By Annie Urban
Humor is an effective tool in the world of marketing. Laughter is one of the best medicines, and in today’s society, people often look to social media to get their daily dose of it. So why not add some humor to your social plans?
Before you get started, make sure you decide what is appropriate and inappropriate for your company; all businesses have a line, but that line’s location varies. For instance, a dog groomer has far more latitude in marketing than a medical oncologist might; cancer just isn’t funny.
Here are some reasons why humor is such an effective social media marketing tool.
Relatability
The feeling of connection is something that everyone craves – we want to identify and relate to whatever it is we spend our time doing. Your company might produce quality products, but if consumers can’t connect to what you’re selling, you are probably facing revenue challenges.
Humor can create a real connection with consumers. A joke, humorous anecdote, cartoon or meme can draw a positive emotion from your potential customer, which builds a relationship between your brand and end-user.
Humor Impacts the Brain
Almost nothing beats a good ole laugh attack, but have you ever wondered what it is about laughing that people enjoy so much?
When something makes you laugh, that laugh triggers your brain’s reward center producing neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. Our brains and bodies crave these feelings – so whatever it is that made us laugh, we are left wanting more of it. Those are the exact type of feelings you want your consumers to feel from your content – those feelings will quite literally build connections and drive purchases.
Humor Goes Viral
The ability to share, repost, retweet, like, and comment on social media broadens your post’s reach with little to no effort on your part – the challenge with comedic content is knowing how to make the audience you want to laugh, laugh.
Once you figure that out and carefully craft your humor – it will go a long way. WriterAccess says that funny content produces the best engagement. Whether it’s a funny meme, Instagram reel or Tik Tok, clever social media marketing distracts us from daily worries and stress.
Comedic content not only has the potential to go viral, but it can also be quite memorable. When something makes you laugh, producing those feelings mentioned above of serotonin and dopamine, that post can create memories that last for a long time, thus benefitting your brand.
Humor Creates Loyalty
Marketing, at its core, is about earning new customers and retaining the customers you already have. A connection that is built and strengthened by continually posting engaging content is your end game. As your customers and potential customers see your brand’s humor, it can increase interest, purchases and that golden world – loyalty.
So change things up, get creative, post some humorous content, closely monitor engagement, evaluate and keep rolling!