Morry Mitrani – Senior Manager of Digital Marketing – Transcript
Morry Mitrani is the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at one of the most popular dating apps, Bumble. With over 33 million signups, they’re just a bit bigger than OG…
The Q&A Session with Morry was held on Wednesday, July 19th, 2018. This transcript has been edited for punctuation, grammar, etc.
Hey everyone!! I’m so happy to be here. A little about me – I was one of Bumble’s first 15 employees, and I now lead our digital marketing team responsible for user acquisition and retention. I’m free for the next hour, so AMA!
What was the success to gathering marketshare in the dating app space?
Our brand is so important to us. I think it has absolutely helped us stand out in a crowded marketplace. Customer experience is also our absolute #1 priority.
What’s your favourite sandwich filling?
A very well-made pickle.
Have you ever worked in a B2B company, and if so, what tactics have you found effective if applied to the B2C context?
I have! I was actually at an IT company called Spiceworks before, where I did B2B. We would create very high-quality reports for organic growth, and I’d love to see us utilize that in a different way for B2C.
Did you grow the digital marketing team yourself? And if so, what was the most important thing you learned during that process?
I did! Most important thing would be hiring people who are smarter than you and never getting intimidated by another team member. Our social ad manager is incredible and can knock me out of the park with FB ad optimization.
How similar or different are the tactics for the new ‘networking’ function of the app? How successful has that been?
We had to enter the networking space very carefully with Bumble Bizz. However, our values and mission are still the #1 priority. Main goal = end misogyny.
Did you join Bumble in their very early stages?
Yes, I did! I was employee number 15 when we were still in a two-bedroom apartment.:rolling_on_the_floor_laughing:
What role does social play in Bumble’s digital marketing? Have you had any unexpected experience/outcomes from social?
A huge part for us. We need to keep a very close eye on comments, because the dating field in general can get misogynistic and unkind.
What contributed to Bumble’s growth in the beginning? Obviously, there are a TON of dating apps on the market.
Our brand values and USP were huge contributors. At the very early stages we did a ton of field marketing to help get the word out.
What are ways you’re looking to grow further in NYC? I’ve enjoyed The Hive a lot and think the expansion into professional network is great. (Disclaimer: I’m a fan of the platform and have met my girlfriend of two years there.)
We would love to hear your story!!!
bumble.com/success
2. We have a smaller office in NYC where our content and partnerships teams are. Stay tuned for similar activations like the Hive!
What do you think is the biggest trend in marketing today?
UGC has been huge for us. But that all depends on creating a brand that people love and are willing to share great content for you!
What is the current most successful channel for marketing (gets the most downloads) and how do y’all use it?
We see different types of success with paid social, paid search, and online organic tactics! That’s all I can get into there.
How diligent are you in flushing out fake accounts? If you keep on top of them, is that a marketing perk of your app?
Our customer experience team is the best out there. We respond to any inbound reports of fake accounts, and last year we released the option to Photo Verify yourself so people know they’re interacting with who they say they are.
What are key channels for growing a dating app? I’m assuming it’s social. But ready to get surprised.
Correct, but search has also been amazing for us.
What day/time is the highest usage for Bumble? Not asking for a friend.
Sundays!
What is the main KPI you optimize against? Downloads? DAU? Revenue?
Wish I could say we stick to just one, but we have different campaigns running for different KPIs. Those three you pointed out are very important to us.
Who spends more time on Bumble, male/female?
Our gender ratio is actually very good! Something I’m very proud of.
What has been your favorite UGC campaign so far (Bumble or other brands you’ve seen)?
Our users have sent amazing success stories. Some that are so passionate and on brand that you could never fake it. That’s the benefit of having a brand that users love.
Have you seen a trend in users who originally opt for the BFF option converting to the dating side? Overall how successful has the BFF platform been in terms of use?
BFF and Bizz have been great ways to keep people in the Bumble ecosystem after they find success on Date. BFF has been around two years or so and is stronger than ever. Our designer moved to Austin from Wisconsin and used BFF to build her entire friend group.
How do you see dating apps continue to innovate into the future?
Stay tuned for really cool features Bumble is releasing this year. It’s all about giving users the best experience.
How does traditional marketing convert? How do you measure that? Subway, billboards, etc.
We really like complementing our OOH efforts with geo-targeted digital, which we’ve seen work very well.
