Everyone loves to laugh. That is why the most popular shows on TV are usually comedies. So how can we as social media marketers take advantage of comedy’s mass appeal? By being funny of course. Just because your business is serious doesn’t mean your ad campaign has to be. Insurance is an important aspect of our lives that usually revolves around a serious situation, yet all of the ads for the majority of the companies are humor based. Comedy sells, so it’s time you add it to your Facebook page. But what is the best way to use humor on your page, and is humor always a good route to take? Well after some research I have some answers for you.
The first thing you want to look at is what your business does. If you are in healthcare or financial services you need to be exceptionally careful with humor. These are no-nonsense fields that would be tough to joke about. I for one do not want a clown responsible for my healthcare or my bank account. Outside of those two fields however there is a lot of opportunity to crack a joke. You just need to remember who your target audience is. Older people won’t find video game jokes very amusing, whereas youths would lose their minecraft laughing at them. As a professional social media marketer you should already have a good understanding of who your target audience is, so make jokes that relate to them.
One great tip to using humor is to use a technique that Jerry Seinfeld often used in his stand-up routine. Take an everyday activity and think, “What is funny about this?” If I applied that to the YMCA for instance, I could poke fun at excuses to avoid working out. It happens to the best exercisers, and it is something everyone could relate to.
Something I cannot stress enough is to keep it clean. Even if your target audience is a bunch of punk kids, it looks incredibly unprofessional when you start using foul language and images. You will also severely restrict your target audience which is exactly what we are not trying to do. Your post could also go viral in the worst way possible. I’m sure you have seen many instances on the news where a business posts something insensitive, and it is always followed by an apology and someone losing their job. Don’t let that be you.
Use your wit. People enjoy clever puns or being surprised by a smart-aleck comment. At the YMCA we often use motivational posts to get people up and moving, but if you keep posting the same stuff everyday people eventually block it out. So one day instead of a inspirational post about celery, I put a meme with Abraham Lincoln commenting on the internet. It was a wild success and got my site a lot of views.
The best humor comes naturally. If your business has a naturally funny employee, ask if you can shoot a video of him just being himself. Forced humor is just the worst, so avoid it at all cost. Browse the internet for some funny memes that you enjoy, and use them to your advantage. A little humor is a great way to break up the tedium of business-like posts.
Using humor is a risk, but like many risks it can come with a great reward. So be smart, funny, and cautious when using humor on your social media page. Wow! For a blog about humor, I had zero jokes in it so I better throw one in. Why couldn’t the lifeguard save the hippie? Because he was too far out. Grab some tissues and wipe those tears of laughter out of your eyes. Do you have any other ways humor can be applied to social media? Or if you just want to hear some more jokes, leave me a comment below. Don’t forget to hit the share button below because gaining knowledge is the first step to wisdom; sharing it is the first step to humanity.