This travel app hit 700K users in under a year by posting reels 3x per day.

In less than a year, Isabella Comellini has built a product with faster growth than Yubo, gained over 700K followers across social media, and is on track to reach 2 million users by year's end. The incredible part? She’s achieved all of this without spending a dime on marketing.

Background 📓

The idea for a travel app to help people connect while abroad came to Isabella after a recent trip to Europe. She noticed how outdated and cluttered traditional travel groups were and saw an opportunity for improvement. In early 2023, she teamed up with cofounder Ethan Brimhall to develop their MVP. After designing the initial MVP in Canva and generating buzz by interviewing hostel members, she realized the need for a scalable marketing strategy. This led her to discover a key formula that averages 400K views per video and has resulted in over 700K downloads since the launch.

Here are some of her most successful videos and how she did it 👇:

🎬 So you want to travel this summer?: 13.7M Views, 513K Likes, 52.5K Shares

Hook: “So you want to travel this summer but have no one to go with?”

Format: Travel clips of friends + product demo

Why this video worked:.

• Trending audio

• Organic footage → iPhone shot with friends

• Perfect clip syncing with sound

🎬 Finding parties while traveling: 9.4M Views, 288K Likes, 58.4K Shares

Hook: “How do you find parties while traveling?”

Format: Question + product demo

Why this video worked:.

• Hooks viewers with a common travel question

• Trending sound

• Selling a dream lifestyle

🎬 POV: 2M Views, 16.5K Likes, 1K Shares

Hook: “POV: google maps says 2 mils but you’re in Italy”

Format: Travel clips + voice over

Why this video worked:

• IYKYK content = insider jokes

• Organic, shot on iPhone

• Simple and funny

Key takeaways from Tripbff💡

• Find a format and run with it.

  90% of her viral reels all follow the same format. If it works keep running with it.

• Relating to your audience on a deeper level.

  You don’t always have to showcase your app. It's breakup the content with memes, or humorous content.

• Sell the dream lifestyle of your audience.

  Her videos all showcase what the dream travel lifestyle looks like.

What you can replicate from this format 💰

• Try hooks with simple questions

  “So you wanna ___ ?”

  “How do you ___?”

• Reusing content is ok.

  Recycling content is totally fine. Just make sure you change the thumbnail images and play with different trending audio.

• Find some trending sounds and practice clip syncing.

  Use the build up of the song to address a question and the drop to show your solution.
  

Know a founder that could use some help creating content? Feel free to share!

That’s all I got for this one. If you have any other viral consumer products you want me to break down my DM’s are always open.

Cheers!

Nick 🤝