Did the image bring a smile to your face and spark your curiosity? In the hustle of daily life, especially post-pandemic, people are actively seeking ways to entertain themselves and share a good laugh. Social media has become a go-to medium for this. As per a report 93% of Indian prefer brands with a sense of humour.
Recognising this trend, brands now have a fantastic opportunity to add humour to their content, creating a connection with customers and anyone who comes across their posts. This brings joy and proves to be an effective branding strategy. In this blog, we are excited to share our top 5 picks of brands that master the art of humour in their digital marketing.
Table of contents
- Using Humour in Your Branding & Digital Marketing Strategy
- Top 5 Humorous Indian Brands
- Pros and Cons of Adding Humour to Your Marketing
- Tips to Add Humour To Your Social Media Marketing
- In Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Using Humour in Your Branding & Digital Marketing Strategy
For years, Twitter has been the go-to platform for sharing witty, humorous and sometimes brutally honest tweets. However, with a character limit of 280, expressing oneself fully could be a challenge. That’s where Instagram stepped in, offering brands and users more features to unleash their humour, be it through text-based posts or amusing images paired with clever captions.
This rise in humorous content-sharing gave birth to memes in India, with brands following meme marketing as part of their digital marketing.
But there’s a catch– humour isn’t universal; it’s highly subjective. If you are going into the funny side of social media, make sure it aligns with your brand image. If your brand maintains a serious corporate tone on other platforms, a sudden burst of humour on Twitter might leave your audience puzzled. Stay true to your identity!
It’s also crucial to stay away from offensive content, especially in today’s sensitive social media. Even well-intentioned participation in events like Pride Month or Black Lives Matter requires careful handling to avoid unintended consequences.
Check out how Burger King UK faced backlash after a tweet stating that ‘women belong in the kitchen.’ To rectify this, they replied to the same tweet, acknowledging only 20% of chefs are women and expressing their efforts to change the gender ratio.
In contrast, Zomato grabbed the chance to be humorous without offending. Two examples of humour, yet very different.
YES, WOMEN SHOULD BE IN THE KITCHEN
grabbing a belan to beat up everyone who says so
— zomato (@zomato) March 8, 2021
Now… let’s get into the ACTUAL funny stuff
Top 5 Humorous Indian Brands
Swiggy
These guys are killing it on the internet. Swiggy has no set rules for what it posts on Instagram or Twitter. They don’t have fixed hours of operation, set Instagram font colours, themes—nothing. And that’s what sets them apart; they are so random. They talk about everything: Spotify Wrapped, World Cup, festivals and even post animated content. They also venture into influencer marketing.
Recently, they brought in Karan Johar to advertise their Gourmet Film Festival, and OMG it was so dramatic!
Check out the reel here
Fevicol
Just think. How can you be creative with a simple thing like glue? But Fevicol could make any and every meme about glue. These folks doing social media marketing for Fevicol deserve a raise.
Mumbai police
We all know Mumbai Police’s social media handles are top-notch, seamlessly integrating social messages with memes. Their posts started getting noticed during lockdown when they started a viral campaign #TakingOnCorona!
Check out some of their standout posts here!
5 star
We all grew up watching those classic Ramesh Suresh ads for 5 Star on TV. Now, keeping up with the changing times, Cadbury 5 Star has found its spot on social media with its witty posts. They have crafted a whole series of entertaining posts.
Check out how they infuse fun into using their product and cleverly build on their tagline: ‘Eat 5 Star, do nothing.’
Tinder
Tinder always spots the latest trends and seizes the opportunity to share a quirky take on them. From cracking lame jokes to being witty or throwing in some tongue-in-cheek humour, Tinder keeps it entertaining.
Explore these humorous posts by Tinder!
and the grammy goes to: Chad (who held a guitar in 3 profile pics)
— Tinder (@Tinder) November 10, 2023
❌ saying why i’m mad at you
✅ you guessing why i’m mad at you without me giving you a single context clue
— Tinder (@Tinder) October 30, 2023
Pros and Cons of Adding Humour to Your Marketing
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Grabs attention | Might be offensive & backfire |
| Makes your brand relatable | Can come out as immature or rude |
| Higher recall for the brand | Can fall flat |
Tips to Add Humour To Your Social Media Marketing
Check your target audience
Every brand has a unique mix of target audiences across different age groups. Identify your primary audience and keep them in mind while creating your posts.
Hit the insight right
We have discussed this in a previous blog—it’s crucial. Tailor your humorous posts based on a universal human insight, and you can never go wrong.
Be witty
Wit never goes out of fashion. However, there’s a fine line between being witty and cringe. Infuse wit into your copies and captions. Consider outsourcing your digital marketing to a social media marketing company for fresh perspectives.
Keep it natural
Speak your brand’s language, no need to follow the crowd. Just because another brand followed Bhupinder Jogi doesn’t mean you should too. Being natural helps establish an authentic image in front of your customers.
In conclusion
Humour is a powerful tool across various advertising platforms. A funny post captures attention, leaves a lasting impression and ensures a remarkable return on your advertising investment.
If you are a brand in Gujarat, look no further for a digital marketing agency than Flora Fountain. With decades of experience in brainstorming, designing and sharing unforgettable social media content, we collaborate with you to guarantee your ads and posts stand out. Reach out to us today at hello@florafountain.com!
Frequently Asked Questions
The founder and partner of Flora Fountain, Shefali leads the Content and Technology divisions. A one-time engineer who started her career writing front-end code, she took a detour sometime during her 9 years in New York, studied journalism and started writing prose, poetry and sometimes jokes. She now has 15...