Noah Tucker
Founder & CEO of Social Snowball
But first, why should your app partner with influencers?
- Traffic from the app store is unreliable
- Installs that come from the app store are often high churn
- Other growth methods are too expensive for smaller apps
- Few apps are doing influencer partnerships – there is not a lot of competition
- The amount of ecom founders and operators on TikTok, Youtube, and Twitter is growing insanely fast.
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Long story short: No matter what category your app is, if you’re bootstrapped or funded, or who your ICP is, influencers are worth investing in. When executed correctly, this can be an incredibly powerful growth channel for your app.
Long story short: No matter what category your app is, if you're bootstrapped or funded, or who your ICP is, influencers are worth investing in.
How to structure a deal with influencers
There are 3 ways we structure influencer deals:
- Revenue share partnerships
- Pay to post
- Incremental based on performance.
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Let’s unpack all three.
Rev share partnership:
With this structure, you pay the influencer a % of the rev generated from referred users. This is great for bootstrappers or anyone on a budget. There’s no risk for you, but it also reduces the quality of influencers you can work with (usually).
Pay to post:
You pay the influencer a flat amount for a post. Plain and simple.
Incremental based on performance:
This one is crucial for TikTok partnerships You pay the influencer a small flat fee to post, and then pay more incrementally based on performance milestones.
For example: You pay $200 to post a TikTok, then another $500 if it hits 50k views, another $500 if it hits 100k view, etc. This both protects you and incentivizes the creator to make better content.
What platforms should I focus on?
Depending on your ICP, you’ll want to focus more on certain platforms.
- TikTok – Mostly smaller brands & drop shippers
- Twitter – Lots of bigger brands
- Youtube – Good mix of everyone
- Private communities (Discord groups, courses, etc.) – Depends on the influencer
In addition to the audience, different platforms are better for different objectives/funnel stages:
- TikTok – mostly for awareness
- Twitter – mostly for awareness
- Youtube – mostly for conversions
- Private communities (Discord groups, courses, etc.) – conversions
Depending on your ICP, you'll want to focus more on certain platforms.
How do I find influencers?
There are two main ways we find influencers:
- For TikTok – Search for ecommerce related hashtags (#shopify, #ecommerce, #shopifyapps, etc. )and see creators that come up
- For Youtube – Search for other Shopify apps that partner with influencers frequently and see what videos come up
Content strategy
For Youtube:
1. App review (for on the fence prospects/ bottom of funnel)
2. Solution to problem (more top of funnel but often converts)
3. Case Study (highest performing, least targeted impressions, still usually converts well)
For TikTok:
1. Showing impressive numbers
@austinrabinecom #question from @austinrabinecom dmed from @jingle7523 you need a specialized accountant! #ukdropshipping #ukaccountant #ukamazonfba #ukecommerce ♬ original sound - Austin Rabin - E-Commerce
2. A unique value prop:
@lacadlifestyle How you can make money online by selling digital products
♬ original sound - Rene Lacad
In Conclusion
Influencer partnerships is a great way to grow your Shopify app. Only relying on the app store for traffic and installs won’t cut it anymore, and with so few apps partnering with influencers, the opportunity is huge!
