Anyone tried new ways to boost dating app advertising engagement

[johncena140799]

So I’ve been messing around with different ideas for dating app advertising lately, and something kept bugging me. Why do some ads get tons of attention while others barely get a tap even if the offer is pretty much the same? I always assumed it was just the usual stuff—budget, audience size, maybe timing—but the more I watched my own campaigns, the more I started wondering if there’s some small twist people are using that I just wasn’t paying attention to.

For me, dating app ads always felt like a weird mix of creativity and randomness. One week something simple works, the next week the same thing flops. It got to a point where I started doubting whether I actually understood what users want or if I was just lucky whenever a campaign performed well. I kept seeing posts from other folks saying that dating app advertising is “all about engagement,” but no one ever explained what that even looks like when you're actually running the ads day to day.

The real pain point for me was scrolling through previous ads and noticing that people weren’t interacting at all. No meaningful click-throughs, barely any swipes, and sometimes impressions just sat there doing nothing. You know that feeling where you think you’re doing everything right—clear CTA, decent visuals, relatable messaging—but the results still feel flat? Yeah, that. It’s like shouting into a void and hoping someone hears you.

At one point, I even tried copying the style of ads I personally found interesting, but users didn’t react the same way I did. That’s when it hit me: I wasn’t the user… I was the advertiser. Big difference. The more I tried to think like a typical dating app user, the more things started to click. People don’t want to feel like they’re looking at ads. They want to feel like they’re seeing a moment, a vibe, or a tiny peek at something real.

So I started changing things up. Instead of polished or overly designed visuals, I tried casual, almost selfie-style creatives. They weren’t perfect, but they looked real. And surprisingly, those started performing better. I also stopped trying too hard with lines like “Find your match today!” and switched to softer, more natural-sounding phrases. Stuff like “See who’s nearby” or “You never know who you might meet.” It almost felt like letting the user fill in the rest of the story in their own head instead of forcing it on them.

Another thing I experimented with was playing around with the mood of the ads instead of the features. Dating app users rarely care about the technical perks—they care about the feeling. This small shift in thinking helped me see why some people talk about innovative formats or engagement boosts. It’s not about being clever. It’s about being relatable in a very simple way.

At some point, I also went down the rabbit hole of reading what others were doing. One article I found pretty helpful was this one: (Maximize User Engagement Through Innovative Dating App Advertising) 
It kind of confirmed some of the things I’d been testing and gave me a nudge to keep going with the more casual, user-first approach.

After trying all that, I wouldn’t say everything magically changed overnight, but the engagement definitely picked up. I noticed more clicks, more time on the landing page, and even better responses on smaller placements that usually underperform. The funny thing is… nothing I did was complicated. It just felt more honest, and maybe that’s what users preferred.

If I had to sum up the biggest insight, it’s that dating app advertising works better when you stop treating it like “advertising.” People react more when it feels like a natural part of their feed rather than something that jumps out and asks for attention. The ads that mimic real moments, real people, and real expectations seem to invite curiosity instead of resistance.

I still try new things every week, and not everything works. Some ideas look good in theory but flop fast. But I think that’s just part of the whole dating niche experience—nothing is totally predictable. The only thing that consistently helps is staying flexible and paying attention to what users actually do, not what we assume they want.

So if you're also trying to figure out how to make your ads more engaging, maybe test out the things that feel “too simple.” They worked better for me than any fancy approach I tried before. And who knows, one small tweak might be all you need to get your engagement moving in the right direction.