Get top UGC posts with content report

Measure the impact of user-generated content and creator posts that mention your brand. Pull total performance metrics for brand mentions across Instagram and TikTok to quantify your UGC value.

Use cases

Measuring UGC impact across platforms is hard when data is scattered. Metric reports give you total performance numbers for all brand mentions in one request.

Calculate creator ROI

Measure total reach and engagement from influencer content to calculate partnership value and justify budgets

Track UGC campaigns

Pull total comments, likes, and shares during campaign periods to measure impact and report to stakeholders

Compare platform performance

Benchmark UGC engagement across Instagram, Stories, and TikTok to optimize your content strategy

Before you start

Make sure you have:

API Key - Your authentication token from Dash Social developer settings
Brand ID - The ID for the brand you want to track UGC mentions for

Need help? Check out our API Quickstart. Supported platforms This report supports these UGC channels:

Instagram: INSTAGRAM_UGC
Instagram Stories: INSTAGRAM_STORIES_UGC
TikTok: TIKTOK_UGC

About earned reports Earned reports track user-generated content that mentions or tags your brand. Unlike Owned reports (content you published) or Competitor reports (content from competitors), Earned reports measure UGC performance.

Test in the UI first: Create a Dashboard in the Dash Social UI and configure your Earned report there. This previews the metrics and validates your filters before writing code.

One channel per request: You cannot query multiple UGC channels in the same request. Make separate API calls for each channel.

Implementation

Step 1: Map your parameters

Review the available parameters before making your API call:

Step 2: Make the API call

Send a GET request using the parameters from Step 1. This example pulls the top Instagram UGC post ranked by organic comments from August 10-20, with July 1-31 as the comparison period.

GET https://dashboard.dashsocial.com/reports/data
  ?channels=INSTAGRAM_UGC
  &brand_ids=144
  &start_date=2025-08-10
  &end_date=2025-08-20
  &context_start_date=2024-07-01
  &context_end_date=2024-07-31
  &metrics=UGC_ORGANIC_COMMENTS
  &report_type=CONTENT
  &limit=1

Multiple metrics

Request multiple metrics in a single call by separating them with commas (e.g., UGC_COMMENTS,UGC_LIKES,UGC_REACH).

Date format matters: Always use YYYY-MM-DD format for dates (e.g., 2025-08-10). Other formats will cause errors.

One channel per request: Make separate API calls for each channel (INSTAGRAM_UGC, INSTAGRAM_STORIES_UGC, TIKTOK_UGC).

Sample response

The API returns ranked posts with detailed performance metrics, creator information, and media URLs. Posts are automatically ranked by the metric you selected.

{
    "data": {
        "144": {
            "avatar": "https://cdn.dashsocial.com/avatars/2306810931.jpeg",
            "data_type": "BRAND",
            "name": "sunny.today",
            "user_has_access": true
        },
        "content": [
            {
                "brand_id": 144,
                "brand_media_id": 873293370,
                "creator": {
                    "avatar_url": "https://cdn.dashsocial.com/avatars/46010677878.jpeg",
                    "handle": "pat_chisholm_tester_"
                },
                "instagram": {
                    "caption": "@sunny.today",
                    "comments_count": 1,
                    "effectiveness": 0.5,
                    "emv": 308.359,
                    "engagement": 0.6666666666666666,
                    "like_count": 1,
                    "reach": 4,
                    "saved": 0,
                    "shares": 0,
                    "sum_total_engagements": 2,
                    "timestamp": "2025-08-20T18:09:06+00:00",
                    "total_comments": 1,
                    "total_likes": 1,
                    "url": "https://www.instagram.com/p/DNlhsFyunKl/",
                    "views": 62
                },
                "source": "INSTAGRAM",
                "source_created_at": "2025-08-20T18:09:06",
                "source_type": "UGC",
                "type": "IMAGE"
            }
        ]
    },
    "product_category": "UGC"
}

Understanding the response: The response includes rich data for each UGC post: creator handle and avatar, direct link, caption, engagement metrics, reach, and EMV. In this example, creator @pat_chisholm_tester_ mentioned brand @sunny.today in an Instagram post on August 20. The post received 1 comment, 1 like, and reached 4 unique accounts.

