Influencer Marketing for Tech and App Brands: What Badoo’s 23.6% Engagement Campaign Proves.

There’s a structural problem in marketing an app or a tech product through influencers that most agencies underestimate. A lifestyle brand hands a creator something photogenic and the content largely makes itself. An app hands a creator a rectangle of interface. Nobody’s audience wants to look at a screen recording, and the creator knows it, which is why so much tech influencer content collapses into the same format: someone holding a phone, describing features, with engagement numbers that reflect exactly how interesting that is.

The brands that solve this don’t market the product. They market the situation the product exists inside. Three campaigns show that working in three different shapes, one on engagement, one on long-term association, one on conversion, and together they cover most of what a tech influencer marketing agency should be able to demonstrate.

Badoo: selling confidence, not a dating app.

Badoo’s vision was to become the recognised dating brand for confidence, and the campaign needed to raise awareness and engagement for the app in the UK.

The strategic move was to start from the emotional reality of the category rather than the product’s features. A deep dive into the dating universe found something worth building on: the dating scene leaves people feeling fed up and fatigued. That’s an uncomfortable insight for a dating app to lead with, and it’s precisely why it worked. It’s what the audience already believed, and a campaign that acknowledges it earns the right to be heard in a way that another round of aspirational match imagery does not.

The result was “Find Something Real,” integrating influencer and meme marketing to drive consideration and positioning. Inspired by the app’s mission, a selection of talents shared authentic stories and relatable experiences around confidence, engaging audiences on Instagram and TikTok.

Why the meme layer did the heavy lifting.

The decision that lifts this above a standard creator programme was bringing meme pages into the narrative. To amplify the message and tap into local cultural elements, a humorous creative approach brought meme pages into the story, driving positive brand affinity within relevant communities.

Two things make this work for tech brands specifically.

Memes carry category texture that brand content cannot manufacture. Dating fatigue is a subject the internet has articulated in meme form for years, with far more precision than any brand would risk. Entering that conversation in its native format signals the brand understands the experience rather than merely selling into it.

The economics differ. As our team has written, memes are a considerably more cost-efficient route to engagement than traditional creators, and average influencer engagement fluctuates between roughly 1% and 15% depending on industry.

Against that benchmark, the campaign’s 23.6% engagement rate is the number worth holding onto. It sits above the top of the typical range, in a category where audience scepticism runs high.

Genesis: the case for playing a long game.

Badoo shows what a sharp cultural insight can do inside a campaign window. Genesis shows the opposite discipline, and it’s the one tech brands with considered, high-value purchases should pay attention to.

Rather than a burst campaign, the work was a multi-phase campaign integrating influencer marketing and the development of a ten-month content series, helping Genesis further build positive association within the golf community.

Two details matter there. The first is duration. Ten months is not a campaign, it’s a presence, and it reflects how association actually forms in a community with its own culture and calendar. A brand that appears once inside a niche community is a visitor. A brand that shows up consistently across a season becomes part of the furniture, which is the only position from which consideration reliably grows for a considered purchase.

The second is the target: the golf community specifically, rather than a broad demographic. Niche communities have their own codes, and they detect outsiders quickly. Sustained content built for that audience does something a high-reach burst cannot, which is earn familiarity.

For tech brands with long purchase cycles, that’s the more relevant model. Not every product is bought in the week it’s advertised, and campaigns built only for immediate response systematically underserve products that aren’t.

Airalo: the same discipline, pointed at conversion.

Engagement proves resonance. Long-term series build association. App brands eventually need installs, and Airalo’s LATAM campaign is the harder proof.

Airalo gives users access to digital SIM cards across more than 200 countries, removing the connectivity hurdles of travel. As the next step of its expansion, the brand wanted to amplify awareness across LATAM, communicate its technology to local audiences, and drive customer acquisition, app installs and purchases. The answer was a tailored three-month performance influencer marketing strategy positioning Airalo as the reference point for eSIM and trusted connectivity.

