Using popular culture to create social media campaigns can create many positive interactions with a brand but only if it’s done correctly. Yumna Kumran takes us through the considerations that need to be made prior to creating campaigns around this as well as some fun (and at times cringeworthy) examples.
Overview
Speaker’s name: Yumna Kumran
Job role and company: Senior Digital Creative Executive at Sleeping Giant Media
Links to Twitter profile: @narmuK_anmuY
Link to LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yumna-kumran-8b3582149/?originalSubdomain=uk
Link to the slides: bit.ly/YUMNABSEO
Yumna out! ? *mic drop* ?
Download the slides & talk notes on our website: https://t.co/AMdD2FXjQ6 ?
Thank you #BrightonSEO! It’s been GIANT ? pic.twitter.com/k8I3xvfMIg
— Sleeping Giant Media ? (@SleepingGiantM) September 13, 2019
What was the talk about?
Pop culture has been present since the times of the Penny Dreadful but as it exists today, via social media, it is a fairly new phenomenon.
When creating social media campaigns around pop culture, you should make an effort to be creative and authentic. You should aim to keep your finger on the pulse, invest in your audience and make sure that you do your research. An example of this is when Kumran recalled the failed campaign launched by Digiornos Pizza, when they commandeered #whyIstayed (created for domestic violence survivors) in praise of their pizza.
Misguided, Oreo and Innocent all provided positive examples of what you should do but Kumran also held insights on what not to do. Brands should not try to fit in where they aren’t needed, be overly salesy or sit on the sidelines. As well as this, brands should make sure that if they are going to contribute to pop culture discussions, that they should do so regularly.
Favourite quote
“There is nothing wrong with brands joining in on the conversation”
Potential impact on the industry
Investing time in the monitoring of pop culture can be valuable. This talk could encourage brands to have more conversations with their audience and extend past the traditional buyer-seller relationship.
Key takeaways
- Do your research (Don’t be like Digiornos Pizza)
- Only create social media campaigns with pop culture where your client’s product/service is relevant to the topic
- Be creative, timely and authentic
