Brands Need to BeReal

By Emily Mason, PR Coordinator

BeReal is fast becoming the number one app for Gen Z users, outstripping the ever-popular Instagram app.

This anti-filter social media platform is the most downloaded App in Australia this year and has more than 10 million daily users world-wide – making BeReal an important tool for companies to consider when communicating.

How exactly does it work? BeReal sends out only one daily, random notification to all users at the same time. Once this notification goes off users have a two-minute countdown to take a candid photo from their front and back cameras. The randomness and countdown mean users don’t have the opportunity to curate their image. No filters, no ads – no bull.

If you do, however, miss the timeframe you’re marked with tardiness and if you retake your photo it shows other users just how many retakes it took you – it basically calls you out.

It’s a refreshingly authentic concept that comes at a perfect time, as Gen Z continuously voices concerns around mental health, and the damaging effects social media has on their self-image and worth.

So how does a brand communicate to consumers when BeReal is navigating away from advertising and perfect images?

Firstly, brands need to be authentic on BeReal, there’s no space to curate aesthetically content and beautifully edited images. Brands must embrace the one-take wonder.

By design people don’t have many followers so brands can connect with loyal audiences and create tailored content that should be creative and playful.

BeReal is demonstrating a clear shift for ‘real’ content and less ‘crap’, being authentic and rethinking content is not only imperative for brands on BeReal, but this will resonate with consumers across other social media platforms too.

Although BeReal is a fairly new social platform, brands have an ideal opportunity to snap up this space early. It doesn’t come around often, so there is an exciting opportunity to jump into this space.

Brands which have embraced the platform successfully include American companies Chipotle and E.L.F. Cosmetics. Chipotle posted a promotional code back in May that gave the first 100 followers a free entrée which reportedly sold out in 30-minutes. E.L.F. was the first beauty brand on BeReal and has posted promotions, photos of employees using products or behind the scenes shots.

The success of these brands on BeReal isn’t transferred into dollar value, its success is in visibility, relevance, and community. Users feel connected to this community and resonate with their strategy of spontaneous creativity content that feels fresh and exciting.

For the moment BeReal is great for some consumer brands whose target audience is Gen Z or Millennials and for brands who don’t want to leverage profit. The two-minute window and non-curated content may be difficult for some brands or corporate brands to navigate, but there is potential for business to BeReal.