When users have product feedback, how do you gauge whether you should implement it in future releases?
I may sound like a broken record by now, but user feedback is so important to us. We will test a lot of product features to see if they make sense, but the end goal for anything we ever do is to end misogyny and give users the best experience.
How do you advertise it to not be like Tinder (other than women message first)?
This answer is not referring to any specific competitor – our brand and USP help us stand out in incredible ways. We make it more than just a product.
How do you see video fitting into the future of Bumble? I noticed Tinder recently added a video option into their app. Curious if it helps.
I’ve seen a lot of competitors either testing or releasing video. I’m not sure if it’s on our roadmap, but if it creates an even better experience, I’m all for it.
Any thoughts on FB dating features?
We were thrilled when we saw that news. Our executive team has already reached out to Facebook to explore ways to collaborate. Perhaps Bumble and Facebook can join forces to make the connecting space even more safe and empowering.
What are some of your favorite tools for growth/retention?
We use AppsFlyer as our mobile measurement partner for attribution. Most of our tools are actually built in house. For keyword research, I’m a big fan of SEMrush.
How do you handle retention, especially since if you are successful (successful and lasting matches for users), the user has little reason to come back frequently?
Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz have been huge in keeping users engaged in the Bumble ecosystem.
What were your key learnings on Facebook ad optimization, for someone who is just starting with FB ads? What else is there, besides targeting by different demographics and psychographics? If you could throw out some categories of things I should look into as they pertain to FB ads, that would be great (asking for a completely unrelated space…EdTech). Also, what is the BEST FREE resource you know of for learning about FB ads?
Test a ton of audiences and make sure you keep an eye on overlap. You will eventually find out what your core audiences are and then you’ll have time to test new ones.
Wordstream has great content about paid search and paid social. John Loomer is also good.
What forms of marketing have been least effective?
We spend a lot of time with each new platform we use, so we like to really make sure it isn’t a waste of time or money. Snapchat is a great example – at first, we just started spending money without thought on Snapchat and saw poor results. Then we stopped, actually thought about our creative and audiences, did a ton of testing, and now it’s a great acquisition source for us.
What was one of the biggest, most unexpected challenges you’ve had to face?
This is the first mobile app I’ve worked with. It may sound similar to marketing a website, but it is NOT. LOL. There was so much info to learn up front.
Without sharing any specific numbers, what’s the breakout (%’s) of functions on the digital marketing team?
We actually have everybody skilled in everything so they can pick it up easily in an emergency. Each person has a specialty, though.
Any thoughts of creating a desktop version of Bumble?
The SEO in me says yes please. I’m not sure if it’s on the roadmap, though.
Any efforts in the area of SEO?
SEO is what my background is in, and it’s not something I’ve been able to focus on as much yet at Bumble. However, these past few months have been very productive in me working our content team to churn out 10x content (s/o to Rand Fishkin). Expect really cool things from us in the future!
If you ever move on from Bumble to marketing a website again, are there any tools/data/insights that you’ll miss (or will want to bring over) that are unique to marketing apps?
Honestly, the mobile app space is very behind web when it comes to tools.
What have you found boosts user engagement?
We create very good content on our blog
http://thebeehive.bumble.com/
. We’re also realizing that a lot of people might not understand the basics of Bumble, so I’m also working with our content team to build educational content that is a mix of how to use the product and our brand values.
How does the Bumble team decide what content to create?
All kinds of things – trends, keyword research, questions/feedback/comments from users…
How do I get girls to like me?
http://thebeehive.bumble.com/bumbleblog/bumble-profile-pro-tips
This content is great and backed off data!
How important is SEO in your overall marketing campaign? Are you trying to increase MAUs by trying to capture users that do not know about Bumble?
SEO is becoming more important for us, now that we’re not just a homepage anymore (which was the case 1.5 yrs ago). SEO is a great way to introduce people to our brand who may not be familiar with us yet.
I’m sure you remember the Ashley Madison kerfuffle.How do you protect your users’ data?
Protecting user data is incredibly important to us. I can’t speak too much on this, but trust me when I say there’s nothing more important.
Alright everyone, unfortunately I need to run to my next meeting! I hope this has been helpful, and I really enjoyed it! Please feel free to connect with me on Twitter @morrymitrani or slack me for any questions!
Thank you for taking the time!
