BeReal is dead, get over it.
Written by: Adam Bewley
Predicting the unpredictable
I bang on about moving at the speed of social and yet here I am, late Jan, rewriting this because yet another development has happened in the world we know and love.
For me, a trend lives and dies at the speed of social. It informs culture, features in the news and should hopefully, entertain us for the split second we’re paying attention whilst we doom scroll that commute away. But the trends we’re seeing aren’t happening as a flash in a pan; they’re gathering momentum before emerging at the time the community decides is right.
The song Messy from Lola Young was released at the end of May... LAST YEAR, and yet it’s only now dominating just about every TikTok going thanks to over 1.4 million pieces of content using the song currently. Talking of TikTok, don’t get me started on Trump wanting to see a bidding war break out; or that a US tech firm would have $600bn wiped off its value by yet another Chinese powerhouse.
But, let’s not get political. On the positive side, it's clear some good has come from the start of this year – we’ve clearly said goodbye to demure, and can almost say the same for BRATish brand behaviour.
Dare we venture beyond next week?
Cautiously casting ahead
It’s pretty clear from my point of view that every brand should be going into this first quarter listening to its community and the channels they’re occupying, confidently being very clear on what it is, what it wants, and what it certainly isn’t. This is vital if it is going to have any hope of still having a community come the end of the year.
That means own the moment. Do not shy away from the facts. Otherwise, be prepared for the haters to hate. Do we need to get into the Maebe release by Molly Mae and the trolls taking to TikTok greenscreens to comment on the quality?
If your brand is having a landmark year, be honest and true to its values and celebrate it, BIG.
If times are hard as a small business, confide in your community. You never know who could be queuing outside – if we can blow up The Chip Shop Diva, then anything is possible.
Who’s going to win big this year
What micro trends will we see bubbling under the surface? Much like an influencer’s skincare routine, no one asked but I’m going to tell you anyway:
1) Communities will build creators and influencers, and not the other way around. Users across channels will find their favourite creators and get behind them, helping them be seen by brands, as they know they have a part to play. So, any brand looking to get an edge should first be thinking about who, not how, and only then working out what those communities need to connect with them.
2) Social will continue to be the heart of culture IRL; brands will shape their experiences and products around the community insights born from social; businesses will thrive and fall because of the social conversation surrounding them; and policies will be sculpted around online behaviour more so than ever before. If you are looking to grow a business or launch a brand and social isn’t at the heart of your strategy, you’re dead before you started.
3) Speaking of dead, Google is as dead as BeReal – search is visual and needs to be educational, not just informative. Sticking an AI summary of search at the top isn’t doing it for the digitally native users you think you have with. There’s a reason TikTok is so successful.
4) In the words of Sabrina Carpenter, please, please, please can we put X in the bin. Rising growth for BlueSky, Substack and even Tumblr making a comeback shows that social expression could be having a glow up, culture creators are on the rise and thankfully, we’re leaving X in the past.
So, there you go. Social moves in a way and at a pace no other marketing channel does. Shock horror, no new news I'm sure, but if you’re going to stay relevant, you’ve got to stand up and stand out for a real reason with the community you love and care for. For anyone not knowing where to start, and has made it this far, I'll give you a starter for 10.
First step is being social born in all that you do. From the community management touch points, through to the trending piece of content you'd swore to never post. You must know where your audiences are now, where they’re heading, and how to be the bridge between the two.
Easy, right?
Let’s see how right I was, or how wrong I'm going to be when we check-in in the summer.
