Sobrr Inc. sees great success in China- An @Apppromo Case History

Our recent launch in China presented the Sobrr team with a huge challenge:  How to attract the attention of our target audience — high school and college users – in the increasingly fragmented China marketplace.

In the U.S., YouTube stars like Pewdiepie, Jenna Marbles, Bethany Mota and Michelle Phan regularly collaborate with brands.  But in China, while influencer marketing is important, it can be a perilous endeavor.  China’s Weibo (a micro-blogging platform similar to Twitter) is filled with so-called influencers with thousands of “fake” or “zombie fans,” so in order to create introduce Sobrr authentically, our team had to do their homework.

On November 7th, a single “tweet” from Weibo’s VIT named App Bacteria (App菌) evidently resonated.  Thousands of Weibo users instantly downloaded our fledgling app  – and engagement went through the roof.  The VIT in China not only checked out the app but created an amazing micro-blog ‘story’ about her experience on Sobrr, featuring a series of great images.

Since then, thousands of new users have continued to come onboard on a daily basis.

Over the last three weeks, the app has acquired close to 60,000 users in China, with daily active engagement consistently in the 10,000 range.

This momentum has catapulted Sobrr to become one of China’s most-popular apps in the social category.  This is all the more impressive when we consider the app is limited to iOS-only  (a small portion 17.3% of the China market), and was developed outside the country.   If the current growth rate continues, Sobrr will be positioned to challenge Instagram or Facebook as the favorite made-in-US social app in China next year.

We are thilled to see Chinese users respond to the freedom Sobrr offers, with no need to stress over social sharing since all posts expire every 24 hours — just long enough to make an impression that may lead to a new friendship.  The general trend is that women prefer to post “vibings”  (photos), while men prefer to comment.  It’s a good combination.

About Sobrr
Available for iOS and Android, Sobrr is the first app to introduce the concept of 24-hour friendship. In real life, people socialize, but only become friends with whom they like. Sobrr returns this control back to the user. Everything on Sobrr expires in 24 hours, including photos, messages, and, even, friends (unless you really, really like them).
Founded in 2014, Sobrr Inc. is a team of Silicon Valley veterans and UC Berkeley
students and alumni lead by Co-Founders Bruce Yang, formerly of LinkedIn and Fitbit, and former Microsoft employee Vivian Xu.Sobrr was recently awarded “Most Innovative App” by the Silicon Valley Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurs Forum.