Don’t Fake It, You Won’t Make It
As we’ve discussed before, consistency is key when it comes to social. This includes strategizing your brands’ voice and how you relate to your audience.
For many brands it may be tempting to try to capture the attention of teenagers by trying to relate and using popular memes and common slang. However, sometimes this is not the best strategy and the execution is lackluster. As evidenced by this board on Reddit, often when is attempted, it can fall short and come across embarrassing and forced. Not only can a failed attempt at a meme fall short with the target audience, but also those older than the teenage target audience, as they could feel alienated and confused.
Take this Tweet for example, where Chex Mix wanted to spark a debate about their product using a common meme. This could have seemed innocent enough, and a good strategy to increase engagement, but to some of their audience it appeared strained, and “killed” the meme.
On the other hand, though, sometimes a younger audience may find this appealing and enjoy a brand showing some personality, especially on Twitter. A popular example of this is the twitter account for Wendy’s, especially when directly interacting with competition like McDonald’s. This strategy works because Wendy’s brand has become known for sometimes aggressively interacting with other fast food brands and Twitter critics. A sassier social media approach is also integrated with the voice of their brand across other mediums.
In general, try to stick to what is genuine and aligned with your brand’s established personality.
