SideShift · marketplace for hiring UGC creators
Turn your best creators into managers who recruit, coach and review
Guest calls it the most effective way to find a good manager; no numbers
Workedcreator-opsteam-process
What they did
Give the best-performing creators managerial tasks (recruitment, strategy, creator coaching, video reviews), see what each is good at, and build the team around that. They already know the content strategy and how you work with creators, so need little hand-holding. SideShift is using this to train managers outside Tier 1 countries. If you have no good creators yet, hire an outside manager first.
What happened
Canyon says it is still the most effective way he knows to find a really good manager.
In their words
The Superwall Podcast · Canyon Pergande - How To Grow Your App 23x Faster Than The Competition“The playbook that we're running right now is just taking our top creators and turning them into managers. And I actually genuinely like still believe to this day that that is the most effective way to find a really good manager.”
“let's give them some managerial tasks. Like let's maybe have them do recruitment. Let's have them do strategy. Let's have them do creator coaching and video reviews.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from SideShift
All 15 SideShift tactics- 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
- 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
- Manage all creators in one group chat and share what's workingKeeps creators bought in; one-on-one management called very hard
- 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
- 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
- Hire a creator manager for a 1-month trial at $2-4K, plus 5% of bonusesGuest says it attracts good managers who push quality; no numbers
- Give creators reference videos and hooks, not scripts; approve every video before it postsGuest says it avoids paying for videos that won't convert; no numbers
- Hire storytellers new to UGC at low rates; skip anyone on 5+ campaignsGuest says they are cheaper, more loyal and need less hand-holding
- Ask creators to also post every video to Instagram and Facebook ReelsInstagram now gets 10-20% more views than TikTok across programs
- Pick a niche that seems too small, like knitting or ballet, then widenCustomers report more conversions and longer-lasting formats; niche ceiling ~$10K/month
- Consumer Club: Start with app builders, then invite info-product and e-commerce marketers moving into appsHost says the mix made the community better; no numbers
- Hire creators in Latin America for $15 a video and test new formats there~40% cheaper per video than US creators; less competition, likely higher conversion
- Run as ads the creator videos with 5-10x normal views and 8%+ engagementGuest says these videos naturally do better as ads; no numbers
- SideShift: Pay affiliates a cut of earnings and subscriptions for referring brands and creators
- SideShift: Sign up agencies to run campaigns for customers, and train creators as managersAbout 30 agencies onboarded in one summer