Metrics

Instagram
Instagram Stories
TikTok

Metric Name	Description	Metric API Name
UGC - Avg. EMV	The average earned media value of posts featuring you. EMV is calculated by factoring in the channel, audience size, content type, engagement and current market values for comparable posts.	`AVG_EMV`
Total Social Impact - All Posts	TSI is like a market index for your brand’s social presence - it brings together everything your brand does across social to reveal the strength of your total presence. It rolls up all your channels, content, and engagement into one score that grows over time, giving you a clear view of performance and momentum.	`TOTAL_TSI`
UGC - Avg. Effectiveness	The average percentage of people who saw posts featuring you and engaged with them	`UGC_AVG_EFFECTIVENESS_CONNECTED`
UGC - Avg. Effectiveness	The average percentage of people who saw posts featuring you and engaged with them. If connected creators are included in this report, their true reach and engagements will be used to calculate their Avg. Effectiveness.	`UGC_AVG_EFFECTIVENESS_PUBLIC`
UGC - Avg. Engagement Rate (Followers)	The average percentage of people who engaged with posts featuring you, based on follower count. This metric uses Likes. If Likes are hidden on Instagram, they will show as 0 in Dash Social. If connected creators are included in this report, their true engagements will be used to calculate their engagement rate.	`UGC_AVG_ENGAGEMENT_RATE_FOLLOWERS`
UGC - Avg. Engagement Rate (Views)	The average percentage of people who engaged with posts featuring you, based on the number of people who viewed it. This metric uses Likes. If Likes are hidden on Instagram, they will show as 0 in Dash Social.	`UGC_AVG_ENGAGEMENT_RATE_VIEWS`
UGC - Avg. Estimated Reach	The estimated average number of unique accounts that saw posts featuring you. If connected creators are included in this report, their true reach is included with unconnected creators’ estimated reach.	`UGC_AVG_ESTIMATED_REACH`
UGC - Avg. Reach	The average number of unique accounts that saw posts featuring you	`UGC_AVG_REACH`
UGC - Avg. Watch Time	The average time that posts featuring you were played during a single viewing	`UGC_AVG_WATCH_TIME`
UGC - Comments	The number of comments on posts featuring you	`UGC_COMMENTS`
UGC - EMV	The earned media value of the creator’s content. EMV is calculated by factoring in the channel, audience size, content type, engagement and current market values for comparable posts.	`UGC_EMV`
UGC - Engagements	The total number of engagements on posts featuring you. If Likes are hidden on Instagram, they will show as 0 in Dash Social.	`UGC_ENGAGEMENTS_CONNECTED`
UGC - Engagements	The total number of engagements on posts featuring you. If Likes are hidden on Instagram, they will show as 0 in Dash Social. If connected creators are included in this report, their true engagements is included with the unconnected creators’ engagements.	`UGC_ENGAGEMENTS_PUBLIC`
UGC - Estimated Reach	The estimated number of unique accounts who saw posts that mentioned or tagged you	`UGC_ESTIMATED_REACH`
UGC - Followers Gained	The estimated number of followers your brand has gained from posts featuring you	`UGC_FOLLOWERS_GAINED`
UGC - Likes	The number of likes received on posts featuring you	`UGC_LIKES`
UGC - Mentions	The total number of times you were mentioned by other accounts by including your @username in their caption	`UGC_MENTIONS`
UGC - Number of Posts	The total number of posts that mentioned or tagged you	`UGC_NUMBER_OF_POSTS`
UGC - Photo Tags	The total number of times you were tagged by other accounts by using a photo tag on the post	`UGC_PHOTO_TAGS`
UGC - Reach	The number of unique accounts who saw posts featuring you	`UGC_REACH`
UGC - Saves	The number of times posts featuring you were saved	`UGC_SAVES`
UGC - Shares	The number of times posts featuring you were shared	`UGC_SHARES`
UGC - Time Watched	The amount of time videos featuring you were played during a single viewing	`UGC_TIME_WATCHED`
UGC - Views	The amount of times videos featuring you were played or replayed for 1ms or more. Replays are counted after the initial play in the same video session.	`UGC_VIEWS`

