The no.1 reason people use BeReal isn’t authenticity
It’s simplicity.
Recent research from GWI reveals that 34% cite “it’s easy to use” as their main reason for being on the app.
“Authenticity” (increasingly, a marketing buzzword) is ranked 6th and behind community-focused reasons like “let’s me see what my friends are doing” and “helps me feel more connected with others.”
BeReal’s a strange beast, but increasingly brands are finding a way to make it work:
American Eagle shares a daily promotion (a BeReal Deal) to a small community of 1,000 friends.
Chipotle does something similar.
It isn’t a huge stretch to imagine a university sharing daily student creator content, peppered with the occasional promotion.
But whatever the offer, it has to be special:
GWI shares that BeReal users are 2.5x more likely to want brands to be “exclusive” and 2.3x more likely to “improve their image.”
This could be rooted in fashion, but I think it goes deeper:
Users are also 2.7x more likely to say “standing out in a crowd is important to them” which is achievable through exclusive experiences, access and social proof.
(All of which a university can provide.)
There’s no official brand playbook for BeReal just yet.
It’s like the early days of Facebook where we used personal pages for companies.
But there’s definitely something here.
It’s worth experimenting with content while it’s still relatively quiet.
