By Mark Shpungin

We can’t predict the future, but we like to be ready. While social media is an always-on, chaotic space, it’s possible to make an educated guess about where it’s going when you look at user behaviours and emerging platforms.

What’s also common practice is large platforms stealing borrowing features from smaller ones:

In 2016, IG borrowed stories from Snapchat. 
Reels were a response to TikTok in 2020.
Recently, Instagram has also been testing ‘IG Candid’ – a feature similar to BeReal.

With this in mind, let’s explore some user behaviours and emerging platforms to predict what the mainstream social media landscape might look like in the near future.

1. The future of social is user-owned

Web 2.0 empowered us to share, the advent of web 3.0 will allow us to own. This is something that we’re already seeing with NFTs and cryptocurrencies, however in the near future this is likely going to become much more mainstream.

Octi is an early-adopter platform that encourages its users to upload their own filters and AR-elements to be used in videos. The more people use your AR creations or engage with your videos, the more in-app currency, Octi-coin, you earn. You can then spend your octi-coins with top retailers such as Nike and Glossier.  

Having debuted at #1 on App Store in 2021, the app has since gone quiet and is still extremely niche, but there are other players in the space.

Our prediction

There’s a shift among the big platforms towards enabling NFT trading, which we only expect to grow. Meta are working on a digital marketplace functionality that would allow users to create and own NFTs. There are also reports revealing that twitter will allow users to display NFT marketplace listings from certain platforms, including a button to let them buy and sell collectibles. Add to this the option of easily converting your crypto assets into real-world value by shopping with large retailers, and the technology will become ubiquitous on social media.

2. The future of social is cause-driven

Weare8 is a social platform that is good for the planet. The cause-driven app pays its viewers to watch ads and donates a portion of revenue from each ad stream to charity.

Not only that, it combats endless scrolling by having a curated feed that can be scrolled in its entirety within 8 minutes each day. Other players such as Supernova have also been entering the market, and while the latter is yet to grow, WeAre8 has already been downloaded over 100K times from the Google Play store alone. Early adopters among brands have seen the likes of Nike, Heineken and Mondelēz advertising on the platform.
The apps’ unique feature is that everyone can make money on it, 6p-25p per watching a video. There is of course a catch – users are served a very limited number of ads they can watch. Add to that the buffer time of 30 days to receive the money in the in-app wallet and the real value will only be felt only over a very long period of active platform use – it’d take nearly three months to earn around £230. 

More recently, after Elon Musk has acquired twitter and the controversy that ensued resulted in more than a million users leaving the platform (MIT technology review). While Musk claims that the drop in numbers is a result of getting rid of dormant accounts and bots, the emergence of twitter alternatives such as Mastodon suggests that there is a demand for a democratic, user-run platform whose policies are not dictated by a single person.

Our prediction

The industry has taken a lot of heat over the past few years, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the negative effects of Instagram on Mental Health. With that, the public’s attention has turned to how big platforms operate from an ethical standpoint. This will result in the continuous emergence of new, smaller, cause-driven platforms, which will put the pressure on big players to keep adapting their practices in line with these new standards. Meta and other social media titans will focus on improving their business transparency alongside their mental health practices. The change will come even sooner if brands choose to place their ads elsewhere.

3. The future of social is integrated.

What springs to mind when you think of ‘social media’? Is it Instagram? TikTok? Facebook? All of those are correct, however social media is much bigger than just social media platforms. In reality, it’s ‘any interactive technology that facilitates the creation and sharing of information, ideas and interests through virtual communities and networks’ (Kietzmann). 

Chatting to your buddies on Roblox is as much of a social media interaction as unfollowing your aunt for posting cringe on facebook. WhatsApp group chat? Social media. Writing an Amazon review? Social media. Everything from Slack, Wikipedia, Twitch, Minecraft can be considered social media.  

Social media enabled us to build communities around various niches and interest points. The flipside of that is all these social integrations mean that the fight for user attention has gotten enormously competitive. On top of that, there are growing concerns among GenZ about the amount of time spent on social media – 37% worry they spend too much time on it, and 24% are using it less than they used to (GWI). 

Our prediction

As social media becomes increasingly more chaotic and fragmented, it’s possible that there will be a new, user-friendly way to combine and curate all the different feeds (kind of like Hootsuite, but for personal use). It could take the form of an app or will be a built-in software feature that allows users to sift through the chaos of social media on their own terms. This will put even more pressure on brands to carefully consider how, where and why they’d be showing up on feeds in the ever-growing competitive medium.

