BeReal Is Solidifying Its Place In The Social Media Hall Of Fame
For those not in the know, BeReal is an app which alerts users once daily to encourage them to take a picture on their front and back phone camera to capture a moment of their lives. All users are sent this notification at the same time and have 2 minutes to submit the photo so that they can be shown to be sharing a ‘real’ representation of what is happening in their lives at that moment. The app has appealed to users for this reason. Where rivals like Instagram encourage edited polished content to be shared BeReal encourages authenticity.
As described by BeReal:
“No filters. No followers. Just friends, sharing with each other. On BeReal, you discover your friends’ real lives and get closer to them.”
Image Creds: Business 2 Community
Instagram has become aware of this challenge to its power and has been rumoured to be releasing a ‘Candid’ feature which rivals the likes of BeReal in it’s purpose.
Brands have also tried to have a stab at the app with popular fast food chain Chipotle joining earlier this year.
“When Chipotle joined BeReal in April (one of the first major brands to do so), it shared reusable promo codes in its posts for a week. The first 100 people to use the promo would receive a free entree. Those codes were regularly redeemed in less than a minute.”
Offering promos or behind the scenes content is a great way to gain favour with audiences and can allow customers a peak into what goes on at the company.
Formal advertising is not currently allowed on the app. This may change in the future but it seems as though it goes against the ethos of the company.
Image Creds: NBC News
There are though, some issues with the app. If brands are keen to advertise on the app there isn’t really a space in which an ad would fit seemly in to the other content which is being posted. This may mean that the posts may come across as in-genuine. As apps do require the constant funding that providing adverts provides, it will be important for BeReal to work out a way to incorporate this type of content soon.
It is clear that the success of this app isn’t slowing down and although apps such as instagram should not try to steal the concept behind BeReal they should definitely take their success as a learning to understand the type of content which is likely to appeal to audiences.
Finally, for our previous #SocialShort, click here.