Metric Name	Description	Metric API Name
Avg. Completion Rate	The average completion rate of story frames featuring you that were published during the reporting period. This metric is only available for reporting after March 24, 2025.	`AVG_COMPLETION_RATE`
Avg. EMV	The average earned media value of the story frames featuring you.	`AVG_EMV`
Avg. Exit Rate	The average exit rate of story frames featuring you that were published during the reporting period. This metric is only available for reporting after March 24, 2025.	`AVG_EXIT_RATE`
Avg. Reach	The average number of unique accounts that saw posts featuring you	`AVG_REACH`
Exits	The number of times a viewer has swiped out of the story or tapped the X in the upper-right corner of the story frame on stories featuring you. An exit is counted even if it occurs at the last millisecond.	`EXITS`
Number of Story Frames	The number of stories featuring you	`NUMBER_OF_POSTS`
Replies	The number of replies to stories featuring you	`REPLIES`
Taps Back	The number of people who tapped backwards on stories featuring you	`TAPS_BACK`
Taps Forward	The number of people who tapped forward on stories featuring you	`TAPS_FORWARD`
EMV	The average earned media value of the story frames featuring you. EMV is calculated by factoring in the channel, audience size, content type, engagement and current market values for comparable posts.	`UGC_EMV`
Views	The number of times that story frames featuring you were displayed on a person’s screen. This includes repeat views. This metric is only available for reporting after March 24, 2025.	`VIEWS`

Metric Name	Description	Metric API Name
Avg. EMV	The average earned media value of posts featuring you. EMV is calculated by factoring in the channel, audience size, content type, engagement and current market values for comparable posts.	`AVG_EMV`
Avg. Engagement Rate	The average percentage of people who engaged with posts featuring you, based on the number of people who viewed it	`AVG_ENGAGEMENT_RATE`
Avg. Reach	The average number of unique accounts that saw posts featuring you	`AVG_REACH`
Comments	The number of comments on posts featuring you	`COMMENTS`
Shares	The number of times posts featuring you were shared	`SHARES`
Total Social Impact - All Posts	TSI is like a market index for your brand’s social presence - it brings together everything your brand does across social to reveal the strength of your total presence. It rolls up all your channels, content, and engagement into one score that grows over time, giving you a clear view of performance and momentum.	`TOTAL_TSI`
EMV	The earned media value of the posts featuring you. EMV is calculated by factoring in the channel, audience size, content type, engagement and current market values for comparable posts.	`UGC_EMV`
Likes	The number of likes received on posts featuring you	`UGC_LIKES`
Number of Posts	The total number of posts featuring you	`UGC_NUMBER_OF_POSTS`
Engagements	The total number of engagements received on posts featuring you	`UGC_TOTAL_ENGAGEMENTS`
Video Views	The number of times videos featuring you were viewed. Replays are not counted.	`VIDEO_VIEWS`

Next steps

You now have a JSON response with total UGC performance metrics per brand and platform. Use this data to:

Calculate ROI - Measure the value of creator partnerships and influencer campaigns
Track campaigns - Monitor UGC performance during specific campaign periods
Compare platforms - Analyze which channels drive the most UGC engagement

Related guides:

Documentation Index

​Use cases

Calculate creator ROI

Track UGC campaigns

Compare platform performance

​Before you start

​Implementation

​Step 1: Map your parameters

​Step 2: Make the API call

​Multiple metrics

​Sample response

​Metrics

​Next steps

Use cases

Before you start

Implementation

Step 1: Map your parameters

Step 2: Make the API call

Multiple metrics

Sample response

Metrics

Next steps