UGC: A Conversation With Roee Zelcer, CEO of Humanz US

MULO (multi-location) brands and agencies have long used word-of-mouth marketing to build traffic and sales. But UGC (user-generated content) as marketing is clearly having a moment.

Brands’ fans are taking to TikTok, IG, digital billboards, and streaming TV ads to promote products and places. Agencies are making bold moves to incorporate UGC in their media planning, and some are even specializing in the category.

One example is  Humanz, a collaborative AI-powered creator marketing platform for creators and brands.

They announced that they are entering the U.S. market alongside a partnership with Valeria Lipovetsky, a leading creator with more than 6M followers across channels and a top five global influencer in beauty and fashion.

Humanz works with more than 300,000 global content creators and collaborates with companies, such as Google, McDonald’s, Zara, P&G, L’Oréal, Nestlé, and Unilever. Over the past seven years, Humanz launched more than 15 million creator collaborations, driving close to $500 million in sales across global markets like Europe, Latin America, South Africa, and the Middle East.

We sat down with Roee Zelcer, CEO of Humanz US to get his perspectives on UGC and why the company is entering the U.S. market.

How do you define the “Creator Economy” in 2024?

“The creator economy is an ecosystem that brings together creators, consumer audiences, marketers/brands, social media platforms, and agencies by exchanging content for money or goods and services. It’s changed in many ways over the past few years; the influencer marketing industry is experiencing unprecedented growth.

More creators are entering the market than ever before and household name brands are turning to them to reach their target audiences. Data shows that more than 90% of marketers are leveraging influencer marketing strategies, revealing that the creator economy is continuing to boom and that there are substantial, untapped opportunities within the space.”

What do you see happening over the next few years regarding UGC?

“UGC will continue to grow and be leveraged by brands, but our perspective on it is changing. 

While we used to think of influencers only as macro influencers and tastemakers with major followings, the world is shifting. Creators with smaller follower numbers—who may have only been thought of as consumers before—are having a significant impact, and brands are realizing this. Through Humanz, brands and creators are forging relationships to capitalize on smaller, more targeted audiences that align with a company’s broader marketing goals.

Importantly, Humanz now allows working with aspiring creators that drive higher engagement at scale. This solves a significant challenge for anyone trying to scale manually, allowing brands to efficiently tap into the authenticity and impact of micro-influencers while achieving broader reach.”

How can responsible MULO brands differentiate from true fans and those just posting for a profit?

“Perceptive brands are looking beyond follower counts to measure an influencer’s true impact, focusing on how they actually shape audience behavior, brand perception and, ultimately, sales performance. MULO brands can differentiate strong creator partners from those with high follower counts but low impact the same way any marketer can – by looking at the frequency of posts, view rates, engagement on content through likes and comments and at the conversion rate and ROI of those creators’ posts.

It’s crucial for brands to work with influencers and creators who share the same values, making the partnership authentic and long-lasting. This alignment ensures that the collaboration feels genuine to the audience and can lead to more effective, sustained engagement over time.

When using most creator marketing platforms, brands have access to analytics from influencers’ posts on a broad scale, but what is really unique about Humanz is that both marketers and influencers can get real-time data into posts’ lower funnel sales metrics and ROI. It enables marketers and creators to see which posts are resonating and which are not performing as well, proving the value of each piece of content and the impact it can have on a marketing team’s broader goals.”

Do you think the UGC bubble will ever burst? If so, what’s next? If not, why not?

“I truly believe that UGC and the creator economy are here to stay. There is so much untapped opportunity and desire for technology in this space – as proven by the growth of the industry and the recent acquisition of Influential by Publicis – and marketers, creators, and investors know it. On the one hand, brands and platforms increasingly recognize that UGC is the key to scaling authentic content efficiently, meeting the growing demand for relatable marketing material while maintaining cost-effectiveness.

On the other hand, consumers today really trust the creators they follow and look to them for opinions and recommendations. This will continue to be the case in the years to come – the same way you may ask a friend for a restaurant or personal care product recommendation.”

To learn more about UGC and the agencies and other companies that are incorporating it into their strategies and media, please join us at Street Fight LIVE on November 7th!