After four The Growth Lab Live sessions, we realized a lot of the Q&A questions were around the same topics.
- How to find outliers?
- When to quit formats?
- What’s the better, easier, cheaper way to scale?
The first thing you need to understand is that the content’s performance is based on two core variables that matter more than everything else: the hook and the format.
The second thing is that, at scale, it becomes a numbers game. The goal is always to produce enough videos to create viral outliers, then improve the whole distribution system from end to end.
Let’s start.
Hooks and Formats That Repeatedly Drive Views
- Relationship-based storylines
Relationship drama always drives attention. It doesn’t matter if your product doesn’t fit the niche, chances are, you can wrap it around a relationship-driven story.
Symmetry tapped into breakup-style formats and printed 26.9M views in 30 days.
The relationship angle gives the content a clear and repeatable frame, which increases the odds of going viral.
This can go even further when the product name and domain name are built around the format itself. When the name fits the format naturally, it can be placed directly into the hook without sounding like an ad.
The downside is that this does not build strong brand recognition, but it can work well for fast growth focused on users and revenue.
2. Slipping in a fake app notification
Combine a trendy hook, used purely as scroll-bait, with a notification under the text. It works whether the notification connects to the hook or not, especially if it hints at receiving money.
3. Small visual cues
Even the tiniest of details can make a difference.
Take a look at this video:
Because of the briefly shown Polaroid photo, it got 500K views, outperforming every other video on the account. Engagement was high, too, as people flooded the comments, curious about what was in the photo.
Believe it or not, it was an accident. But the same idea can be used on purpose by showing a quick, unusual visual for a split second to spark curiosity (and increase rewatches).
Repurposing and Reframing Content
An easy way to multiply content, without it looking exactly the same, is to slightly tweak the first frame.
You can speed it up or slow it down a few seconds, crop it, widen it or close it in.
A good example of this is the account @studyfetch4.0. Instead of treating a winning video as a one-and-done asset, it reposts the same core clips that went viral and keeps it fresh by changing the hook and reacting to them.
The result was 6.2M views across reposts, which shows that once a format works, small changes to the packaging can be enough to create another viral opportunity without needing completely new raw material.
Another thing you can do to keep it fresh is to take an already viral video, crop it and place it inside a frame that looks like a social media post.
For the framed repost approach, the clearest example is still @rometravelers. The idea is to take an already viral video, crop it, and place it inside a frame that makes it look like a social post instead of a straight repost.
That small packaging change gives old content a new visual identity, helps it blend more naturally into the feed, and creates a simple way to reuse proven viral assets without making the repost feel too obvious.
Whatever way you go about it, the main goal here is to increase output and create another chance to hit virality.
How to Judge a Format Before Moving On
- Test formats across multiple accounts and creators
Post the same format several times across different accounts and different creators.
This helps separate whether weak performance is coming from the content, the account, the phone or the creator. Using a broader test pool makes it easier to remove false assumptions and see whether a hook or format actually has potential.
2. What signals that a format is working
A format looks promising when one or more videos perform at 10x to 15x the median of the test pool, even if total views are still relatively small, such as 10K to 15K.
If that happens once or twice in the same pool, it’s a signal to run another round and push the winning variation further.
3. Testing the account by removing the product
One way to test whether the account is the problem is to remove the product demo and post a strong engagement hook or a copied viral hook instead.
This helps separate account performance from product performance.
Tests like this make it easier to see which part of the system needs work.
4. Engagement & Performance
Keep in mind that views and comments do not always rise together.
To have low comments in comparison with views is normal. 15K views may only lead to around 20 comments and even a million views may only generate around 150 comments.
So, don’t focus too much on this when testing a format, unless you’re specifically testing for high engagement.
5. Conversion
Talking head videos may convert better, but they are harder and more expensive to make.
On the other hand, faceless can convert less, but they’re far easier to scale and can still win big through volume.
Scaling Creators, Accounts and Platforms
Once you find a system that works, the goal is to keep scaling it and improving every part of it, from content and creator sourcing to payments.
1. Hiring creators
To build an effective UGC network, you need to build a system that allows you to test multiple creators, remove the weak ones and keep cycling until a strong group remains.
At first, keep an eye out when scrolling, save the names of the ones that stand out and DM them directly.
After a while, you’ll probably need a different strategy.
2. Match the creator location to the market
When targeting a specific country, creators usually need to be in that country, speak the language and create accounts locally.
There are exceptions, such as non-English native creators making content for English-speaking markets, but that can be harder to scale.
The bottom line is, test different setups and see what works best for your overall game plan and product.
3. Create accounts carefully
Creating many accounts at the same time is risky and it will likely cause bans.
Start with one account, build it up and only add more accounts after several days or weeks.
A good starting point is to set one group of accounts per device across social platforms, then add more after the first group is running well.
4. Expanding social platforms
For consumer app distribution, TikTok is where you need to focus.
Once you’ve gained traction, expand to Instagram. Posting on both gives each video twice the chances of performing and can help lower CPM.
Build a System That Survives Format Fatigue
No format lasts forever.
Even if competition wasn’t an issue, a format will stop working over time. The real advantage here is the ability to keep finding new hooks, formats and ideas, then scale the ones that work.
To keep your testing pool always fresh, you need to constantly be scrolling and researching. On that end, as you know, we always have you covered.