Traditional Big Brands: Do Some Fun Content

Listen, I’m not calling you out. But hear me out. Social media is meant to be social— which means the end goal is to incite two-way engagement on the platform. Get some conversation going.

When I talk about “Traditional Big Brands”, I’m referring to corporate, finance, law, education— industries or sectors where you might assume you should only be sharing educational content because they are known to be serious. Now, it’s important to have a mix of educational, fun, and sales-type content— and how you determine the best mix is a rabbit-hole topic for a future article.

How you attract a new audience has to do with sharing who YOU are (or the business)— what you’re all about and a side of you that’s not just the business. I’ve probably said this a million times but only 20% of your content (arguably even less) should be selling. What you should be sharing is the culture, how you do things, and what you believe in. Social media is like the modern day “vibe check”.

Why should you throw some entertainment into the mix, and how do you do that while keeping things professional?

1) Make people want to work with with and for you

The easiest way to show company culture on LinkedIn , for example, is taking the audience on a office tour. Show everyone what the snack stash looks like, or the shiny new foosball table. Or maybe you do a beer tasting happy hour regularly (when I worked at corporate, we had a weekly beer-tasting get-together).

Think of social media where you can show off what your company offers, besides pay. When someone applies for a job, they’re not simply looking for a paycheck. A lot of times, we want to enjoy and get purpose out of what we do. I do a ton of research on products by looking at videos or photos that buyers have posted to get an actual feel of them that’s not all just flashy, well-posed product shoots. Job applicants are doing research on YOU on social media, especially if they’re Gen Z.

Here’s a fun example from a credit union that shows you can even educate and be fun at the same time.

2) Humanizes you

What grows the most authentic audience is putting your real self out there. On a blog, sharing the data, how you’ve achieved your Big Hairy Audacious Goals, or how you completed all the promised deliverables to a client makes sense.

But on social media, if that’s all what you talk about— in “business speak”— it’s going to go over heads. Or people will keep on scrolling.

Are you a law firm that loves your employees dogs? Feature them, and maybe even give them cute cheeky names such as “The defendant” or “The Prosecutor”— depending on which side they would be on.

Or at a tech company, showcase an employee who volunteer saves hikers who get trapped on mountains (I had a colleague in corporate who did this).

People support people, so be a person behind the business.

3) Support something bigger than you

The big message here is community. When you have community support, you’re stronger. How are you volunteering, whether it’s to help the unhoused or improve green space by cleaning up?

You’ll find that many followers will follow just because they appreciate and resonate with the good things you're doing in the community. A post could be a fun day cleaning up a local beach or gathering donations to provide for the underserved in the community that you share on Meta Facebook or Instagram . It’s even better if you can align the volunteer service to your mission or values.

Another traditional industry I haven’t brought up yet but could definitely benefit from this are churches. There are so many funny memes about faith that are actually pretty wholesome too, and shows that you’re not stuck in the medieval ages. I thought it was refreshing when I saw a pastor reposting memes that they could laugh and even relate to them. It’s definitely how you can bring in a younger crowd.

4) Involves Others

Be social! One of my favorite posts I’ve seen recently was from my alma mater the 美国华盛顿大学 , where they shared a lovely scene of a student proposing to his girlfriend under the cherry blossoms (if you’re in Seattle, go to the quad in March/April, the cherry blossoms won’t disappoint). Not only did it humanize the university, but it involved other members of the community that they could tag in the post.

The more people that you actively involve in your posts, or collaborate with, the wider the audience reach you have. You’ll tap into their audience as well, and build relationships to work together more in the future as well.

5) Makes someone’s day brighter

The world can get pretty dark and grim, and social media is an escape for many of us. While I don’t necessarily think of going to a corporate account to feel “uplifted”, I think it does count for something if you can be a little ray of sunshine on the feed (as long as it aligns with your brand).

This could be sharing quotes on how to have a flourishing business, it’s important to be creative, forward-looking, and supportive of your employees. It could be a tad more work related where you show videos of different team working together in harmony instead of being in competition.

If you do the same thing as every other business, you’ll be boring and tired. Why would I follow you, then? Or why should I if it's same old, same old?

Next time I’ll talk about why educational content is important, even when you might think it’s obvious that you’re educating by just posting content (though simply putting content out there without a strategy won’t get you too far ??).

Happy Content Creating!

Leah

P.S. I do not necessarily endorse and was not sponsored to mention any of the businesses I showed as examples. They are just examples to prove a point.

Hey, my name is Leah! I own and run Jar of Stars Creative, my social media marketing business. I've crafted this newsletter guide to equip:

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