SideShift · creator job board for students
Tell student creators the gig can grow into a strategist or growth role
Guest says it drives stronger results for brands; no numbers
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What they did
SideShift and the businesses on it pitch creators on more than pay: 'you might start as a content creator, but next thing you know you could be a strategist for our campaigns or for the companies we work with', leading to growth marketing roles. Aimed at college students who want experience with fast-growing startups more than a few hundred dollars.
What happened
Canyon claims the college positioning and relationship framing give brands stronger results; no numbers.
“Like we always frame it to our creators. It's like, "Look, you might start as a content creator, but like next thing you know, you could be a strategist for our campaigns, or for some of the campaigns for the companies we work with."”
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
- Train your own creators with a 6-hour course on making app videosCreators earn ~$10-15K after 1-2 months; early quality complaints
- 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
- Run organic videos with 5%+ engagement as Meta ads, starting at $100 a dayGreat results at $100/day, then scaled up; no numbers given
- Manage all creators in one group chat and share what's workingKeeps creators bought in; one-on-one management called very hard
- Build a warm-up video format from real posts about job-hunt painStill used a year later; warms accounts well but converts poorly
More from this episode
- SideShift: 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
- SideShift: Post about the tough job market and slip the app in at the endWinning format; videos at 84K to a few hundred thousand views
- SideShift: Have creators reply to comments and name the app when people askGuest says comment plugs convert to real users; no numbers
- SideShift: Visit 25 college campuses in person to sign up the first usersFirst 10-20K users; strong word of mouth among college students
- 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
- Photogenic: Hire one creator who already went viral on her own TikTok35M views on 46 posts; weekly downloads up 10x
- Photogenic: Let the creator decide what to post instead of sending her ideasFounder's ideas performed terribly; hers drove 35M views
- Photogenic: Post the AI's funniest mistakes, like a photo with a third legDrove heavy engagement; part of a 35M-view run
- Vert Ventures: Turn the organic TikToks that already worked into paid adsBoth apps in and out of their category's top five for weeks