SideShift · creator job board for students
Have creators reply to comments and name the app when people ask
Guest says comment plugs convert to real users; no numbers
What they did
What happened
In their words
Canyon Pergande - The Secret Behind Weirdly Viral Apps
Canyon Pergande… is just talking about like how just difficult, you know, the job market is, and, you know, so it's one of those things. And so, I think he did a good job of also, too, like, you can see how engaging he is with these comments. Like, that's something that just continues to spur, you know, additional engagement. People are then responding to him, and like that engagement level continues to push, you know, your videos out into into the feed.
Canyon PergandeUm, and so I think that's something we try to work with our creators a lot on is like, look, it doesn't just stop at the video you post, like you need to go environment or engineer this environment in the comments that's, you know, extremely collaborative, has people asking, you know, where are people finding jobs, and that's where you can start to subtly plug in your product, as well. Um, because at the end of the day, you know, views are great, but it's like how do we get our product? It's like,
Canyon Pergandeboom, like, this is why I only use SideShift, you know? People are liking that. That's converting to real users. And so, I mean, we can even go down here to like an older one. And um, I mean, I I think, too, a lot of it is just like experimentation. And so, you don't really know at the start what formats are going to work. Um, I mean, we can even see here we got like one of our other creators that, you know, is trying to subtly plug there.
Canyon PergandeUm, but I also think sometimes these accounts just take time to warm up, and some just get a little bit luckier and get pushed out into the feed right away and, you know, have insane engagement. Others just take more time. Um, and so it's one of those things where you kind of just got to weather the storm, and, you know, wait to just find a format that, you know, resonates with people.
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More from this episode
- Have 5 creators post twice a day on new TikTok accounts; copy the first hit10K to 150K+ users in 3-4 months on ~$10K; 16-20M views in one campaign
- Post about the tough job market and slip the app in at the endWinning format; videos at 84K to a few hundred thousand views
- Visit 25 college campuses in person to sign up the first usersFirst 10-20K users; strong word of mouth among college students
- Tell student creators the gig can grow into a strategist or growth roleGuest says it drives stronger results for brands; no numbers
- Give creators a short brief with a Loom, target persona and proven videosSeen across SideShift customers; long briefs get skipped
- Pay creators a base retainer, $15-20 per video, and big view bonusesCommon rate across SideShift; bonuses get creators working the comments
- Warm up each new TikTok account for 3-5 days, acting like your target user
- Test an app idea with a few creators for 2 weeks before doubling downSeen across studios; two weak 2-week rounds mean rethink the product
- Hire one creator who already went viral on her own TikTok35M views on 46 posts; weekly downloads up 10x
- Let the creator decide what to post instead of sending her ideasFounder's ideas performed terribly; hers drove 35M views
- Post the AI's funniest mistakes, like a photo with a third legDrove heavy engagement; part of a 35M-view run
- Turn the organic TikToks that already worked into paid adsBoth apps in and out of their category's top five for weeks
Tags: tiktok, comments, engagement, subtle-plug