Viral Social media platforms: Where are these now?

Viral Social media platforms: Every day, new social media platforms seem to be popping up everywhere: from TikTok to Clubhouse and Lasso. Many of the popular ones have lost their popularity. It can be hard for marketers to keep up with current trends, but it is essential for building and maintaining strong audiences.

We’ve been keeping you informed over the years about which social media platforms to be concerned about. You may wonder, “Where are these viral social networking platforms now?” Which ones are worth your investment? Here are the facts.

Viral Social media platforms: Where are these now?

1. TikTok

In 2019, TikTok was the first app that we recommended to marketers. The app was used by over 500 million people each month. This number has risen to more than 1 billion active monthly users.

We saw Guess, a brand that uses TikTok to create viral video challenges, experiment with it in 2019. We forecasted that more brands and industries would experiment with TikTok and become more creative in their marketing strategies.

Brands are still struggling to find their place in TikTok in 2022. InVideo reports that 50% of the top brands are not present on TikTok in 2022. This includes billion-dollar brands such as Google, Ikea, YouTube, and YouTube.

However, this does not mean that businesses are abandoning the app. Our own research revealed that TikTok is used by 65% of social media marketers. They plan to increase their investment in 2022.

TikTok Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a great way for marketers to leverage the app and increase their investment. Many brands struggle to get on the app. However, TikTok influencers continue to rise and are seeing great success.

Drew Afualo (@drewafualo) is an example. Los Angeles-based content creator Drew Afualo rose to fame on TikTok calling out misogynistic creators on the app.

Buzzfeed reported that Afualo’s account grew from 1.5 million to 4 million followers in January to 4 million within two months. The account now has 6.9million followers as of April 2022.

Afualo gained popularity through the app and has been promoted films such as “The Lost City,” which stars Sandra Bullock & Channing Tatum.

@drewafualo

Shein, an online fashion retailer, has also been a partner of hers to promote the SheinX collection.

@drewafualo Which outfit do you like? Shop the #SHEINX Collection and use my code “DREW”, to get 15% off the entire @SHEIN US site Drew Afualo original sound: #SHEINpartner #fyp#xyzbca

Afualo, a TikTok content creator, creates meaningful connections with his audience and has a deep understanding of the app. Influencer marketing is a great way for businesses and brands to market their products on TikTok.

Our survey revealed that 57% of influencer marketers cited influencer marketing among the most powerful trends they use. 86% of marketers also plan to invest the same amount in influencer marketing or increase it.

2. Clubhouse

Clubhouse launched in 2020. It felt like a club that only a few people could join. It was, in a sense. Clubhouse is an app that allows you to chat with other people. To join Clubhouse, users needed to be invited by another user.

Clubhouse’s invitation-only system was removed by app developers in July 2021. Anyone can join the platform.

Clubhouse was initially only available for iOS devices when we first introduced it in February 2021. It was made available for Android users in May of the next year.

We stated in our first reports that we were not sure if Clubhouse could be used by marketers and brands. Clubhouse’s popularity has declined over the past year as other platforms like Twitter via Twitter Spaces have begun to experiment with audio chats.

How Valuable is Marketing on Clubhouse?

Clubhouse reached a peak of nearly 10,000,000 monthly downloads in February 2021. Forbes reports that this number dropped to 900,000 downloads in April 2021, just two months later. Don’t let this discourage you from using the audio app. Clubhouse could see a revival in 2022, according to numbers.

According to InfluencerMarketing Hub, Clubhouse ranked 12th in social networking apps on the App Store as of December 2021.

Marketing on Clubhouse is worth it? It all depends on how you approach it. Clubhouse’s association with famous people like Drake, Kevin Hart, or Tiffany Haddish was a huge draw. Clubhouse is a great place to promote your brand.

Clubhouse is a great place to host focus groups or to make personal connections with your audience.

If you are having trouble finding an influencer large enough to attract your audience to Clubhouse or your audience isn’t using the app often, it might be worth looking elsewhere.

3. Twitter Spaces

Twitter Spaces was launched in 2020 and is Twitter’s answer for Clubhouse. This feature allows users to host and join live audio conversations on Twitter.

Twitter Spaces was a feature we predicted would be great because Twitter is already a conversation-friendly platform that focuses less on visuals than it is on text.

Although there are no statistics on Twitter Spaces’ popularity among users, Twitter is itself a highly successful app. Twitter reported that its 2021 annual revenue was $5 billion. This is a 37% increase over the previous year.

A recent HubSpot survey revealed that only 14% of social marketers use audio chat rooms such as Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse. However, 68% of those who do claim it to be the best social media strategy they use.

Twitter Spaces is a great feature to include in your marketing strategy, considering the popularity of Twitter and the likelihood that your competitors will increase their investment into audio chats.

Twitter Spaces can be used by a brand to engage with its audience. You can connect on over-trending topics or hold large-scale focus group meetings to get feedback about a product or service.

4. Houseparty

Houseparty, a group messaging app that allows video chats, was launched in 2016. It could host up eight people at once. Participants could also use stickers, filters, and other features to make the party more fun. The app’s in-chat gaming feature was launched two years after it was founded. This allowed users to play with their friends.

We wrote in 2019 that “For example, a small cosmetic company might sponsor an ‘houseparty’ where a celebrity can answer questions about beauty and show attendees how they use their products.”

Houseparty was closed down by Epic Games in September 2021, after it was acquired by Fortnite developer Epic Games. According to the game developer, Houseparty’s team is currently creating new ways for meaningful and authentic social interactions at a metaverse scale within Epic Games.

5. Lasso

Lasso was first mentioned by us as a social media platform that marketers should keep an eye on in 2019. Lasso, which was launched by Facebook in 2018, was a short-video platform that competed with TikTok.

We looked into our future and wrote: “While Lasso is just starting, it might be an exciting platform in the future because Facebook owns it.” This could be a sign that the app will benefit from Facebook’s technological res and funding.

Lasso didn’t really reach the Gen Z audience Facebook wanted to attract, so the app was closed down in July 2020. As Facebook began to test Instagram‘s TikTok-like feature Reels, the platform was abandoned.

Promoting your brand on an app that’s not as popular as it used to be can feel like going to a party where almost everyone has gone home. There are always new platforms to promote your brand, so you will never run out of creative ways to reach your audience. You can also trust us to share the next thing.