Becky Armstrong

My phone is already screaming at me that I spend too much time on social media, so do I need another yet another app? This is what I found myself asking when I first heard of BeReal, but the more I heard about it the more intrigued I was… so despite my screen time’s best efforts I downloaded it.

After using it for personal use for about a month now, I’ve been thinking more and more about what the rise in popularity of apps like BeReal means for social media marketing.

What is BeReal?

BeReal is a social media application that was founded in December 2019 [1], launched in February 2020 but has started to reach new popularity in 2022 [4]. It’s a photosharing app which gives the user one notification a day, where the user and their friends all take photos at the same time to show what they’re doing in real-time. The Photo is taken with both the front and back cameras simulatanously on your phone, and the goal is to showcase real and authentic everyday self and tasks.

Whilst BeReal does have the comments feature, it doesn’t have a traditional “likes” feature than other social media platforms show. Instead it uses a “RealMoji” feature which is another photo of yourself – where you recreate one of six emojis as reaction to other people’s posts.

Currently BeReal is more like old school Snapchat where you have to be “friends” with people to see their posts unless they have their profile set to be shown on the “Discover” tab. However, unlike discover tabs on Instagram and TikTok this feed is not fed by an algorithm in the same way. You can add people you see on Discover as a friend, but you’re unlikley to see that same people show up on Discover everyday.

How is BeReal Different?

Posting once a day massively reduces the amount of time spent on the app compared to other social platforms like TikTok and Instagram which often encourage hours of scrolling and refreshing.

Unlike many other social platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, BeReal is still focusing on photos over video content. It’s also focused on real-time, unedited images in the moment rather than the idealised life users and brands portray on other social media sites.

Currently BeReal does not have any ad space to sell, and therefore any use of BeReal for brands would need to be through organic content.

Users on BeReal

BeReal has been installed 7.67million times since 2020 and has about 2.93 million daily active users [5]. It’s had a massive 315% increase in downloads this year alone [1] and is a fast growing app in the social media space. Some experts say this is still not a big enough base for brands to jump into [2].

Audience skews youngers [1] The company has invested in ambassador programs accross college campuses to encourage sign ups, showing which audience they’re aiming for [2]. There’s also many WoM mentions of BeReal on social networks like Tiktok which also skews younger.

How Are Creators Using BeReal?

Whilst BeReal has outright stated that you won’t be able to “become” an influencer on it’s platform, influencers have started to create accounts and cross-post to Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and more. If they have existing followings on other social media platforms, they can maintain their audience on BeReal and connect with their followers on a deeper level [7].

Some creators have amassed popularity on other channels by sharing their BeReal on them too. For example, Emily Green amassed 700k views on TikTok for a BeReal with Harry Styles, and Bee Austin had a similar story gaining 322k views with Matt Healy [8].

Celebrities like Tyler, the Creator have also started cross posting their BeReals on Instagram [8] showcasing that the content is interesting both on and off the platform. The authenticity that celebrity talent and creators showcase helps maintain parasocial relationships.

How Could Brands Jump on BeReal?

Creating an Account

After looking into the terms of service, BeReal does state that you can’t “use BeReal for advertising or commercial purposes to publish or facilitate the transmission of advertising” [6]. With this it would suggest that making an account could be against the terms of service, although this will always be depending on content.

However despite this some companies, like Chipotle, have already been leaning into BeReal [2]. For the first brand marketing activation on BeReal Chipotle posted a code within their BeReal post for the first 100 users to get a free entree for 4 consecutive days. This was reporting on by many outlets, and since they still have an account I would assume making an account is fine – just don’t post direct ad assets.

BeReal shows a opportunity for brands to showcase more “real” unedited behind the scenes kind of content. Similar to TikTok where the content from brands which includes their staff as “faces” for the company profile – BeReal could showcase “real” situations of people using company products.

One thing to say about a BeReal account would be that you absolutely will have to curate the content to fit BeReal. Similar to TikTok, you really need to make the content to fit the platform rather than taking one of your marketing assets and changing the format so you can upload.

Community Content Amplification

Utilising community content on BeReal on other platforms like Instagram and Twitter. Instead of creating a brand account themselves, companies can definitely ask their audiences to share their BeReals which include their products in order to be shared on other social media websites. This showcases strong community content, but also “real life” uses of the products in a really simple way.

Creator Content

With creators, influencers and celebrities jumping on the BeReal train it could be a simple way for your brand to show up on the platform. Requesting creators to ensure that your product or brand is visible in their BeReal can be an easy way to show your product being using in an authentic way. Of course, when working with creators they will still legally have to disclose the partnership – but the content can be made to fit the BeReal model they’d already be used to.

Similar to Community Content Amplification above, you can showcase how creators are using your products from BeReal on your own accounts on exisiting platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

Utilise the Objective But Not the Platform

What BeReal is showing us is that audiences, particularly the younger audience, are looking for real and authentic content. Whilst highly edited and high quality ads are a vital part of your marketing campaign, maybe on social media platforms you adapt your content to this objective.

An example could be to utilise Instagram Stories to show more behind-the-scenes content of employees and customers using the product, being in store, attending events and more. Find a way to showcase real people doing real things that doesn’t look and feel like an ad.

The objectives of BeReal of being more “authentic” have already gone past BeReal and shown up on other platforms like Tiktok and the “ugly Instagram” trend [3]. So making this a part of your existing strategy can optimise your content for the Gen Z audience, without needing a new platform to learn and adapt with.

Should Brands Be Creating a BeReal Strategy?

The short answer will always be “it depends”. BeReal will not fit many brands for many reasons. A big issue for large global companies will always be that the current brand guidelines are often too restrictive to have the full authentic experience BeReal asks for.

BeReal will also be a nightmare for any social media team that has to go through multiple approvals. The timer function will mean content will have to be “shot” for approvals to represent what will be posted, but won’t be perfect to what will actually be posted – and you’ll never have a set time if you’re trying to align to content on your website or other social channels.

Despite this, there’s definitely an opportunity for brands to be creative with BeReal and if the teams have the time, resource, and flexibility within the business then BeReal could be an interesting method of reaching younger audiences.

References

BeReal