Vero – the Platform that May Put Your Business at the Front of the Pack?

Social Media has seen two platforms – Facebook and Instagram – totally dominate the social platform marketing landscape basically from their foundation. It is quite interesting, then, that last week a relatively unknown social platform, Vero, exploded onto the scene in an epic fashion – rising from a consistent ~150,000 users to over ~3,000,000 users in just a few days. For context that’s a growth of around 2,000%, not such a bad week for a plucky young social media platform!

True, we have seen other competitors try to throw down the gauntlet at Instagram, and none yet have made successful challenges, but dramatic usership numbers like these at least require a brief examination before we conclude that Vero will end like all the other failed challengers. So what’s going on?

“If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix it” – Bert Lance

We wondered what may have caused this surge in popularity for Vero and the answer was easy to spot. In January 2018 Instagram changed its algorithms so that posts with higher engagement get priority over other posts. In practicality this meant that a lot of users essentially no longer got most of their posts out to their audiences – in fact some have calculated that now only 10% of posts ever reach the timelines of their audiences.

Instagram claimed that this was to improve user experience by promoting the moments ‘we really care about’, but for many it simply meant lower activity on their profile. Essentially they thought it was fine before and the changes hurt the majority and only helped a few. Many are at a loose end as to what to do next. Many have resorted to learning how to game the new algorithms. Roughly 2,850,000 others, however, migrated over to the star of our story, Vero, which offers a similar service.

What’s different about Vero?

Vero is indeed not too dissimilar to Instagram – it’s probably wise to note the successes of your competitors if you plan to play them at their own game. On Vero you can still upload photos, edit them to your heart’s content, and of course, publish them to a waiting audience.

There are, however, some attractive differences to bring over the disgruntled Instagram user.  First, you can be more selective about the content people can see by subdividing them into categories, working in concentric circles of best friends, friends, acquaintances and followers.

Also it emphasises itself in a more social light, allowing users to post more than just photos, with things like their favourite movies and songs, letting them cultivate a more well rounded image of themselves for their audiences.

Finally, algorithms and adverts are firmly out of the picture according to the pledges Vero have made in their publicity material, making sure only you are in control of your own content.

What can Vero do for your business?

For you and your business, what do these subtle differences amount to? Below are some ideas as to how Vero is relevant for you:

No Algorithms: On Vero you are in full control of how your audience can see your material, never having to worry about those pesky algorithms arrogantly choosing what and what not may be suitable for your outreach.

Purchasing Power: Vero allows you to place in app purchasing alongside your posts, a feature not present on instagram. This means that you can allow users to more more directly engage with your business rather than having to manually search for what you are advertising themselves.

Exposure Control: The extra control you have with community engagement, in deciding who sees what, can really help you tailor your outreach to the right people at the right times. Try, for example, adding your main clients to the closest friends to help them be constantly up to date with the happenings of your business.

Joining the Instagram Exodus?

If you’re considering joining the waves of people leaving the world’s most popular image sharing platform, it may be too early to tell whether or not Vero will truly take off. However, considering its not-inconsiderable leap into the market basically overnight it may be worth making and maintaining an account with Vero as you would with Instagram – you never know, it may pay off to be one the early adopters to one of the first true challengers to the king of the photo sharing hill.

And there is no time like the present to join with the sudden demand for the platform meaning Vero have waived their annual subscription fee – why not check it out?

Check out the Fat Lama’s latest blog: http://bit.ly/2u51Mbw

Author Bio: 

 

Flora Dallas is a content writer for Fat Lama, a UK/US peer-to-peer rental platform (a kind of Airbnb for stuff) that enables people to share and monetise their unused possessions (fully insured), increasing the efficiency of both the consumer and the planet’s resources.