Traditional marketing just doesn't cut it anymore. Today's media is filled with Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, YouTube and the list goes on. Social media has become a playing field for witty comments, strategic ways to pull in customers without really "reeling them in" with salesy statuses, and promos etc.
We've even gone as far as, who can come up with the best Super Bowl Commercial? My love for football will be set aside for a moment to pose this question: Who really watches the Super Bowl to watch two teams that may or may not be part of their "favorite picks"? Or it is really watched for the hilarious, stupid or absolutely genius commercials that brands try to come up with every year?
Some may say that making witty comments on Twitter or Facebook is "cute" but the brands should really stick to marketing their brand, increasing awareness and posting information that is helpful to the customer or follower. Well, aren't the brands with the witty comments doing just that? They might not be hard selling the customer or even pushing a new product to be purchased - they are using humor and creativity to catch people's attention.
There are so many distractions in today's world that it is difficult enough for someone to remember what they had for breakfast this morning much less what new product so-and-so brand just came out with. More than likely the memorable brands have some pretty funny, creative social media accounts. Twitter, in my opinion, seems to be the ultimate platform for the funny, creative and outlandish people to come and play.
Where are the stupid comments made? Twitter. Where are the hilarious, viral comments made? Twitter. Where do people go for a minute by minute play of a scandal or response to one? Twitter. Do you see a trend here? I do. Twitter is the place to go for branding statements, contests, creative spins and so much more.
Now I have nothing against Facebook. I love Facebook. Don't we all? But Facebook has a very different persona if you will. Contests? Psh, yeahhh! "Click on this ad, go to this tab app, fill out this form, and voila! You have entered our contest! Want updates on the contest or promo? Like us and get all the updates here!" Well, about 25% of all the likes on your page will see your post after you click post. For now, for the sake of these examples, I want to focus on some Twitter accounts.
What are some of the brands that I find using social media to their benefit? Who do I find funny on Twitter? Let me show you:
Even larger brands such as Honda are jumping on the "witty tweets" bandwagon. See Honda's Vine video response to Oreo's annoucement of bringing Double Stuf Oreos back.
Still convinced that brands don't need to use humor to engage their followers? Honda had 25 retweets and 7 favorites from their response tweet to Oreo.
Now with a little humor and some thought behind a hashtag, Oreo has not only announced the return of one well loved product, Double Stuf Oreos, and brought in 199 retweets, 130 favorites and national attention from some larger brands. Not too shabby. Check out Oreo's Twitter feed some time. The feed is dripping with creativity and humor.
Want one more example of how Oreo has used Twitter to their advantage? Just a friendly tiff between two major brands. 
Funny, right? No harm here.
Come on now. Who hasn't brought food into a movie theatre before?
Very clever response by AMC Theatres. I applaud the person responsible for the twitter account for AMC Theatres. Great way to respond to a conversation sprinkled with humor and sarcasm. To many, hopefully, this was funny and it received lots of laughs.
All in all, what is social media without a few laughs, important news releasing tweets and some clever responses? Boring. That's what it would be, just plain boring. The point of social media? To engage your customers. Get them to understand your brand, the voice you want them to get and have fun with it. Is this the new way of marketing? If you aren't making your customers laugh, they might be a lost cause.
Do you prefer a brand that has a sense of humor with their brand or do you stick to the brands that keep it all business and no play?
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