May 19, 2025
This weeks newsletter includes
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Carter Chat’s TikTok strategy + Toolkit overview ✅
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Strategy overview 📚
Carter Chat is a social networking app that leverages AI technology, allowing users to follow their favorite character creators and engage with AI-generated content.
It allows users to create and interact with AI-generated characters across various genres such as anime, romance, mafia, and fantasy.
They are a masterclass in how to create space for yourself in a market largely new and dominated by heavy competitors like Character AI and Chai, content is king and differentiation in content is as important as in product. They have one of the highest likes to view ratio!
Here are some of their most successful videos and how they did it 👇:
🎬 Just found this on my dad’s phone
3.4M+ Views, 250k+ Likes, 17K+ Saves
Hook: Just found this on my dad’s phone 😭, chat am I cooked? 💀
Format: Text Overlay + Background video
Why this video worked:
Amazing hook, ‘what I found in my dad's phone’ is a great hook for genz to stick around till the mystery is answered.
Unique approach to demonstrate product, instead of showing features, they portrayed themselves as an alternative to popular AI chat apps by grouping them in a common group.
Without showing any specific feature which is risky, they resorted to directly comparing themselves with biggest competitor.
Learning; sometimes its easier to define your product through comparision than explanation
🎬 C.ai has just leaked the messages of one of their users
3.2M+ Views, 250K+ Likes,34K+ Saves
Hook: C.ai has just leaked the messages of one of their users
Format: Monologue + text overlay narration
Why this video worked:
Great hook capture, data leak is a topic most people care about and would stop to listen about it. More examples: scandals, fraud, giveaway, etc
Simple message delivery and language. The way narrator speaks is very easy to keep track of the saga as he explains very slowly.
Speaking about a major miss from your competitors and comparing it to your product is a wise strategy in a crowded space.
‘News about the space’ format works well on tiktok and supplements authority in space, motivating users to explore your product.
Subtitle text overlay helps users to follow the tiktok even with no sound.
🎬 *casually talking to my bestie*
800K+ Views, 150K+ Likes, 15K+ Saves
Hook: casually talking to my bestie
Format: Text overlay + Animated Storytelling
Why this video worked:
Great animation, different from all the content on tiktok right now.
Learning: The premise is that of habit forming of power users on the app and it affecting their normal life.
The payoff was funny/embarrassing.
Good use of background music which held the viewer.
The demo of the product is very well portrayed and the promise made is super crisp and clear.
Key Takeaways from this Content Strategy ⭐
How to handle Competitors: Having competitors is a grim reality and every team needs to account for it. Most digital product companies have different ways of handling it but it can be boiled down to clashing head-on in terms of features and differentiators. Carter Chat handles this problem very interestingly, they made content for users of their competitors rather than viewers.
Human touch: Monologues are a risky bet but if done right, they can cut through all the brain-rot and fluffy content on tiktok to speak to your real audience to get your point through. A human face can also create long-term relationships and trust.
Compare instead of show: Most of their viral stuff does not show any app features of Carter App instead they simply show comparisons with other leaders in the category that would be understood by existing users only, ensuring their reach is within a very effective userbase.
Content makes the user feel special: Their content works on a different layer which needs its viewers to be users of the category in order for them to get the tiktok and engage with it. Think game studios making content around specific missions that only players will understand.
Pros: Viewers will feel special
Cons: Not everyone will get it and so scroll away rate will be high.
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