SoBrief Didn’t Wait for Traction. They Created It.

Most apps follow the same playbook: build, launch, wait for organic traction, then invest in UGC once you’ve got something to amplify. 

SoBrief ignored all of that.

They launched their app and deployed UGC creators within the same month.

No waiting.

No “let’s see how it performs first”.

They treated creator content as launch infrastructure, and the results speak volumes:

• 23 million views 

• 99k+ downloads in under a year

… Driven almost entirely by UGC

Pre-launch

In February 2025, a month before SoBrief was published on iOS, the brand’s Instagram account @sobrief_ had a handful of posts. Some polished content, some book quotes, some motivational stuff. All that had virtually ZERO engagement. On TikTok, their account @sobrief posted a handful of slideshows as far back as October 2024, but again, barely any engagement. Couple thousand views here and there.

By mid-Feb, total cumulative views sat around 40k, and flatlined. Nothing was catching.

At this point, many founders would start tweaking the account and content, maybe hire a social media manager or try different formats. SoBrief skipped all that.

March: Launch Month, UGC Month

The app launched in March. That same month, the founder posted on X:

Simple, scalable, and performance-aligned.

Within days, creator content started going live. Dozens of accounts popped up, all from different creators, and content followed a few different formats in both English and Spanish. All of them were posting daily. 

On March 9th, the first spike hit: 351k views in a single day. All from one video.

Downloads started climbing in April. The correlation was clear.

Compounding Effect

Here's what the data shows:

It’s worth looking at the October spike again. 3.1 million views. This isn’t in October, this is on that one particular day. Most of those came from a single creator going viral with the same video on Instagram (2.3M) and TikTok (741.5K)

This wasn’t a new format either, this post followed the same format they’ve been running for months. So let’s look into that a bit:

Content Formula

Across 30+ creator accounts, one particular format dominated:  

“SHOCKED” reaction-style hooks with app demos.

The pattern:

1. Creator shows shocked/excited reaction

2. Text hook: (“Tinder for BOOKS?!?” This app feels illegal”, “I love Gen Z because wdym…”)

3. Quick transition to app walkthrough

4. Simple CTA in caption

The “Tinder for books” angle appeared across nearly every top-performing video. Same hook, different creators, different languages. The Spanish-speaking creators crushed it too: @guadainpagess alone drove over 900k views with one video.

SoBrief didn’t reinvent the wheel for each creator. They found a formula that worked and replicated it at scale.

That’s not to say they were a one-trick-pony. The brand tested quite a few different content styles with varying levels of success, but the winners were the ones that they replicated at scale.

The Numbers:

Views:

Over 23M Total across all accounts

• TikTok: 10.9M

• Instagram: 12.4M

Downloads:

• 99k+ iOS downloads in 2025 (According to FoxData)

• Peak month: October (20.6k)

Creator deployment: 

• 18+ unique creator accounts identified

• Content in English and Spanish

• Simultaneously posting across TikTok and Instagram

What This Means

Conventional wisdom says UGC is for amplification. First you build traction, then you pour fuel on the fire.

SoBrief proves that the opposite is possible: UGC can be the fire itself. 

They had virtually no organic presence. No past viral moment to ride. Nor did they have much of an existing audience.

They built distribution from scratch by deploying creators from day one.

Here are three things that made it work:

1. Speed over perfection: They didn't wait for the "right" moment. The app launched and creators started posting the same month.
   
   

2. Volume over precision: 30+ accounts. Daily posts. Multiple language. They played the numbers game and let the algorithm do the rest.
   
   

3. A repeatable format: Content formulas were executed consistently across creators. When something hit, they doubled down. Same clips, same hooks, slightly different angles. 

Takeaways

You don’t have to wait for traction to start UGC. You can use UGC to create it.

SoBrief's branded content left much to be desired. Their creator content drove 23 million views.

The difference wasn't the product. It was the distribution strategy.

If you've got an app, hit the ground running. Distribution isn't something you build after launch… it's something you have to consider from day one.