+ 97 viral formats & tips to source your first dedicated creator
Write hooks like you’re Billy Beane in Moneyball.
Don’t start from scratch.
We’ve been harvesting tens of thousands of hooks — and we give them to you for free. Last week, it was Locket’s hooks… and there’s more in the “Resources” section of our site.
Here’s how we approach a new app’s content strategy:
Source content from competitors
Source UGC and creator content from competitors or similar apps
Source as much UGC as possible from across the vertical
From all the data we pull, we’re focused on crafting story-based hooks.
The goal? Find what’s actually resonating in the vertical right now — and adapt those hooks to fit your product.
That’s an account from our latest app. We only started two weeks ago — and the 4 outlier hooks in this account: they’re actually the exact same hook, word for word.
Every time we use that text hook (on any account) it outperforms the median by at least 4x. It’s already hit 20x median four different times.
That’s why scientifically crafting hooks matters.
The best approach early on is to write a series of hooks strategically, then keep iterating based on what performs.
If you dig into the Locket dataset, you’ll see 3 hooks that repeat — and they drive the largest % of views.
Format drops
We did something crazy last week.
We spent hours collecting all the main formats we’ve covered from 100+ apps that, combined, have done billions of views.
We named them. We classified them:
You’ll find them all here: socialgrowthengineers.com/formats
To access all the gated content, you’ll need to sign up on Social Growth Engineers. It’s 100% free — and it will always be.
We’re dropping new formats daily, so you’ll have a steady stream of fresh inspiration to market your apps.
Now that we’re releasing exclusive content on Social Growth Engineers (stuff we’re not even posting on Twitter), we’ll also be sending a Monday Drop newsletter. Expect:
New formats (the most new viral ones)
New strategies (& exclusives)
New resources (datasets, hooks, accounts, prompts, and more cool stuff to help you market faster and reach more people)
Every single week.
Tips to find your first dedicated creator
We’ve been doing this for 10+ months now. By now, we’ve hired hundreds of ambassadors/creators.
So to find your first dedicated one, here are some good hacks:
- Source 100s of accounts/influencers in your specific niche vertical:
When hiring a single creator, it’s optimal to find someone exactly within your niche. It’s best to select a creator who already knows how to produce good/great content, as this will save you some hassle.
Make sure to scope accounts that have fewer than 50-100k followers and avoid ones with extravagant view counts on their main account (for rate purposes).
Then reach out to them directly via DMs from your main account and/or email, if they have one displayed.
- Pay attention to behavior and responsiveness + get a demo:
This is very important. If responsiveness is slow, feels shady, or unreliable, drop them immediately. This saves you time later on.
You need to find someone good, who you can guide, give feedback to, and who will listen and implement it quickly.
Make sure to schedule a Zoom interview with candidates as early as possible in the conversation.
Also, ask for a demo video. This is key to testing for speed, intelligence, and determining if there is a good content-creator fit.
- Contract + Payment
Create a clear contract giving you the rights to run ads on the videos and reuse them on Meta. Ensure your payment structure is weekly and upfront, and you can include a CPM reward scheme built on top.
A lower fixed rate & higher CPM/milestone payments mean less upfront risk, but you’ll end up paying more if the account/videos blow up.
A higher fixed rate & lower CPM means more upfront cash, but if the account takes off, it’s a jackpot.
- Get things rolling asap
Ideally, get the first week of videos rolling as soon as possible. This way, you can quickly gauge how the creator performs when posting two or three times per day.
Don’t hesitate to replace the creator if anything seems off or unsatisfactory after the first week.
Extra: additional hack we wrote about this week to find your competitors influencer marketing campaigns.
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Until next time ????
Maria & Guillaume,
The Social Growth Engineers team
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