SideShift · B2B · UGC creator marketplace
Run organic videos with 5%+ engagement as Meta ads, starting at $100 a day
Great results at $100/day, then scaled up; no numbers given
Workedpaid-socialugc-creators
What they did
Once an organic video passes ~5% engagement rate, put spend behind it on Meta (SideShift runs Meta primarily, for its B2B product). Start around $100/day total across the winners (e.g. ~$33 each for 3 videos) for the first 14 days, adjusted for trial length. Track trial starts and conversions via UTM links. If ROAS is positive (e.g. $200 in, $400 out), step up to $300/day, then $1,000/day; if you get 75 cents per dollar, stop. Start paid only after organic content-market fit and once total marketing budget exceeds ~$10K/month.
What happened
SideShift started at ~$100/day and saw great results, then scaled spend with more creative.
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Nick Lawton - #1 UGC EXPERT Reveals How To Market Consumer Apps“Our engagement rate is around 5%. That's what we see work really well. Once that happens, we're going to allocate some spend behind it”
“I would start just simple, maybe 100 bucks a day, see how that bodes for the first 14 days”
“when we first started running paid ads, we were running at an extremely small scale, we were doing like 100 bucks a day. We started seeing great results.”
Related topics
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More from SideShift
All 12 SideShift tactics- Tie videos to job-market anger: 'I have a master's and can't find a job'Talking-head version got 9.6M views; 6-7 of ~15 early videos hit 150-300K
- 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
- Train your own creators with a 6-hour course on making app videosCreators earn ~$10-15K after 1-2 months; early quality complaints
- Visit 25 college campuses in person to sign up the first usersFirst 10-20K users; strong word of mouth among college students
- Pay creators yourself when a brand fails to pay themExtreme creator loyalty and referrals; costs up to ~six figures/month
- Post about the tough job market and slip the app in at the endWinning format; videos at 84K to a few hundred thousand views
More from this episode
- Copy what already works for competitors on TikTok, but change it 10-20%Called the easiest route; exact copies on cold accounts often fail
- Pay each creator $600-800 for 30-60 videos plus $1-2 per 1,000 viewsCalled the most fruitful structure for creators seen on the platform
- Call it a fit when 5-6 videos in the campaign pass 10,000 viewsMany quit UGC too early by skipping this step
- SideShift: Manage all creators in one group chat and share what's workingKeeps creators bought in; one-on-one management called very hard
- SideShift: Once a video format wins, put 90% of creators on it and keep 10% testingWorks well for them; keeps a backup format ready if the winner saturates
- Spend 20% on organic creator videos to test, 80% on ads for the winnersPattern seen at big brands; called the biggest organic-only vs organic+paid difference
- SideShift: Build a warm-up video format from real posts about job-hunt painStill used a year later; warms accounts well but converts poorly
- Run organic TikTok winners as Spark ads to push reach cheaplyCheaper CPMs, but no install button or conversion tracking