When Brands Try Too Hard On Social Media

What’s up peeps? Don’t you get proper vexxed when a company gets caught in 4K trying to low key market directly to you and your bae by pretending to be hip and poggers? Mad thirsty behaviour. #BadVibes 

If your head hurts from reading that, just think how my brain felt when writing it! Companies have done a lot of daft things in an attempt to seem trendy and modern, such as overusing tired memes, overdoing it on social media, and creating absurd millennial-targeted ad campaigns. 

When Brands Try Too Hard On Social Media

Why is brand humanisation important? 

Before we can understand the significance of the phrase, we must first understand its history. The rise of the internet was a major factor in the emergence of brand humanisation. This was caused by the fact that consumers began to engage in the promotion of goods and services in the digital world. 

In just a few seconds, customers can find out more about the many companies that can meet their needs and solve their problems. This means that price and quality aren’t the most important factors when choosing a product or brand anymore.  

But lately, people’s habits have changed. They’re more likely to purchase products from companies that align with their values. Companies need to connect to their clients more directly, comprehend their lifestyles, and provide ongoing, individualised support. 

Because of this, it’s important to work on making your brand more approachable to its intended demographic. 

Trying to be clever on social media

Trying to be smart yet funny is probably the most common reason why brands fail when they share content on social media. In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the need to “clap back” at trolls or critics on social media. However, this is a hard skill to master and comes with a lot of risks. Not everyone can be Wendy’s.  

If you’re attempting to convince someone of anything and you aren’t genuine and helpful, they may not listen to you even if you do share their opinion. Being snarky can gain you followers but also open the door to the internet’s attention-grabbing meme culture.  

To stop brands from making any attempt to appear human, one person has even created a Silence Brand Bot that just replies to their tweets with a viral meme and has been blocked by some major brands. 

if your brand is just now posting a “he’s a 10” or Little Miss meme, your ideation and approval process is broken

— Carrie Ann Sublette (@barelycarrie) August 17, 2022

Identify your target markets 

How businesses try to woo their consumers will always be a constant source of conversation. Do you use emojis? Hashtags? Is slang okay? What’s currently trending? Identifying your target market is crucial here. If your company doesn’t want to target the younger age groups, then why are you pandering to them? There’s nothing wrong with trying to be “shareable” – just make it for the right reasons.  

News hijacking and the dangers 

Advertising campaigns on social media can sometimes reveal creative ideas that fall short of the target. Many well-known companies use the social media marketing strategy known as “news hijacking,” where they take advantage of a hot topic to boost interaction with their own posts. Unfortunately, without doing the necessary research, it’s simple to hijack a serious topic or hashtag with something inappropriate. Naturally, this wouldn’t be taken lightly and can negatively impact your brand’s image for years to come. Don’t believe us? Yahoo has compiled a short list of hashtag hijacking fails to show you what not to do. 

Get in touch if you need help creating your authentic tone of voice. 

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