Stronger · B2C · gamified workout tracker
Post 2-3 slide TikTok carousels of real, unpolished app screens
Historically their best-converting channel; weaker in the past year as 20 rivals copied
What they did
What happened
In their words
Peter Gillan - My App Makes $600k/Year Using This Easy Growth Strategy (copy me)
HostSo is your TikTok and Instagram strategy different?
PeterYeah, pretty much completely different. It's my brother mostly handles this page. This is our main account, and it's all just two- to three-slide carousels, which perform really well for us. I think historically this has probably been a lot higher converting than Instagram. In the past year, it's probably worked less well, just cuz you've got so much competition, you know, it's not as novel anymore. Now there's, you know, 20 workout apps doing the same thing. It's it's a continual race to try and find formats which you can use and, you know, get first-mover advantage of for a while before it's like milked dry. But this is the bread and butter and ultimately where we went viral the very first time, and that was what let us get the product kind of launched.
HostYou went viral on TikTok first and then you started Instagram stuff?
HostI like that one cuz it it's really obvious that it's a app UI. There's like the share to Instagram button, there's like the download button, you can kind of see that it's an interface.
PeterYeah. No, I think it's super effective. I think people like when content feels authentic. I think if you do remove all those like, you know, share things like that, yes, it might look a little bit better, but people know it's an advert then. Whereas if it's an app screenshot, they're like, "Oh, this is actual legit content," because any self-respecting company would have like removed, you know, all the extra stuff that's not needed there. I think by looking less professional on TikTok, you actually perform much better. Like, you shouldn't have overly polished TikTok videos. It should look a little bit rough.
HostSo what's your process for finding the next winning format? I know we kind of broke down content strategy in general, but what are you like what are you doing right now to find like to hunt for the next format?
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More from this episode
- Post the same 6-second fade-in app screenshot Reel over and overEst. 150-300M views, a 100M-view month; low conversion and now fading
- Copy a winning video across many accounts, changing a few words or colors each timeAdopted after a rival did it with ~10 accounts; no separate numbers
- Copy a rival's viral video format and post it from 10 accountsDownloads visibly ramped up; out-scaled the team that invented it
- Design every feature to look great as a screenshot for social postsScreenshots are the main money-maker; founder claim, no numbers
- Post a rough founder video of a fun app feature before launch~15K followers in week one; then hit #3 in Health & Fitness at launch
- Reply to comments with videos showing their lift as random objects in the appA series of viral videos; likely most of the account's 4.9M likes
- Make everyone start a free trial first; free version only after they cancel~25% boost, their biggest ever; few complaints, but less sharing
- Test when and how often the paywall shows before testing its wordingFounder says they now monetize per user among the best workout trackers; no numbers
- Turn workout numbers into a strength rank users can show off12 months with no copycat; became the main marketing asset
- Adapt viral video formats from other app niches, then test hooks by watch timeHow they find each new format; no numbers given
- Keep content in-house; hire agencies only to scale a proven formatTwo founders make almost all content; few affiliates
- Fund the app with government grants instead of investorsStayed bootstrapped; no amounts given
- Copy a rival's strength score and add game-style ranks for each musclePerformed 'brilliantly' per the guest; Stronger later added ranks too
- Give each running influencer their own workout plan in the appGuest says it built a strong brand and rocketed up the charts; no numbers
- Build the new app as a tile-based game that AI tools can't copy yet
Tags: tiktok, slideshows, carousels, authentic-ui, low-polish