Food marketing | Introducing an influencer marketing strategy for app user growth

Introducing an influencer marketing strategy for app user growth

Researching and testing influencer marketing enabled creation of detailed recommendations anticipated to yield 1.8x to 8x higher effectiveness than traditional paid social media ads.

Influencers cooking a meal and recording a video in the kitchen

Goals

Conduct research on social media influencer marketing and deliver a strategic plan, recommending tactics to help an artificial intelligence consumer food app enhance brand awareness, grow users, and increase word-of-mouth.

Results

500,000

monthly active users

The app surpassed 500,000 monthly active users, driven by continuous user experience improvements, partnerships, new features, and robust marketing including influencer marketing.

130

influencers

In 2022, the creator platform experienced significant growth, expanding from 10 creators in April to more than 130 by December.

94-slide

guide

I provided a 94-slide deck to serve as a reference for a newly hired social media manager on future influencer marketing initiatives to bolster the effectiveness of social and advertising efforts.

Project content

Article preview for rood app partnership with TikTok

Influencer marketing strategy deck for food app

Screenshot of creators platform page for food app

How it was done

Research:

Gained market insights and understood potential personas by conducting internal interviews with restaurant, food, nutrition, and grocery industry experts before working with our design researcher and lead product marketer to define target personas, key user journey moments, and pain points
Gathered diverse perspectives to learn best practices from internal specialists in strategy, social media, and communications as well as external influencer marketing and search engine optimization agencies

After completion of this research project, the company established a partnership with TikTok in 2021, introducing a feature that enabled users to save video recipes to their app recipe collections.

The team launched a platform for influencers, contributing to increased traffic on online user community groups. This platform empowered food creators to host, share, and monetize their content.

In 2022, the creator platform experienced significant growth, expanding from 10 creators in April to more than 130 by December. During this period, the app surpassed 500,000 monthly active users, driven by continuous user experience improvements, partnerships, new features, and robust marketing including influencer marketing.

Content:

Found statistics, case studies, and predicted trends that could inform our content strategy by delving into marketing reports, research libraries, and competitor and influencer post examples
Established benchmarks for our goals by comparing social channel and influencer marketing engagement from month-long tests conducted on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Google Ads of various keywords, copy, and images, including photos I captured from a photoshoot with my supervisor
Drafted a 110-day new user drip campaign plan and drafted two weeks of messaging content for use in email, in-app messages, and push notifications

Strategy:

Delivered a company-wide, 50-minute webinar on approved recommendations to supplement traditional marketing tactics by adopting a business development approach focused on long-term, always-on campaigns with micro-influencers rather than one-off product endorsements with celebrities
Provided a 94-slide deck to serve as a reference for a newly hired social media manager on future initiatives to bolster the effectiveness of social and advertising efforts