Launch an influencer campaign for language learning apps
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a language learning app. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: US English, 20-32, already bounced off Duolingo streaks and a dusty Anki deck, watches 'I studied Spanish for four years and cannot order food' and immersion-shame videos on the commute. 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 can match the pictures. I cannot say the sentence when a person is waiting. They already tried Duolingo, Anki they abandoned after 800 cards, and a community college night class they ghosted. Skip the polyglot with a wall of flags who is selling a $199 method. Adjacent is travel shame, subtitle arguments, not kids' alphabet songs. 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 screenshotting a 1200-day Duolingo streak and then failing a simple greeting. Signal: the same 'four years and cannot order food' face on two commutes.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a Linktree under a $199 method; say you are buying one app demo, not a bundle. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Method-sellers quote course prices because that is their real product. 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. A working lesson they can finish in four minutes. Open the drill, speak the counter sentence, close it. Subtitles off.
Why most first language learning apps campaigns stall
01
Method-sellers quote course prices because that is their real product. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. The anti-Duolingo rant is already a genre; an app that drills the sentence they actually need can ride that rant without becoming another owl.
02
People tag #languagelearning when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A 2M-view owl-hate video with no install.
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 them to film a 30-day fluency challenge. Ask them to fail a sentence, then pass it in the app.
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 spoken prompt, not a cartoon league.
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.
Method-sellers quote course prices because that is their real product. 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 full of tutors selling 1:1 Zoom, not indie apps. I read the session the person who would download this actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.