100,000 App Downloads From TikTok Slideshows

0:00between two and five million views per month. I know how to make a viral video. Today's guest, Alberto, gets 5 million views a month on TikTok. No paid ads, no video content, only slideshows. You have to find a way to feel that the user found your app and not in the reverse. a simple budget tracking app on the side and started posting daily slideshows on TikTok. And a few days ago, he hit

0:21100,000 downloads on his main app. Across his two main apps, he's making [music] $8,000 a month. And his main market is not even the US, it's Spain. To an app builder wondering how to get downloads without spending any money on ads, this one's for you. So, in this episode, we're going to talk about how he gets 5 million views a month on TikTok [music] with only slideshows, why he targets Spain instead of the US, and finally, how he goes viral every six

0:44posts without automating anything. [music] This is the Tap and Swipe podcast. I'm Arthur, founder of AppSprint, a mobile attribution tool for app founders scaling with paid ads. If you're running Apple Search Ads, TikTok Ads, Meta Ads, or even Google Ads, and you don't know which campaign actually drive revenue, App Trends [music] is for you. You just have to connect your app, pick the event you want to optimize for, and see which campaigns bring users [music] who convert. And if you're a beginner launching your mobile app, you can also join AppSprint community. We are a group of app founders shipping together. We do three group calls per

1:13week, [music] and we are sharing what's working right now for us. Uh last month, you made 5 million views from TikTok, organic TikTok, and you just reached 100,000 downloads, all from carousel sales. So, can you just tell us a bit how everything started? Why you started building mobile apps? I find like some tools to to go [music] uh with AI, and I found my my main tool that is

1:46right now Rock. And with that with that tool, I I make my first app. And then in December, I start making my first money with the app. I was made in making like 20 bucks per day or something like that. After that, I talked with a guy that is like I talked few times that is going very well with the apps and he told me that I have to put a hard paywall. So, I changed my

2:13type of monetization to that. And the sales comes crazy. Right now, I'm making, I think, between two and five million views per month with all my accounts. That's so so interesting because usually when I interview founders, it's more technical guys that then try to learn how to market. So, usually it start with I built an app. I spend literally one year before learning how to market it and then I make some money. And you is the total opposite. Like you know exactly how to market, but not how to build. So, you spend way more time trying to build the app than actually

2:48marketing it. I know how to make a viral video, but it's difficult for me to to make the app all of these stuff, but I can provide much value to the community. You actually the first guy that I meet that is coming more from marketing than technical background. So, guys, if you want to learn more about what Alberto is currently doing with his marketing, I will put [music] like X accounts on the YouTube description. So, if you want to to check him out, he shares everything. So, if you want to learn how to create organic content so for free and market your apps, you can go there and and learn a lot of

3:23things. And talking about content, what's funny is that for instance, if I open X right now, I will have only people talking about UGC of videos, how to create like AI videos and things like that, but it's not at all your thing. You do slideshows. So, why do you do slideshows? In my opinion, you have to find your own content. You need a content that you can do upload to TikTok three times a day. For me, it's impossible to find UGC or make prepared videos three times a day. When you find a video that goes viral with your type of content and you don't spend too much time on it, that's the

4:00video that you have to replicate over and over and over and over again. So, yeah, for me it's very easy to to make like a slideshows. It's It's better. Now, let's dive deep into carousels. You have around one in every six posts, something like that, that goes viral [music] in Spain. How do you like know that you need to keep posting that content and that one will go viral? How do you know if a video will work or won't? How do you know if you need to

4:30stop posting that format? First of all, when I create an app, I look up for content that I can replicate and maybe do it at volume. I look at content I can apply a CTA, but if the people are not looking about your app, you are going to make tons of views, but zero downloads. So, you have to make type of video and engage all all the all this stuff. When you have a new account, [snorts] what you have to do is to to look at formats. Don't focus on one type of video. Like you have to upload five to six different type of video from the

5:06first two weeks and then if nothing go viral, maybe you have to change your your app or something like that. But if one video take like over 15k, that's a a sign that this content could go viral. Can you talk a bit about how you find balance between [music] making like carousel talking a bit too much about your app so it looks like an ad and it won't convert, but also on the other side you could make something that goes viral exactly like you said, but without any CTA so nobody will download your app. So, how do you find balance between marketing the app inside the slideshow,

5:44but not too much to avoid the slideshow to look like an ad. [music] Yeah, so that's very important. You have to find a way to tell the user to feel that the user found your app and not in reverse. That's what's really interesting with your content, that it looks more than a genuine tip like, "Oh, look guys, I just found this app and it helps me to do that and that and that." So, it looks not like an ad, but just someone sharing

6:11a cool thing that they found, right? So, I like I like very much that type of video because it's like people using your app without telling what app is it. When you upload a video using an app and showing a screenshot or or some screenshot of your app with a wow moment that people say, "Oh, I need that app." That's the the sweetest spot that people are going to to ask for your

6:34app and going to going to download it. So, my app is like financial tracker for girls, mostly. So, it's like a very easy way to to look at your finance. So, the screenshot is yeah, pastel colors and with a very beautiful screen. Um, when you show a screenshot of your app that is very dramatic, uh people are going to ask for it for it. So, that's also a a thing that I recommend to to build an app that has at least one screenshot that is very dramatic. So, building the app, uh finding like thinking about, "Okay, this thing

