Launch an influencer campaign for birding log apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a birding log app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 28-55, already bounced off eBird they find heavy in the field and a paper checklist that blew away, watches eBird will not load on this trail and dawn-walk videos with gloves on. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You really need to do this for hundreds of creators a day, because the market is not efficient. Some dumb startup is paying thousands for hundreds of views. I scroll as the person who would download this on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator fees extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I saw it at dawn and the log wanted a form I could not submit on one bar. They already tried eBird they find heavy in the field, a paper checklist that blew away, and a photos album of birds they cannot name later. Skip the 300k bird-influencer whose grid is a 4k-dollar lens unboxing. Adjacent is dawn trails, bad signal, not lens flex. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone losing a dawn sighting because the app wanted a full form on one bar of signal. Signal: the same dawn-failed-submit face two walks.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a small dawn-walk bio. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Bird influencers quote lens-haul rates. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. Add a bird with gloves on a trail. Add a bird with gloves on, on one bar, drop the code.
Why most first birding log apps campaigns stall
01
Bird influencers quote lens-haul rates. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Will-not-load rants already have the audience; a gloves-on add on a trail is the product.
02
People tag birding tag when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A 4k-dollar lens with no log.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask for a lens unboxing. Ask them to add a bird with gloves on a trail.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. A live listing whose first screenshot is a fast add, not a social map.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is App Store installs with a unique custom code.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as the person who would download this on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Bird influencers quote lens-haul rates. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The tag is lens-unboxing talent. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.