# How to get your first 100 app users from creators and micro-influencers

*Small creators, honest offers, clear disclosure, and every video tracked.*

> Micro influencers for apps on a budget: find small creators whose audience fits, outreach templates, what to offer with no money, disclosure and tracking.

Source: https://www.appgrowthmarketer.com/playbooks/first-100-users-from-creators
Author: Ar.Bhavesh Panse, AI App Growth Marketer (https://www.arbhaveshpanse.com)
Published: 2026-09-26 · Updated: 2026-09-26

to get your first 100 app users from creators and micro-influencers, find 20 to 30 small creators whose audience has your app's problem, send each a personal message, and offer free access, a revenue share or a small flat fee. give them a one page brief, require clear disclosure, and track every creator with their own link or code.

this is a playbook for a founder with no audience and almost no budget. expect about a week of setup and two or three weeks of back and forth. the cash cost can be zero.

## Why small creators work for early apps

small creators work for early apps because their audiences trust them, they answer their own messages, and they will often accept product access or a revenue share instead of cash. a creator with a few thousand followers in the right niche can send more real users than a big general account, because the fit is tighter.

the fit is the whole point. a study creator whose comments are full of students asking how to focus is worth more to a study app than a lifestyle creator with ten times the reach and no reason to care.

## Finding creators whose audience matches

find creators by searching the problem your app solves on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, then reading the comments, not just the follower count. you want creators whose viewers describe your users' problem in the comments. build a list of 30 in about three hours, spread over two evenings.

1. search the problem phrase on each platform, for example "how to stop procrastinating studying".
2. open creators with steady posting and real comment threads, not just emoji replies.
3. check the last ten videos: does the topic come up again and again?
4. read twenty comments: are these your users?
5. log each one.

| column | why |
|---|---|
| name and link | so you can find them again |
| platform and rough follower range | to match your offer |
| audience fit, 1 to 5 | from reading the comments |
| a video you liked and why | for your personal first line |
| contact route | email in bio, DM, or creator marketplace |
| status | not contacted, sent, replied, yes, posted |

## Outreach message templates

good outreach is short, personal and specific: one line proving you watched their work, one line on the app, one clear offer and an easy yes or no. never mass send the same message, and never keep chasing after two follow ups. send five a day so you can personalize each one properly.

first message:

> hi [name], your video on [specific video] was the first time i saw someone explain [problem] properly. i am a solo founder and built [app], which helps [audience] [do one thing].
>
> would you try it free? if you like it, i would love one honest video. i can offer [free lifetime access / 30% of subscription revenue from your link for 12 months / a small flat fee]. no script, and totally fine if it is not a fit.

follow up, five days later:

> hi [name], just bumping this once in case it got buried. happy to send access either way, no video needed.

if they say yes, reply the same day with the brief, the tracking link and the disclosure note.

## What to offer when you have no budget

with no budget, offer something that costs you little but is worth something to them: free lifetime access, a revenue share on subscriptions they bring in, early input on the product, or a small flat fee when you can afford one. put the offer in writing, even as a short email both of you reply "agreed" to.

| offer | good for | watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| free lifetime access | creators who actually have the problem | still counts as payment for disclosure |
| revenue share | subscription apps with clean tracking | needs a unique link or code per creator |
| small flat fee | creators who post consistently in your niche | set the fee from what a user is worth to you |
| early input or credit | creators who like building things | promise only what you will really do |

be strict with flat fees. in my experience consumer AI apps struggle above roughly $0.50 blended CAC, so if a fee works out to several dollars per user (illustrative), it only makes sense when a paying user is worth much more than that.

## Disclosure rules you cannot skip

in the US, the FTC expects a clear disclosure whenever a creator has a material connection to your app, which includes free access, a revenue share or a fee. the disclosure belongs inside the video and caption, easy to notice, and said out loud as well as shown on screen. hiding it in a bio is not enough.

the FTC's [Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/disclosures-101-social-media-influencers) is short and worth reading in full. the points that matter most here:

- free or discounted products count. anything of value creates a material connection.
- for video, put the disclosure in the video itself, both spoken and on screen.
- avoid vague tags like "sp", "spon" or "collab", or a lone "thanks".
- a creator cannot say they love the app if they have not tried it.
- use platform tools too, such as TikTok's [commercial content disclosure setting](https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/about-the-content-disclosure-setting-for-creators), but the FTC says not to rely on those alone.

outside the US, check your market's advertising rules. never ask a creator to hide the relationship.