7:21is like the screenshot for my TikTok." Some quick tip for the people watching the podcast, for instance, widgets are really really easy to to market on social media and that's what I used with both of my best apps. My wow moments was actually not inside the app, but simply the widget on the home screen and it's

7:41quite easy to to market also. Okay. That's really interesting. So, we need to find balance when we create um our organic slideshows between and ads, but not too much. But now that we know how to find content that could go viral, we know how to create the content that will convert to downloads, the question is, "How do I scale my organic content?" So, how do I go from one account to two accounts? And [music] do you actually do that? Do you try other countries because you started with uh Spain, but do you target other countries? What's the scaling of organic content on TikTok

8:20looking like? Yeah, so there is a lot of way to do it. Some people try to do with with an API, but I don't really recommend it like fully [music] because in a strong way TikTok catch that is going uh auto is an automatic video. What I do uh to to automatic most of part of the process is to make uh the screens of my app like in a in an app that is like built from my own and I only use it. Then I I I paste the text by by hand on TikTok to spend some time on on the edit zone of TikTok TikTok and choose the the exact same

9:02type of letter that TikTok The same fonts as the TikTok native. So, yeah. TikTok find that more attractive. I have like in my main phone that it based on a Spain, I have I think six or seven accounts in different apps and different and my my main like my personal account, too. [music] So, I don't really find it a problem. Some people tells that is you can only use two accounts per phone, but for me it's it's working to like to have six

9:35accounts. And I I post in five of them. So, I think it's don't really matter. And for markets of other countries, I have another phone and with a VPN. It's like the same, but you have to you need the the VPN all time active. And I post that content that in like in English and to [clears throat] to reach the US USA, uh Canada, Australia, and those type of country that are way more value than

10:11convert. Yeah, more more money, more purchasing power. But you still started with Spain. And that's important to say because I see so many founders only obsessing with the US, but actually most of the revenue you're currently making and you made is from from Spain. Yeah, I I really recommend to to to start with your own phone like based on your country because for me it's more difficult to to go viral with my VPN

10:39phone. I I think it's it's because my the VPN that somehow TikTok knows that you're using the VPN. Because here in Spain like one of 10 videos is is going viral and then in US maybe one of 30 or one of 35. And it's a little bit frustrating. So, I will recommend to the founders that they have to upload content first on

11:08your own country. And when you have find a format, you know how to market the app on your country, that is going to be easier for you and less frustrating. [music] Then buy another phone with a VPN and start open the the market. Now, I think we could just quickly talk about the small things because we talked about how to set up the accounts, how to create the content, but there are small things that people think also influence the performance of a video. Do you think that the music or the hashtags or what you write in the description has an

11:46impact on the performance of a video? If you put like in a sad video, uh like a reggaeton music or something like that, the video is not going viral. You have to find a a type of song that match with the with the emotions of your video. If you're trying to like there is no a specific song or trend song that are going to make your

12:08video viral. And the same with the hashtag with the hashtag and the and the description, you have to find like some script that match with your target audience. So, maybe if if for girls, you have you have to put some hashtag that maybe are going to target girls. Yeah, it's more try to stay coherent with the right hashtags and right music that fits your video, but do not spend too much time trying to find the best hashtags or the best music. It won't have a huge impact. One interesting thing that we can also quickly talk about is your subscription price. You're probably the guy with the lowest

12:48subscriptions I've ever met, but you're also making a lot of money, so that's funny. What are your current subscription prices in Europe? So, it will be easy in in euro. Did you try different prices format, for instance, weekly, monthly? And did you try different also prices? Or is it just you went with that, it worked, and you kept

13:08it? Yeah, so I started with uh lower prices. For me, the price right now in my app is uh 4 euros in Spain and $5 in in the US for a month. $35 uh for a year. So, yeah, it's like low price for an app because [snorts] the people is like between 6 and 10 euros in monthly. But, I think my app is like a financial target app, and I think that I tried some prices and people like, you know, people are the downloading your app to to save money, and maybe it's too complicated to to sell the product to a person that is downloading the app to save money, like

13:59to to tell him like to give me more money. Also, I'm related to my competitors. So, I I I download like tons of apps that are in the in the same niche. That's also what I really like with your story. Everything is simple. You just find a content that works, you just do it again and again because your TikTok account is crazy. Some people are scared of posting two times something very similar, but your account is literally the same format again and again. So, you do not have to think too much about the prices, you just take what looks logical based on your competitors, and only

14:36content. That's crazy. And that brings my last question. A lot of builders are watching this episode, and I'm asking this question to all the guests. Could you share a tip if someone wants to start building an app and make money with it? What should they do? What should they look for? Do you Do you have

14:53any tip to share? For me, the most important thing is to build an app thinking of the content that you're going to do because if you do like an app that is a good app, [music] but you don't know how to market, the app is going to be empty in the App Store, and forget. You have to think about how you are going to publish it on TikTok and all this stuff on Instagram, YouTube because if you don't think about it you are going to have a a very good app but like a forgotten one

15:29with no downloads. Literally. [laughter] I received a message today from someone as sometimes I receive email from from people probably coming from YouTube and this was a guy like I started building my app 6 months ago. I'm just building building. I'm adding new features. It's very hard but I have no traction and they just like fell in the rabbit hole of more features more features more features instead of trying to market the app and in the end the only thing that

15:57matters is marketing. Yeah, that's true. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything. That's it. I asked all of my questions. Don't forget to check out App Tweek if you're currently running paid ads and the community if you want to connect with other app founders. Both links in the description.