Coconote · B2C · AI note-taker for students
Put a little ad money behind organic videos that already went viral
Not much success; ~99% of views stayed organic
What they did
What happened
- Effort
- A little money behind some posts
In their words
Brett Bauman & Zack Hargett - COPY this ai app's $6.7m/yr marketing strategy
Joseph ChoiOoh, that was That was a quick hook. That was two like 2-3 seconds of just like showing the lecture hall and it immediately goes straight down showing the phone screen recording the lecture. "She showed me this app, and all I do is hit record. It re- listens to the professor, starts talk taking notes." That's crazy. This was like 18 million views. So how many views did this get initially? And then did you end up boosting this um post?
Zack HargettPretty much all of the 18 million came, you know, within the first 2 months, I would say. And we I'm sure we did put a little bit of money behind it, but we haven't really found a ton of success in that. And so it's very minimal. I'd say 99% of those views are organic.
Joseph ChoiThat's wild. What would you say is like the difference between a, you know, the PDF to Brainrot videos that are doing massive, you know, 200 million views versus these that maybe get a little bit less views, but um are actually higher-converting?
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More from this episode
- Build a novelty free tool (text to brainrot video) and push it on TikTok100-200M views and 3,000 trials in days, but only ~$25K revenue
- Post short videos that show the app solving a real student problemSeveral ~20M-view videos, ~99% organic, converting far better than viral novelty content
- Mix a known game (2048) with studying and promote a catchy URL in videosOne video reached ~2M views; no conversion numbers
- Build hidden app screens only creators use, made to look good on cameraUsed in the 18M-view video; no separate numbers
- Keep a small team of 10-12 part-time creators, led by a proven oneLead creator drove hundreds of millions of views; founders say it worked
- Recruit creators who aren't influencers via Handshake, DMs, email and referralsA Spanish tutor with no content experience became a top creator in 9 months
- Double onboarding from 5 to about 13 screens in one big changeTrial conversion up 16%; one-or-two-screen tests had only given small wins
- Let people pay before creating an account; move login after the paywallFounder calls it significant; no separate number
- Let users record a whole lecture before asking them to payCalled a big win; no number given
- Pitch the app as great for ADHD in videos and the first App Store screenshotUsers say it helps their ADHD; no numbers
- When trial users cancel, offer them 7 more free daysKeeps 27% of cancellers in their trial; a smaller share later pay
- Hire an investment bank to run the sale so you keep buildingSold to Quizlet ~18 months after launch; bank ran it end to end
- Hire engineers who can also do backend or a second platformSmall engineering team ships a lot; with 50%+ EBITDA margins
- Post creator-style TikToks and Reels to drive app signupsHundreds of thousands of signups for an earlier app
- Track each creator's results with a dedicated tool (viral.app)Only one of 5-6 tools tried that worked for them
Tags: instagram, tiktok, boosting, organic-amplification