There’s a new social media network on the block that everyone’s talking about. Online influencers are signing up in their droves, hailing the lack of algorithm as a key reason why they may be tempted away from time spent on Instagram. But what exactly is Vero, apart from Latin for ‘True’, and is it worth your time as a user or marketing professional?
‘Less social media, more real life’ an ironic tagline, given downloading it only adds to your scrolling possibilities, but we’re intrigued. The sign up process is simple and free, asking only for your email and telephone number (to farm your contacts for invites) but they say new users will be charged after their 1 millionth member.
Big Promises
So what have they got to say for themselves? Boasting no adverts (don’t they all in the beginning?) a chronological order and categories so you can search recommendations on TV shows, books and music, from the people you follow. You’re able to specify the type of audience who gets served your content from close friend, to acquaintance. I can see this becoming a personal annoyance, and can’t imagine top influencers will have the time to serve content in this way.
They hope to make money from the subscriptions users make to sign up, keeping it ad free. And music to any digital PR professional’s ears, users can insert clickable links and you’ll be able to start profiles for companies. We would start one for Wolfstar, only Vero is already a victim of it’s own success and currently experiencing server issues due to demand.
It’s also not exactly new, originally launched in 2015, it seems to have garnered the attention of just the right influencers this weekend that has catapulted it into the mainstream media. Use this the next time someone says influencer marketing is a waste of time, and yes that Kylie Jenner tweet too I suppose.
Clever Marketing
I feel like the one millionth member subscription model is a very clever way of increasing demand and indeed, FOMO. We’re all influenced by the hurry-to-get-something-free marketing ploys. Vero looks to have taken all the bug bears of Instagram to it’s most prolific users, and built an app seemingly perfect for them. We’ll be watching closely to see if this becomes a new tab on our Hootsuite system and is elevated to our iPhone homescreen, or the next Google+.
