MySwimPro · B2C · swim coaching app
Cut each long video into short clips and post them everywhere
~500K Instagram and 300K+ TikTok followers; TikTok hits didn't drive many downloads
Mixedorganic-short-videoorganic-social
What they did
Created an account on every channel early (Twitter first, Snapchat later dropped, TikTok from 2019). Each long-form YouTube video is split into multiple shorter versions and posts per channel; what works differs by platform (some cuts work on TikTok but not Reels). ~7,000 Instagram posts. Goal is to be 'everywhere, all the time' where people spend their phone time; takes more manpower.
What happened
Large audiences (~500K Instagram, 300K+ TikTok) and some posts with millions to tens of millions of views, but TikTok is not a primary acquisition channel and viral views did not map to downloads.
- Stage
- growth
- Effort
- Thousands of posts over ~9 years; one dedicated social poster today
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Building a Content Marketing Flywheel — Fares Ksebati, MySwimPro“Along the way, we would take that one long-form piece of content, and we would split it up into multiple versions. So, we would have the shorter form content, posts for different social media channels.”
“Some of that will perform on TikTok, but it won't perform on Instagram Reels.”
“I think we have like 300-something-thousand followers, but I wouldn't say it's a primary channel of acquisition and awareness for us.”
“So, for us, it's being everywhere, all the time, no matter what.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- MySwimPro: Send swimmers found on Twitter to a mockup page that collects emails200 email sign-ups in a couple of weeks for an app that didn't exist
- MySwimPro: Write one article a week answering common swimming questions people search forHundreds of articles over 3 years; traction compounded slowly, no sudden spike
- MySwimPro: Answer the questions users email you in a weekly whiteboard videoEarly videos got 75-4,000 views; years later some have millions
- MySwimPro: Earn from your YouTube videos with ads and sponsor shout-outsContent pays for itself even ignoring app installs; funds two full-time editors
- MySwimPro: Hand off blog, email, then editing so the founder only films5-person in-house team now; paid for by ad and sponsor income
- MySwimPro: Film yourself training with the app on screen instead of pitching it~30% of videos feature the app for 60+ seconds; no conversion numbers
- MySwimPro: Post videos of customers' big swimming wins on the company channel
- MySwimPro: Give each social channel its own App Store link to track revenueCan now tie revenue to each channel; only set up in the last few months
- MySwimPro: Try paid ads before you can track what the spend producedFirst two rounds failed; third round in progress with better analytics
- MySwimPro: Host in-person swim camps to reach new swimmersWorks but doesn't scale; limited by how many people can attend
- MySwimPro: Keep raising the yearly price, from $100 to $180, while conversion holdsConversion barely changed at each step (the app kept improving too)
- MySwimPro: Ask free and paying users four price questions to find what they'd payAverage matched current price (~$100-120/year); a segment would pay $200-300/year
- MySwimPro: Move free features behind the paywall as the app shifts to paidBuilt user entitlement and complaint reviews; guest would package it differently
- MySwimPro: Join a university startup accelerator for first funding and pitch practiceRaised $50K; learned customer discovery, built a network and a tight pitch
- MySwimPro: Raise money from your community through equity crowdfunding roundsAbout $1.2M raised in total, mostly from crowdfunding
- MySwimPro: Test in-app invites with rewards for your most active usersStill being tested; no results yet