Let’s face it. Americans love to laugh. I mean who hasn’t put work, laundry or bill paying aside for a minute to bust a gut watching some viral YouTube video of a particularly humorous cat, dog, baby…well, you get my point. The world today can be pretty depressing, so people are looking for ways to escape—albeit temporarily—from the doldrums of reality. I mean, and that cat…
Interjecting humor into your content is a great way to grab the attention of your audience and create a lasting impression of your brand. Humor, however, is subjective, so something one group may find thigh-slapping hilarious, might be perceived as silly, inane or crude by another. So tread carefully through the comic waters when using humor in your brand’s content marketing campaign.
Buyer personas really come into play when trying to incorporate humor in your brand’s messaging. By understanding the demographics of your target audience, you’ll have a much better feel for what your prospects might find funny versus offensive. After all, humor only works when it’s relevant. For example, using modern pop culture references will only confuse older buyers, however, would resonate with a younger audience.
Here are a few tips on how to add some comic appeal to your content.
Even the most seasoned comedians know this to be true. Knowing your audience will go a long way toward recognizing what it might perceive as funny and relatable.
Knowing in advance what your prospects’ pain points are shows them you understand their issues or needs. Pick something you think is a typical problem for your audience and make fun of it as a way to segue into how your brand can solve it.
Always run the humorous content by others—not just coworkers, but people in your target audience—to see if it passes the comedic litmus test. If the punch line falls flat, readers will simply disengage.
The goal is not only to capture the attention of your target audience, but to keep members of it engaged. So even after the joke is over, keep the tone of the content light and conversational.
People love interesting and obscure trivia, so do some digging and find a topic that might interest your audience about the product or concept you want to share. Then write your message in a way that’s both funny and engaging.
OK, I grew up thinking “viral” was something you take great pains to avoid; however, the term now brings to mind those hysterical videos you can’t help but watch and share—over and over. Find something that people find funny enough to share, and you’ve hit the content marketing jackpot.
Everyone loves Internet memes. Give it try by hijacking viral content and adding your own brand message. By using established trends that have already spread across sites like Facebook and Instagram, your content will immediately get attention among social media-savvy followers.
So what’s the bottom line? Being too serious—or worse, too technical—is boring. That doesn’t mean you have to start hitting up open mike nights to get a handle on injecting humor into your content. Funny content often gets more attention, is shared more often and is more memorable, so adding humor to your content marketing strategy will help your message gain traction, engage influencers and prospects and open up a continuing dialogue with your audience. Now all you need is a really funny cat.
Photo Credit: King Content
Barb Schmitz is professional writer with more than 20 years of experience writing for B2B and B2C publications and web sites. She served as an editor on Computer-Aided Engineering magazine for more than 10 years before starting her own PR/freelance writing business in 2000. Her expertise includes interviewing, researching and writing whitepapers, blogs, eBooks, case studies, and feature articles.
