Usually when we talk about a good social media presence, we mean a company that expands its brand’s presence online, builds community, and responds quickly and thoroughly to online crises. But sometimes, brands decide to do more than that – they want their social media presence to be something people talk about, something people are invested in, even if they don’t start out as customers. And some brands decide, “What the hell!” and turn their social media accounts into sheer insanity. Today, we’re going to talk about that last group.
Denny’s
When most people think of Denny’s, they look back to college – late nights eating pancakes and bacon after the party has ended. Or they think of their grandparents enjoying a Grand Slam with their Senior Citizen’s discount. So you’d think that Denny’s social media accounts would reflect that, right? Maybe some discount codes, maybe (if they’re feeling risque) a joke about greasy food and hangovers. But no, that’s not the direction Denny’s went. Instead, they went totally insane. Someone working at Denny’s has clearly spent a lot of time on Tumblr, because there blog is a perfect representation of what Tumblr is all about. Crazy GIFs (there’s a cyclist whose tires are French toast), inside jokes (when a recent fan convention, DashCon, very publicly failed, Denny’s said that everyone was welcome at their convention, DenCon), and weird text posts that make you wonder what the author was thinking (I’ll just leave this here). You’d think that weirdness would drive people away, but no – it’s working. Denny’s Facebook page has over 800,000 fans, they have over 102K Twitter followers, and their Tumblr posts get reblogged across the platform. It helps that nothing ever feels forced – their social media team has figured out the right balance between wacky and just plain clever. You might roll your eyes at some of their posts, but you’ll probably be smiling while you do it. And if that smile gets you to retweet, reblog, or Like the post, then they succeeded, didn’t they?
Waterstones Oxford Street
Unlike Denny’s, American audiences are probably not familiar with Waterstones, a UK-based bookstore. But everyone can appreciate a good Twitter feed, and that’s just what Waterstones provides. While their official Twitter account,@WaterstonesOxf, is full of news, book signings, and new releases, it is their other Twitter account that gets all the attention. Officially sanctioned and run by a Waterstones bookseller, the Waterstones Twitter account is full of non-sequiturs, plugs for books in general (some tweets just say BOOKS over and over) and surreal short stories about occurrences in the shop. My personal favorite has Cthulhu coming in and asking for Italo Calvino’s seminal work, If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler. Watersones then takes it one step farther and shares these adventures on Storify, allowing people to read through the stories in order, even if they missed them on Twitter. With 68.2K followers on Twitter and numerous articles about the account, clearly they’re doing something right.
Old Spice
I’m going to assume that everyone is familiar with the Old Spice commercials, especially those featuring Isaiah Mustafa. Those commercials are a national treasure, and Old Spice has done a great job with the weird, and weirdly effective, advertisements. Luckily for us, their Twitter account is just as odd and compelling. They rely heavily on audience participation, hosting Q&A sessions with ridiculous answers, sharing fan photos, and retweeting funny comments. Few of their tweets have anything to do with their product. Those that do are usually links to a newly released commercial in their series. Speaking of videos, their YouTube channel is also a gem. They’ve created playlists for all their commercial series – so whether you want to watch a robot overcome odor or a boy use Old Spice Body Wash to become a man, they’re got the story for you. Just like the brands above, their irreverence is working. They have over 220K followers on Twitter, and over 400K subscribers on YouTube. For a channel that isn’t a web series or a music artist, that number is ludicrously high.
Most brands obviously don’t take this approach to social media, and for most of them that’s a good call. It’s difficult to maintain that irreverent and whimsical voice without coming across as trying too hard or making fun of your audience. But those that can maintain that delicate balance see their hard work pay off. After all, every Retweet, Reblog, and Share is (practically) free advertising, and gets your message seen by even more people. And who doesn’t want that?
Image Credit: Aaron Fulkerson