Social media is a great way to connect with customers on all kinds of levels – through posting statuses about what the company’s doing, planning, and even having a little fun with consumers.

Generally people are on Twitter or Facebook, they share videos, pictures, and funny thoughts.

This doesn’t have to be just for them, though – companies and corporations can get in on the fun, to and make themselves more “real” to their consumer base. However, using humor to spice up a social media site is a risk, and there are some “dos and don’ts” that are important for companies to follow if they want to reach a big audience. Below are few tips and tricks to making the most of humor in social media

Why humor?

It’s no surprise that using humor in advertising is an effective way to connect with your audience and improve your brand or company, but what about using it for social media?

Adding humor to your social media strategy can be a great way to get people’s attention.

If you appeal to your audience emotionally, you’ll have a much better chance that they will further engage with your brand or product. Doing so will help your customers remember you, share your content and have a better understanding of what you stand for.

Finally, an emotional appeal differentiates you from the millions of other companies out there bombarding their social channels with nothing but self-promotion.

If you’re not “humorizing” your brand, product or business, then you might be missing out on a ton of unseen potential.

Here are few tips to help you get started:

Every Day situations joke

A simple formula for humor is to use everyday situations and joke about  it, pick up situations that occur at work, home or in general. Apply this type of thinking to your brand, product or company.

All in Good Taste

Avoid being crass, using profanity (obviously), or being insensitive to a particular world event. Keep political humor out of the conversation. Though these might seem obvious, sometimes it’s easy to make a flub that will cost customers.

For example, earlier this year, fashion designer Kenneth Cole tried to be funny but instead won the award for most insensitive tweet of the year. The offending tweet was eventually removed entirely from Cole’s feed, and a statement about the incident was posted on his Facebook fan page.

Oftentimes, it is much easier to avoid this kind of mistake altogether rather than having to apologize for it later and attempting to save face.

Wittiness is terribly underrated

Twitter and Facebook updates can go a long way with the right quip. Use your wittiness to compete against big budgets.  Wit is mightier than the ad dollar.

Self-Parodies Work

While making fun of others and parodying their products and services can come across as mean mud-slinging, audiences love when a brand makes fun of itself. Sometimes it’s worth the risk to be a little goofy with one’s own product.

Naturally, make sure the parody doesn’t go overboard to the point where people are replying, “This is a stupid product” Have fun with it, and know when to stop. Because social media is instantaneous, something that’s put out there can go viral in (literally) seconds – make sure it’s going viral for a positive reason.

Be genuine, and stick to wit and observational humor, keeping it light and clean in order to have fun with audiences and avoid alienating anyone. Attracting new customers is often the goal of social media. To do so, its best practice to avoid spam, and follow the above tips for an interactive, “real” experience with consumers.

Being funny is a risk; some people might not appreciate your company’s brand of humor. Business owners need to observe their target audience to make sure humor fits.

The target market must always be considered. Running tests and focus groups to gather feedback is always a great idea. Try using an online survey to test your attempt at humor against an internal audience before you send it out. Comedy is subjective so don’t expect to please everyone.

What do you think? If you’re using humor with your social media, let us know how it’s working for you. Leave your comments in the box below.

With extracts from http://www.dreamgrow.com

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com