The majority of operators I consult with think influencer marketing works like this:
You pay a creator
They say nice things about your product
Their audience buys.
(I wish it was that straightforward)
The creators who moved the needle for Cal AI weren't hard selling or spamming their followers.
They were the ones that could seamlessly integrate our app into their content and make it feel like a recommendation from a friend.
The second someone realizes they're watching an ad, a chunk of them scroll.
Nobody that I know opens TikTok hoping to get sold something.
So if a promo is obvious, fewer people watch and the video obviously underperforms.
Congrats, you just paid for a post that reached half the creator's normal audience.
The fix is to make the product disappear into the style of content that creator is already putting out.
We learned this the hard way by testing hard-sell videos early on, the kind where the creator stops and explains the app like an infomercial…
…and every time it was the creator's worst-performing video that week (shocker, I know).
When evaluating if your video performed well, there’s one key comparison to make:
How did the view count for the promo stack up against the creator's average views per video
If your video performs like their normal content = you integrated it well.
If it tanks = you didn't, and the drop in audience retention tells you they sniffed out the ad.
Another factor to consider is how long it takes for the audience to understand what your app or product even does, and if it is of value to them.
If your product takes 90 seconds to explain, you’re better off running ads on Meta.
Nobody is going to sit through a minute and a half of setup in a video that's supposed to feel native.
The integration can't be seamless if the product needs a tutorial.
Cal AI worked partly because it didn't need a long intro.
You point your phone at a plate of food and it tells you the macros - the viewer instantly gets the value prop.
So before you spend a dollar on a creator, ask yourself one thing:
Can someone show your product in a few seconds without explaining it?
If yes, you can run this.
If no, fix that first, because no amount of influencer spend will save a product that can't feel native to the creator’s natural content.
- Jake
