How we built a 24-creator UGC network across TikTok and Instagram for an AI study app, generating 7.8M views with one creator alone driving 6M+ views.
Knowt is an AI-powered study app that helps students create flashcards, practice quizzes, and study guides from their notes. The product was strong, but the team needed to build an organic acquisition channel targeting students across TikTok and Instagram - a notoriously difficult demographic to reach authentically.
Students are highly skeptical of obvious advertising. Any content that felt like an ad would be ignored or generate negative sentiment. Knowt needed creators who were genuine students, posting content that felt native to the study tips and productivity niches on both platforms.
We recruited 24 creators - all actual students or recent graduates - across TikTok and Instagram. Each creator was selected for their authentic presence in the study tips, college life, or academic productivity niches. We produced 864 videos over the campaign period, testing multiple content angles and formats simultaneously.
Rather than targeting just "study tips," we tested content across adjacent niches: exam preparation, college hacks, back-to-school routines, productivity systems, and even ADHD/neurodivergent study methods. This multi-niche approach expanded the addressable audience while maintaining relevance to Knowt's core value proposition. Our education app UGC guide covers these strategies in depth.
We tracked individual creator performance meticulously and doubled down on top performers. When we identified that one creator - Jina Son - was consistently outperforming the rest, we increased her posting frequency, gave her more creative freedom, and built additional content formats around her style. This single creator ended up driving 6M+ of the total 7.8M views.
Finding and scaling top performers is the highest-leverage activity. While all 24 creators contributed, one creator drove 77% of total views. The lesson is clear: cast a wide net to find talent, but once you identify outliers, invest disproportionately in them. Give them more briefs, more creative freedom, and more resources.
CPM improves with iteration. Starting at a higher CPM and systematically driving it down 68% over three months shows the power of data-driven optimization. Each week of performance data helped us refine which hooks, formats, and posting times delivered the most views per dollar spent. For more on optimizing content economics, read our UGC pricing models guide.
Authenticity is non-negotiable for student audiences. Every creator in the network was a real student who actually used Knowt. This authenticity came through in the content and was a key driver of the high engagement rates. Students can detect sponsored content instantly, so the only approach that works is genuine integration into creators' actual study workflows.
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