Content Marketing Tip: A Little LOL Never Hurt Nobody

When it comes to content marketing, marketers often face the challenge of making marketing material funny. Why? Because people like to LOL and if you can make them laugh, a lot of times you end up winning.

But, the problem is that most marketers really just aren’t inherently that funny – or at least don’t know how to use the right kind of humor to create a successful marketing campaign that gets approval and achieves bottom line business goals. Oh, and one that makes people smile.

So, what is a marketer to do?

There are definitely ways to go about infusing humor into content and some lessons to be learned from marketing geniuses/comedians such as Tim Washer and Stacey Minero, and a business who is currently “killing” it – Under Armour.

Tim Washer, a content marketing mastermind at Cisco who is a famed comedian and comedy writer, has studied under the famed Amy Poehler and shows his funny side on shows such as Last Week Tonight with Jamie Oliver. So to say the least, this guy knows what he’s talking about.

At NewsCred’s Content Marketing Summit 2014, Washer presented and said this key phrase: “Humor evokes positive emotion, cuts through the noise, demonstrates authenticity, and redeems.” With that in mind, Washer advised marketers who want to use humor in their marketing to hire a comedy writer or comedian, because, “if you wanted to develop a website, you’d hire a developer, right?” Basically, he is saying that if you don’t have the skillset to create humorous material, go find and hire someone who does so you know you will get it right.

Stacy Minero, head of content planning at Twitter, also presented at the same conference and used the real-time draw of Twitter to discuss capitalizing on trigger moments that naturally happen and are amplified via the media. Although Kim Kardashian’s bare bottom hadn’t hit the Twitter scene [in its big way] quite yet, Minero did mention that big moments are bound to happen, especially during live events such as sports games and matches (just think about the infamous, and not-so-funny, but timely Oreos tweet from the SuperBowl). Minero’s advice is to “plan the spontaneous” and be ready to respond in real-time (maybe via Twitter) when an opportunity to show humor pops up.

As a company, Under Armour has worked to build their brand through some very interesting moves in the past few years (acquiring MapMyFitness business, changing their product line to focus on women’s fashion and wearables, etc.). Under Armour has worked to appeal to the active audience everywhere and a recent partnership with Funny or Die resulted in this video featuring Tom Brady and a few friendly jabs about his accent. With a brand like Under Armour and its focus on weekend warrior and hardcore athlete, their brand lends itself to embracing funny content – and they’re doing it well.

So what if you aren’t a comedian, don’t have one at your disposal, and your company may not want to inject humor? Our advice: Don’t do it. Although almost every brand can benefit from humor and can absolutely be funny, if you aren’t prepared for the challenge, avoid falling flat and hit the humor when the time is right.

Content Marketing Tip: A Little LOL Never Hurt Nobody