevent audience fatigue and maintain performance.

The Four-Phase TikTok Shop Scaling Framework

Success Stories Show What Works

Real-world examples prove this approach:

• SooSlick: Generated over $1 million in the first 30 days using viral shoppable videos from TikTok creators.
• SEEQ Supply: Achieved 3.6X ROAS and 46% lower CPC by combining Spark Ads with Value-Based Optimization (VBO) and authentic UGC.
• UK Beauty Brand: Boosted TikTok Shop sales by 40% and cut CPA by 25% by licensing and scaling high-performing UGC via paid media.

These cases show that GMV per impression is more important than views alone. A video with 100,000 views that drives sales is better than a viral video with a million views that generates little revenue

Conclusion

Scaling your TikTok Shop is an investment in performance. By following a four-phase framework,from vetting creators and crafting strong briefs, to systemizing outreach via the TikTok Shop Affiliate program, and amplifying top UGC with Spark Ads and VSAs—you can turn organic virality into predictable revenue.

At Tiksly, we help you every step of the way. We make sure your creator partnerships, ad licensing, and TikTok Shop Ads are set up to deliver maximum ROI, so you can focus on growing your brand confidently.

Book a free 1:1 consultation with us today and let’s start scaling your TikTok Shop together.

FAQs

How to do UGC on TikTok?

Create authentic, relatable content featuring your products. Work with UGC creators or encourage customers to share videos, then use these videos in your TikTok Shop campaigns.

How to improve TikTok Shop score?

Maintain high product quality, fast shipping, good customer service, and consistent sales. Positive reviews and active engagement also boost your score.

What is the 3-second rule in TikTok?

The first three seconds of a video are crucial to grab attention. Strong hooks here increase watch time, engagement, and chances of conversion.

What is the UGC strategy of TikTok?

TikTok’s UGC strategy focuses on authentic, relatable content that resonates with users. Brands leverage creator videos to drive social proof, engagement, and sales through paid and organic campaigns.