Creator Spotlight: Mady Maio of Camber App

Mady Maio is the founder and creator of the Camber app and its related newsletter, LA Happenings by Camber. We can’t help but be inspired by Maio's success in such a short time, so we asked her to share some of her thoughts about audience building, content creation, and working with beehiiv. She gave us a lot of great insights that we think you’ll enjoy.

Camber: For local tourists

Camber is a social and community-driven version of Google Maps. The app brings you closer to places you’ll love through the people you know. The main goal of Camber is to provide a more user-friendly, fun, and intuitive way to explore the world around you.

Maio started working on the Camber mobile app about a year ago. During that year, Maio told us, Camber has garnered over 6,800 beta testers.

The company also has nearly 40,000 followers on TikTok. Maio says that the TikTok community came together because "we started niching down into Los Angeles — specific things to do and places to be. So restaurant reviews, guides, and crowdsourced lists of things to do in Los Angeles. Quickly we became a reliable resource for people in LA and local experts."

Maio goes on to say, "We also noticed a ton of events and pop-ups and cool chef crossovers and things that are happening in LA. And there was not one space to view all of those events and view things on a weekly basis in a calendar view."

That information vacuum looked to Maio like an opportunity to create a weekly newsletter.

Using TikTok for market research

Maio put her newsletter idea on TikTok to gauge interest, as she does for most of her ideas. She asked the community if they would want a weekly newsletter where the Camber brand voice shared the coolest things to do and places to be in Los Angeles.

Followers were excited about the idea, which didn't surprise Maio. "There is a lack of these types of localized newsletters. Some community calendars exist, but they don't get into those cool pop-ups and takeovers and things happening around the city. So we started our newsletter, which is LA Happenings by Camber."

The enthusiastic response of the TikTok community convinced Maio the newsletter was a great idea. She expected LA Happenings to serve as "an amazing extra touch point of our brand, and something that we can deliver to the community to create [even more] value. And also be able to market our app!"

Creating engagement

Maio works hard at building engagement on the platform. She uses a strategy that engages her audience on two levels — creating user-prompted content and asking for crowdsourced ideas in response.

"I will answer a follower's question or a prompt to give a list of places. For instance, people ask for super-specific scenarios like 'bars in LA that have photo booths' or 'where to take my mom when she's in town.' So I'll create a video of me listing all the places within that specific scenario. Those [engagement-oriented TikToks] really, really work!"

Maio said that people get "super excited" about these user-prompted videos. They watch all the way to the end (which is an important metric to keep an eye on in TikTok, according to Maio). And they leave enthusiastic responses like "Oh, this list is amazing!" or " I cosign this list," or "I was waiting for this one restaurant to be on this list."

These videos create a lot of engagement, and Maio takes it further, asking followers to leave their own suggestions. For example, she might ask, "Where would you take your mom when she's in town?" Maio's followers get excited to comment with their favorites and crowdsource in response to a prompt. This strategy has been super successful for Camber's TikTok engagement.

TikTok marketing: "Converting like crazy"

You've probably guessed that TikTok has been Maio's primary marketing strategy for Camber. "Every single beta user we have has come through TikTok. So TikTok has been our number one user acquisition strategy. And we owe everything to TikTok — as well as every subscriber to the newsletter, for sure. Those content funnels have been converting for us like crazy, which has been awesome."

Maio feels confident that most of the LA Happenings newsletter subscribers have come through TikTok. Every week when the newsletter is released, she does a recap video featuring screenshots of the newsletter and highlighting one or two featured events or places. In addition, she sends viewers to the link in her bio to subscribe or revisit the newsletter.

The final piece of Maio's strategy to link the newsletter with the company's successful social platform is to embed links in the newsletter.

"I link every TikTok I do into the newsletter as well. The three places I mention in the newsletter are probably three places I had posted videos of the week prior. So I always link to that TikTok. I don't link to their website or Instagram — it's always our TikTok of the place."

Brand voice and readability make the crossover work

Many business owners assume that it will be tough to create an email newsletter that will resonate with the same person who's interested in a short video format like TikTok. Maio deals with that issue by leveraging her personal brand identity across both formats.