Key lessons for brands

Social media landscape changes constantly, and no rules are set in stone. You can future-proof your social strategy by keeping an eye on emerging platforms and trends:

Think about user touch-points with your brand beyond the biggest platforms. Make sure your tone of voice and content are tailored to each platform while still having brand consistency, from TikTok to Twitch and beyond. 

Plan beyond getting noticed on crowded feeds, and think of retention. Make sure your content is adding value today, and consider how it could continue to do so in the user-owned economy, where getting noticed in feed is only half the battle. 

If you are interested in future-proofing your social media strategy, slide into our DMs!

By Charlie Smith 

You might have seen a new platform at the top of the social media charts … BeReal. With its quick rise to fame there are many questions that brands must answer before they consider joining the platform. What is it? How does it work? More importantly, how will it add value to your brand? Let’s dive in.

What is it?   

BeReal’s mission is to be the antidote to traditional social media. No influencers… no filters… no likes and most importantly, NO ads. It promises `a new and unique way to discover who your friends really are in their daily life`.  As of April 2022, the platform has over 2.9 million active daily users and has seen a 315% leap in downloads since the start of the year (Social Media Today). So, what is it that has drawn so many people to it?  

How does it work? 

The BeReal app is simple. It sends a daily notification at a random time, to `BeReal`. You are then prompted to take a simultaneous snapshot from both your front and back-facing cameras, showing what you are doing and what your reaction is.  It allows only two minutes to respond, and you can’t see anyone else’s BeReal until you have posted your own.

The random timing of the notification and the fact you can only do it once a day adds a game-like quality to the app that reminds me a lot of other popular apps such as Wordle. You can either share your images with friends and followers, or post onto the `discover` page to help increase your reach and gain new followers.  

How can brands get involved? 

Having brands and adverts on the platform goes completely against its’ ethos, and although there are currently no pay-to-play advertising options, it doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the future.  

Chipotle was the first brand to create an account. As their VP for Digital Marketing said, `We see a massive opportunity to highlight our brand’s transparency in fun ways for our fans on BeReal`. Ryanair and Duolingo used the same approach with TikTok – focusing on fun and transparency. When approaching a new platform, it’s best to see what users are doing first, and experiment with how out how you can best fit in.  Chipotle joined the platform by posting a discount code giving the first 100 people who used it a free meal. They have taken the platform’s values to heart by ensuring the content they put out isn’t glossy, prioritising the lo-fi nature of the platform instead. The brand identifies with promoting raw, authentic content, by being transparent about their ingredients and the way it operates. This tactic is particularly effective with Gen Z consumers as they demand humanisation, humour and honesty from brands.  

What does it mean for other social platforms? 

Chipotle has managed to make BeReal a success because they make content that feels native to the platform. This doesn’t mean that every brand should be rushing to open a BeReal account yet. Instead, we think there are 3 key lessons that we can take from BeReal and apply to the platforms you’re already on:

1. Put your audience first. Your brand doesn’t have to be on every platform – instead, you should pick your channels based on where your audience spends their time.   
2. Would I engage with that? (Be honest!) So many brands create content that just sits on their channels with little or no engagement because it doesn’t appeal to their audience and the way they interact with on social. Before you join a platform, make sure that your creative strategy doesn’t revolve around broadcasting, and instead is geared towards harnessing genuine relationships with your followers.  
3. Time to be real [sorry 😳] when it comes to creator partnerships. Some brands are particularly weak at building genuine partnerships with the creators they work with. Choose creators that genuinely fit your brand. Don’t just chase followers and prioritise long-term exclusive partnerships over one-off ads. 

One of the reasons Chipotle has been so successful when tapping into BeReal is that they add value. Ryanair and Duolingo have had a similar success on TikTok, because they think about everything through the eyes of their audience.   

If you are interested in developing your social media strategy, please get in touch! 

Ever wondered how Coolr creates social content for the world’s leading brands? 

We took part in the Channel 5 documentary, ‘Burger King – How Do They Do It?’ to share some of our social secrets. We run all of the social accounts in the UK for BK – from TikTok to Twitter – and talk through some of the ways we develop content for maximum engagement.  

Want to see behind the scenes? You can catch the documentary here.  

Our relationship with Burger King first began four years ago when we signed a contract to be their social media agency in the UK. At that point, we were just a start-up agency with three employees. A small team with huge ideas. 