The content approach solved the app visibility problem directly. Rather than explaining the technology, the campaign combined three pillars, technology, travelling and functionality, mixing highly produced visuals with short-form content and an authentic briefing that let influencers share genuine experiences with Airalo while entertaining their communities with travel information. The product appeared inside the situation it exists to solve.

The results across three months:

• Over 600 pieces of content published.
• 22.4 million organic views across channels.
• CPA optimised by 25%.
• App store rankings improved across all countries.
• App downloads tripled following the end of the campaign.

The measurement point most app brands get wrong.

That last result deserves separating out, because it’s the most practically useful finding here.

App downloads tripled after the campaign ended, and those long-term results were successfully predicted through saves and shares.

Most app marketing measurement runs on a window that closes when the campaign does. Under that convention, this campaign’s headline result would have been missed entirely, and a genuinely successful programme would have been recorded as adequate. Saves and shares are the signals that predicted it, because they measure intent that hasn’t converted yet: someone saving a travel connectivity solution is planning a trip, not booking one today.

For any app with a considered purchase or a seasonal use case, that gap between exposure and install is where the return actually sits. Measuring only in-campaign installs undervalues the work and pushes brands toward creators who drive immediate clicks over creators who build genuine consideration.

What this means for briefing a tech or app campaign.

Lead with the situation, not the interface. Badoo led with dating fatigue. Airalo led with travel. Genesis led with golf. None led with features.

Match the campaign shape to the purchase cycle. Immediate-install apps can work in bursts. Considered purchases need the Genesis model, sustained presence inside a community over months.

Consider formats outside the standard creator programme. Meme pages did work for Badoo that polished creator content structurally could not, at better efficiency.

Set the measurement window to the purchase behaviour. If your install decision is considered or seasonal, track saves and shares as leading indicators and extend reporting past the campaign end date.

Brief for authenticity within structure. Airalo’s briefing was authentic enough for creators to share real experiences while staying aligned to three defined pillars. That balance is what proper influencer briefing is for.

These campaigns sit inside our influencer marketing agency practice, connected to social, paid amplification and integrated strategy, with intelligent procurement handling creator selection underneath and our creative team producing long-form series work. Our tech, app and automotive client experience spans Badoo, Bumble, Airalo, TikTok, Genesis, Fujifilm and Motorway, and you can see the range across our case studies.

Frequently asked questions.

Why is influencer marketing harder for apps and tech brands than for lifestyle brands? Because the product has no inherent visual appeal. A creator can style a garment or demonstrate a cosmetic, but an app is an interface, so content focused on the product tends to underperform. Effective campaigns feature the product inside a situation the audience recognises, such as Badoo’s focus on dating fatigue or Airalo’s on travel connectivity.

What engagement rate should a tech influencer campaign expect? Average influencer engagement typically ranges between roughly 1% and 15% depending on industry. Badoo’s “Find Something Real” reached 23.6% by combining creator storytelling with meme marketing, indicating that culturally native formats can substantially outperform standard creator content in categories with high audience scepticism.

Do influencer campaigns actually drive app installs? Yes, when measured over an appropriate window. Airalo’s three-month LATAM campaign optimised CPA by 25%, improved app store rankings across all markets, and saw app downloads triple after the campaign ended, with saves and shares serving as the leading indicators that predicted that later conversion.

How long should a tech brand’s influencer campaign run? It depends on the purchase cycle. Products bought quickly can work in short bursts, while considered purchases benefit from sustained presence. Genesis’s multi-phase campaign included a ten-month content series specifically to build positive association within the golf community over time rather than in a single window.

Market the situation, not the screen.

If your tech or app influencer content is built around feature demonstration and the numbers reflect it, the problem is the brief rather than the creators. Our team can map what situation your product should be shown inside, and what measurement window would actually capture its return. Get in touch to talk it through.

MG Empower is a global integrated marketing agency founded in London in 2017, running influencer campaigns for tech, app and automotive brands across more than 40 markets. To build a campaign that converts, get in touch with our team.