## Briefing a creator in one page

a creator brief is one page that tells them who the app is for, the one problem it solves, what must be in the video, and what is off limits, and then leaves the style to them. creators know their audience better than you. a tight script usually makes the video sound like an ad and perform worse.

copy this brief:

> **app:** [name], [one sentence on what it does]
>
> **for:** [who], who struggle with [problem]
>
> **must include:** the problem in the first two seconds, the app on screen doing [one thing], the disclosure spoken and on screen, "link in my bio" or the code [CODE]
>
> **please avoid:** claims we cannot prove, for example guaranteed grades or health results
>
> **deliverable:** one video on [platform] by [date], and permission to reuse it as an ad for [period]
>
> **tracking:** your link [link], your code [CODE]

## Tracking with unique links and codes

track creators by giving each one a unique link, and where your app supports it, a unique code. that way every install or subscription traces back to one creator and one video. without tracking, a revenue share is impossible to pay fairly and you cannot tell which creators to work with again.

- **web link:** `?utm_source=creator&utm_medium=tiktok&utm_campaign=creatorname`
- **App Store:** an [App Store Connect campaign link](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect-analytics/acquisition/campaign-links/) per creator. Apple only shows a campaign once at least five people download through it.
- **codes:** for subscription apps, a custom [App Store offer code](https://developer.apple.com/help/app-store-connect/manage-subscriptions/set-up-subscription-offer-codes/) per creator, such as a creator name.
- **backup:** an onboarding question, "where did you hear about us?", with a free text field for the creator's name.

update your sheet every week with installs, trials and paying users per creator.

## Reusing creator videos as ads later

a creator video that brings users organically is your best first ad, because it already proved people stop and watch. ask for reuse rights in the first agreement, for a set period, so you can later run it as a TikTok Spark Ad or an Instagram partnership ad without starting a new negotiation.

the mechanics are in [TikTok Spark Ads for apps](https://www.appgrowthmarketer.com/ugc/tiktok-spark-ads-for-apps). write the reuse period and any extra fee into your agreement before the video goes live, and pay creators fairly when their video becomes an ad. for the wider picture on creators and UGC, see the [UGC hub](https://www.appgrowthmarketer.com/ugc).

## Your 3 week plan and what to measure

the plan is simple: one week to find and contact creators, one week to brief and support the ones who say yes, and one week to measure, thank and reuse. measure installs, trials and paying users per creator, not views. views tell you reach. users tell you who to work with again.

| week | tasks | time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | build a list of 30, send five personal messages a day | 60 minutes a day |
| 2 | brief the yeses, send access, check disclosure on every post | 30 minutes a day |
| 3 | count users per creator, thank everyone, ask the best for a second video | 2 to 3 hours total |

creators work best alongside your own posting, so pair this with [how to get your first 100 users from TikTok](https://www.appgrowthmarketer.com/playbooks/first-100-users-from-tiktok) and the rest of [how to get your first 100 app users](https://www.appgrowthmarketer.com/playbooks/first-100-app-users).

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I get influencers to promote my app with no budget?

pick small creators whose audience has your app's problem, then offer something real: free lifetime access, a revenue share tracked with their own link or code, or early input on the product. write a short, personal message that shows you watched their videos. expect most to say no or not reply, so contact twenty to thirty.

### Do micro-influencers have to disclose that they promote my app?

in the US, yes, if they got anything of value, including free access. the FTC says the disclosure must be clear and inside the post itself, spoken and on screen for video, not hidden in a bio. vague tags like 'sp' or 'collab' are not enough. put this in your agreement and check each video.

### How many followers should a creator have for app promotion?

there is no magic number. for a first 100 users, small creators, often a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of followers, are easier to reach and more likely to say yes to non-cash offers. audience fit matters far more than size. read their comments to see who actually watches.