It wasn’t long till we created the most liked tweet from a brand of all time… 

Since then, we’ve worked with Burger King on hundreds of social activations, including promoting independent restaurants during lockdown. We turned old plastic toys into new trays in a brand-new recycling scheme. We’ve created paid strategies to support the opening of hundreds of Burger King restaurants across the country and we even launched them on TikTok – one of the first brands in the UK to join the platform! 

Four years of many big wins, shared successes (and, of course, challenges) along the way.  

Here’s to many more! 

Really excited to share that we’ve been nominated for SIX awards at the UK Content Awards.

The categories are:

• B2C Content Campaign of the Year: Coolr and Walkers – Prawn Cocktail Wotsits
• Return Not for Profit / Charity Campaign: Coolr and Quaker Oats – Quaker Oats and Magic Breakfast #FillABowl
• FMCG Content Campaign of the Year: Coolr and Heineken – #ShearGenius: Heineken or haircut
• Podcast / Audio Campaign of the Year: Coolr and Deliveroo – Deliveroo #singyourdialect
• Video Content Campaign of the Year: Coolr and Pepsi – Pepsi Hero Fizz Campaign
• Influencer / Celebrity Campaign of the Year: Billion Dollar Boy & Walkers – #CrispIn #CrispOut
• Large Content Marketing Agency of the Year: Coolr

The UK Content Awards celebrate excellence in content marketing and were set to reward agencies, in-house teams and individuals who are creating innovative, exceptional content that attracts, informs, engages and retains audience to deliver traffic and profit.

We’re really proud of all the work we do. Our award-winning agency team create content for brands on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube that reaches audiences at scale. In this year alone, we have made over 300 pieces of social first video.

Awards just make it a little bit sweeter! Wish us luck on the night…

Back in January, Coolr was appointed as the social media agency for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant. This was the final event in a weekend full of British pomp and ceremony to honour The Queen and her 70 years of dedicated service to the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

In the build-up to the event, the Coolr team ran a social media programme to build awareness and anticipation. We created a comprehensive suite of assets bringing to life the diverse performers and the public’s excitement for this event, whilst also celebrating The Queen’s legacy.

A major part of our activation was our live stream, where we provided a backstage pass to the pageant to a global audience across Facebook and Twitter. We worked with Radio presenters Melvin Odoom, Rickie HW and Harriet Rose to create this energetic piece of content, meeting performers, the public and much-loved British icons including Sir Mo Farah, Joe Wicks and Basil Brush!

Our work didn’t stop there! Our team were placed strategically across The Mall, during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, capturing content shared live across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, amassing thousands of views and engagements.

We couldn’t be prouder of our results from this campaign:
– The Platinum Jubilee Pageant reached the Number 1 trend on Twitter on the day
– Millions of people watched and engaged with our live content
– Nearly a million watched the live stream

Oh, and we also broke a Guinness world record for the most scones filled with cream and jam in a minute as part of our live stream– all in a day’s work!

Social media continues to be the battleground for brands who want to win in culture… but it’s a moving target!

Adam Clyne, Founder and CEO of Coolr will be interviewing some of the UK’s leading brands on how they adapt to change and stay at the top of their game in this space.

The panel discussion on 18 May at 2.40pm BST is one of the sessions at Advertising Week Europe, one of the biggest industry events in advertising.

Lizzie Fillo, Media and Total Connections Manager at PepsiCo, Ben Bailey, Global Director of Consumer Communications at Deliveroo, and Soco Nuñez, Brand and Communications Director at Burger King will be joining Adam to discuss how they continually transform their social strategies to remain brand leaders in a rapidly changing world.

We did it!

Coolr has proudly won Digital Agency of the Year at the 2022 PRmoment awards.

The last 12 months has been a great success for Coolr – as we doubled in size, signed a partnership deal with TikTok, ran over 100+ influencer campaigns and attracted nearly 20 new people to join the team.

Winning Digital Agency of the Year is down to great people, doing great work for great clients; we are hugely proud of this recognition.

The PRmoment Awards celebrate excellence and exceptional talent in the UK PR and Communications sector and we collected the award in front of 800 people at the black tie event.

Thank you to all our amazing Coolr people, our brilliant clients, and all our partners who together make this possible.

Adam Clyne, Coolr founder / CEO, commented: “Coolr is making great strides in the industry and we are really proud and humbled by this recognition. The team at Coolr continues to push the boundaries of social media, influencer work and content creation and will continue to do so in the year ahead….”