The Power of Authenticity: How Hive Became on Overnight Success
What do you get when you mix influencer marketing + meme culture + “stan Twitter” into your marketing strategy? An overnight success.
Hive is a social media app that’s been around for a little over a year, but has only recently gone viral. At a glance, it feels like a nostalgic mashup of Instagram, Twitter, and Myspace.
Users can attach a song to their profile and share text, photos and videos to their page. Last week, Hive became the number one downloaded social media app on Apple’s App Store - downloaded so many times that its servers crashed!
How did Hive get here?
Continued Preference For Authenticity
TikTok was the first social media app to fully embrace Gen Z’s value of authenticity. Hive is proving that it won’t be the last.
At its core, Hive really understands Gen Z. Not surprising, considering that Hive’s creator is a Gen Z-er herself! The app is designed to feel like Instagram in 2014: before the excessive stories, in-feed ads, and the shop feed took over the user experience. Its discovery page is designed to be less glossed-up and aspirational than Instagram’s. Hive reminds us of a time where social media was an outlet for people to simply share what was going on with their day.
Hive’s approach isn’t new, but that’s exactly why people’s heads are turning towards it. It’s the latest social media platform to echo TikTok’s sentiment that people aren’t perfect, and that’s ok! Hive was similarly created with this consumer preference for an authentic social media experience in mind.
Hive knew they had a product Gen Z would love. So they went to where Gen Z would talk about it most: TikTok! All it took was a small investment in an influencer to go completely viral.
Virality Off of TikTok
We’ve seen time and time again how trends on TikTok can lead to action off the app; just look at the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag.
Conversations that happen on TikTok are rarely silo-ed to the short video app. The most successful brands are the ones who are nimble enough to follow the conversation wherever they may go. In Hive’s case, their TikTok influencer partnership led to action off the app onto Twitter, which led to more comments and Tweets, which turned into memes, and now, the conversation is taking place everywhere!
Hive didn’t try to control the conversation, instead they followed Gen Z’s lead by sharing memes, participating in the comments, and casually referring to their consumers as besties. They took a backseat to what was already happening online which allowed consumers to drive the bus of hypervirality for them.
Remaining Transparent and Authentic
Hive remained authentic and transparent when their official Twitter revealed the steps that led to their overnight success:
Hive put it all out there in a way that was very “Gen Z”. While transparency can be scary for brands, it resonates with this generation of highly informed consumers. Gen Z trusts brands that break down their corporate walls to speak with them, not at them. The most successful brands are the ones who are willing to experiment with this level of transparency on TikTok and beyond.
The hubbub around apps like Clubhouse, Hive, and TikTok clearly show that users are looking for a social media experience that feels human. Consumers are willing to trust new platforms that promise to provide a space for community and connection. Hive is one of the first apps to stir the waters this year, but we think there is potential for more apps like this to emerge in 2021.
