Practitioner pattern · Nick Lawton (co-founder of SideShift, the UGC creator platform and paid-ads integration he recommends)
Pay each creator $600-800 for 30-60 videos plus $1-2 per 1,000 views
Called the most fruitful structure for creators seen on the platform
Workedcreator-opsugc-creators
What they did
First month budget $2-4K. Each creator gets a guaranteed base retainer of $600-800 for 30-60 videos (roughly daily or twice-daily posts) plus a $1-2 CPM view bonus. Leave the bonus uncapped so viral videos pay off, or cap it to guarantee profitability. The single goal of month one is finding content-market fit.
What happened
Described as the most fruitful structure for creators while keeping them incentivized.
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Copy what already works for competitors on TikTok, but change it 10-20%Called the easiest route; exact copies on cold accounts often fail
- Call it a fit when 5-6 videos in the campaign pass 10,000 viewsMany quit UGC too early by skipping this step
- SideShift: Manage all creators in one group chat and share what's workingKeeps creators bought in; one-on-one management called very hard
- SideShift: Once a video format wins, put 90% of creators on it and keep 10% testingWorks well for them; keeps a backup format ready if the winner saturates
- SideShift: Run organic videos with 5%+ engagement as Meta ads, starting at $100 a dayGreat results at $100/day, then scaled up; no numbers given
- Spend 20% on organic creator videos to test, 80% on ads for the winnersPattern seen at big brands; called the biggest organic-only vs organic+paid difference
- SideShift: Build a warm-up video format from real posts about job-hunt painStill used a year later; warms accounts well but converts poorly
- Run organic TikTok winners as Spark ads to push reach cheaplyCheaper CPMs, but no install button or conversion tracking