Content Strategy That Converts: From Community Building to User Acquisition

The shortest path between content and conversion isn't always a straight line. Sometimes the best way to acquire users is to stop trying to acquire them and start building something they actually want to be part of. That's the philosophy behind Teuida's approach to content marketing, which has grown their Instagram to over 100,000 followers while driving meaningful user growth for their language learning platform.

On the Levels Podcast, Ji Woong walked Jason and Charlie through how Teuida built a thriving community around Korean culture that naturally funnels interested followers into engaged users. For product teams struggling to make content marketing work, their journey demonstrates why the indirect path often outperforms direct promotion.

The Traditional Content Trap

Most B2C apps approach content with a simple equation: create content about your product, distribute it on social platforms, hope some portion of viewers convert to users. It's logical, measurable, and according to Teuida's experience, fundamentally limited.

The problem with product-centric content is that it only appeals to people already in the market for your solution. If you're a language learning app posting tips about Korean grammar, you're competing for attention from the small subset of people actively trying to learn Korean right now. That's a finite audience, and you're splitting it with every other language learning platform.

Teuida recognized this limitation and made a strategic pivot that expanded their addressable audience by orders of magnitude.

Finding the Adjacent Interest

The breakthrough came from reframing the question. Instead of asking "how do we create content about language learning?" the team asked "who are our users beyond being language learners?" That shift in perspective revealed a much larger opportunity.

Jason explained their approach:

it's about finding, not necessarily talking about like your app specifically or even what your app is for specifically, in their case language learning, but it's about figuring out who your users are and what their other related interests are that are maybe more like clicky and viral on social media.

This is sophisticated audience thinking. People who learn Korean aren't defined solely by that activity. They're interested in K-pop, Korean dramas, Korean food, Korean fashion, Korean culture broadly. These interests are what actually shape their identity and daily content consumption.

By creating content around Korean culture rather than Korean language instruction, Teuida tapped into a much larger, more engaged audience. More importantly, they tapped into content topics with inherent virality and social currency.

Culture as Growth Engine

The decision to focus on Korean culture specifically wasn't arbitrary. As Jason noted:

So in their case, it's like Korean culture. That's the thing, right? So their content is all about Korean culture and like being a part of that whole Korean culture community.

Korean culture has massive global momentum right now. From BTS to Squid Game to Korean beauty trends, there's an enormous, active community of people engaging with Korean cultural content across social platforms. By positioning themselves within this community, Teuida gets to benefit from cultural tailwinds they didn't create.

This creates a dramatically different growth dynamic than product-focused content. Instead of pushing messages to people, they're creating value for a community that already exists and is already actively seeking content. The Instagram account becomes a destination rather than a distribution channel.

The Conversion Path

The obvious question is how community building around culture translates to app users. After all, someone following an account for Korean drama recommendations isn't necessarily ready to start language lessons.

The conversion path is more subtle than direct call-to-action posts, but potentially more powerful. By building sustained engagement around Korean culture, Teuida creates repeated touchpoints with people who have demonstrated interest in Korea. Over time, some percentage of that audience will naturally become curious about learning the language.

When that curiosity strikes, Teuida is already a trusted brand in their feed. They've been providing value for weeks or months through cultural content. The transition from "account I follow for K-pop updates" to "app I use to learn Korean" feels natural rather than forced.

This connects back to Charlie's observation about how improved monetization drove user growth:

they actually tripled their LTV within the space of a year, just kind of by figuring out how to monetize properly, get subscriptions working. So yeah, and that kind of led a whole new growth of users for them.

Better monetization likely meant more resources to invest in content creation and community building, which expanded their top-of-funnel and brought in higher-quality users who came through community engagement rather than paid acquisition.

Platform-Native Content

Jason's mention of content that's "more like clicky and viral on social media" points to another crucial element of Teuida's strategy: they're creating content that works natively on Instagram rather than trying to force product messages onto a platform designed for entertainment and community.

Instagram rewards visually engaging, culturally relevant, shareable content. Korean culture hits all three. A beautiful photo of Korean street food, a quick video explaining a K-drama plot twist, a meme about Korean language quirks—these are all native Instagram content formats that people actually want to engage with.

Compare this to typical SaaS or app marketing content: feature announcements, product screenshots, promotional offers. That content might perform on LinkedIn or in email, but it's swimming upstream on Instagram. By aligning content format with platform strengths, Teuida maximizes organic reach and engagement.

Community First, Conversion Second

What makes Teuida's approach sustainable is that the content has value independent of conversion. Even if someone never downloads the app, they're getting genuine value from the Korean culture content. This removes the transactional feeling from the relationship.

When conversion does happen, it's because the user has developed an authentic interest in learning Korean, likely reinforced by months of cultural exposure through Teuida's content. These users come in with context, motivation, and existing brand affinity. That's a very different user profile than someone who clicked a performance marketing ad.

This likely contributes to stronger retention and higher LTV. Users acquired through community engagement have self-selected based on sustained interest rather than impulse clicking. They've already been "warmed up" to Korean culture through content consumption, so the learning curve feels like a natural progression rather than a cold start.

Applying the Framework

While Teuida's specific strategy centers on Korean culture, the framework is broadly applicable. The key steps are:

First, deeply understand who your users are beyond their use of your product. What communities are they part of? What content do they already consume? What defines their identity and interests?

Second, identify the overlap between those interests and content that performs well on your chosen platform. What topics at that intersection have viral potential, social currency, and sustained engagement?

Third, commit to creating genuinely valuable content for that community without forcing product promotion. Build trust and presence through consistent value delivery.

Fourth, let conversion happen naturally through sustained engagement rather than aggressive calls-to-action. The brand awareness and affinity you build will create a warmer path to conversion when users are ready.

This requires patience and a longer-term view than performance marketing, but it builds more sustainable acquisition channels and typically brings in higher-quality users.

The Compound Effect

Charlie observed that Teuida now has over half a million monthly active users, suggesting their combined approach—strong product design, effective monetization, and community-driven content—creates compound effects. Each element reinforces the others.

Great product experience drives retention, which improves LTV, which funds more content creation and community building, which brings in more aligned users, which drives more retention. Instagram growth through Korean culture content feeds into this flywheel by continuously expanding the top of the funnel with culturally engaged potential users.

This is content strategy as growth engine rather than growth tactic. It's not about individual post performance or conversion rates—it's about building sustained presence within communities where your potential users already exist.

Key Points

• Teuida grew to 100,000+ Instagram followers by creating content about Korean culture rather than promoting their language learning app directly
• The strategy focuses on understanding user identity beyond product usage and creating content around those adjacent interests
• Platform-native content that's "clicky and viral" outperforms product-focused messaging on social platforms
• Community building creates warmer conversion paths as users develop brand affinity before any product pitch
• This approach brings in higher-quality users who self-select based on sustained interest rather than impulse clicking
• The indirect path from content to conversion often outperforms direct promotion by building trust and presence within existing communities

Listen to the full conversation with Ji Woong on the Levels Podcast to hear more about how Teuida built their engagement strategy and product approach.