Personalizing TikTok with Mady’s face and personality has helped Camber create loyalty and consistency for its brand identity. "So when we transitioned to the newsletter, I wanted to showcase that same personality. I actually think I get to flex it a little more in the written form because I'm really playful [in the newsletter]. The tone is really fun."

"I love writing the newsletter because it feels like another extension of the Camber brand. It's very silly and playful, and I think people enjoy that tone. People say that they don't skim it. Instead, they read through the whole thing — and not only because it's valuable information about things like plans in LA, but it also has this playfulness and friendliness that people are entertained by."

Plus, the newsletter is short and sweet. "It's super quick. I do an intro, five events, three places, and then a tweet or meme about LA at the bottom."

Why beehiiv works for LA Happenings

beehiiv has been a great fit as a platform for LA Happenings by Camber. Here's what Maio had to say about the features she loves most:

• "I love the SEO elements that make it super easy for me to just plug in keywords and make sure that everything is set up perfectly for SEO — that was something I would have never known how to do."

• "I also just love that beehiiv is a website as well. So it's not just a static thing that happens in people's inboxes once a week. They can refer back to it. They can go through the archives, and it's super easy in one place. So if someone wasn't a subscriber but saw one of my TikToks of the review and wants to revisit the newsletter, it's super easy to do so."

• "I love where you can recommend another newsletter. I just did that with one of our friends —they have a newsletter called Bullet Pitch. They featured us in one of their newsletters a while ago and that was amazing."

• "I love all the drag and drop. Obviously, it fits perfectly with our brand, and I was able to put everything in super seamlessly."

• "Definitely love the analytics."

• "I love the A/B testing of subject lines. That's been really cool.

Future plans for LA Happenings

Although she hopes for the LA Happenings newsletter to continue growing, Maio maintains a laser focus on her core product, which is the Camber app. The newsletter exists primarily as a branding touchpoint for her company. Maio summed it up by saying, "You know, we're building this technology company, this mobile app, and now we've kind of become content creators on the side."

But Maio maintains a strong perspective on how the newsletter and TikTok content should serve her business going forward.

"It's a brand recognition thing," she says. "I think people see we're establishing ourselves as local experts in Los Angeles specifically. So this is a great way for people to [see that we] have great recommendations and know what's up."

For example, Maio doesn't rule out the possibility of offering a premium tier to monetize the newsletter in the future. Still, she says, "When we think about monetization, it's going to live in our app. That's the main product and the main line of revenue.

She is intrigued by beehiiv's ad network solutions as a potential source of revenue, though. "That's been something I think about. I've seen tons of newsletters be successful with brand sponsorships. That avenue feels more authentic to us. A lot of brands have [already] reached out to ask our rates to include them in the newsletter."

Maio has had businesses reach out to say, "We want to be in the newsletter. We want to be in the TikTok recap, and we want you to come in and film the store."

"They love the newsletter, and they know that people follow it. They know that people go to the events that I post. So there's this influence there; it's been piquing brands' interest. I think that in terms of monetization, sponsorship would be the next step for us. It's all been inbound and organic, but if we were to prioritize monetizing, I think the brand partnerships would be leverage for us.

beehiiv's referral program is also intriguing to Maio. "We did the referral program for a little bit. We [gave away] this hat that everyone loves. It says "local tourists," which is our tagline...I want to do something a little more lucrative that also feels on brand, like a private dinner series or access to one of our favorite restaurants or a gift card. The people reading the newsletter are foodies; they want to explore. That's something I want to try next as a growth strategy.

"I'm so grateful to beehiiv that you guys built that out for us."

Building tools that drive virality

Maio's highly-developed TikTok strategy has driven the success of both her newsletter and her core product, the Camber app. By leveraging her personal brand identity across both formats, Maio is able to create content that resonates with both existing and new subscribers alike. And beehiiv has been a great fit as her newsletter platform.

As Maio put it, "I feel like you guys are very creator focused. You're really building tools that help drive virality and help gain more eyeballs. I’m super appreciative of that mission."

Be sure to subscribe to LA Happenings by Camber or check out a recent issue.