And you thought you have to be all serious when it comes to copywriting.
Humor is a powerful marketing tool. And, it’s a fantastic way to connect with your audience.
But how can you be sure you are using humor the right way?
First, don’t worry. The good news is you don’t need to be funny to be a successful copywriter.
There aren’t many companies that are looking for humor in their copy, so you’re good.
What’s important for you as a copywriter is the capacity to create benefit-driven copy and the ability to connect with your target audience – to bring your company to success through your copy.
On the other hand, if you want to write funny copy, you should focus on writing ‘clever and enjoyable’ funny copy. Otherwise, you may fail in engaging with your audience. And you’ll do more harm than good.
Now let’s focus on the bright side of the story.
Humor can be a really great way to reveal the story behind your brand – basically, the human side of your brand. If you manage to do that with some clever humor, people will enjoy getting to know you while also having a good laugh on the side.
Who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh?
So, all in all, adding humor to your social media strategy can be an excellent way to get your reader’s attention. Here’s how you can do it:
Tips On Using Humor In Your Copy
Knowing Your Audience Is Everything
The whole point of using humor in your copy is to engage with your audience.
For that to happen, you need to really get to know your audience. Know what makes them react. Once you know this, you’ll know what kind of humor will help them engage with you. And keep in mind, funny content can go viral fast. It makes people laugh and feel good, which in turn makes them engage.
A great advantage of humorous copy on social media is the instant feedback. The likes and replies, as well as the RTs (short for retweet) on Twitter, will let you know if the audience is into it or not. Knowing what your audience is into, will help with future fun posts.
Choose Your Jokes Wisely
Avoid controversial topics and jokes in bad taste. Instead of being funny and engage your readers, you’ll end up being perceived as insensitive and lose some of your target audience. It’s too risky and it’s not worth it. So, keep things clean.
Avoid Outright Offensive Humor
Clever, easy-to-understand and family-friendly humor, yes yes yes… crude or offensive humor, no no no. Why? Well, if you use the latter, it will most likely turn off your audience unless you are already a brand that is known for generally stepping over the line. If you aren’t in that category, then clever, easy-to-understand humor is the right way for you.
Businesses that can – on a regular basis – create funny content that humanizes their brands, will most likely attract attention, increase prospects, and boost their profit.
So, don’t offend – be sensitive to race, gender, and culture.
Deflect Attention Through Humor
Even if you design your social media posts to market a product or service, you should sometimes shift the focus point from your product to something else you may have found interesting and attention-grabbing – you can do that by using humorous copy. This almost always drives engagement with your audience. The secret is to know what would make your target audience enjoy the fun you are sharing.
You know, there are ways to market your products even without constantly screaming: Buy our products!!!!
Stay Relevant To Your Brand
Regardless of the funny copy you may post on your social media platforms, remain true to your brand. How? By staying consistent and relevant. If you wander off too far from the image your brand projects, you can end up having even the funniest content fail.
Create A Call To Action (CTA)
Don’t know how to create a strong call to action? How about using humor?
What you want to achieve through your fun copy isn’t just getting an emotional response from your readers, but also getting engagement. After all, that’s the purpose of using humor in the first place, isn’t it?
Get your audience to come back for more – and good humor can help you do just that!
Funny Can Be Hard
When all else fails, don’t hesitate to hire a funny person. What I mean by that, obviously, is to hire a professional copywriter who can add humor in your content. And does it well.
Additionally, an emotional appeal (like fun and laughter) will surely make your brand stand out from the millions of other companies out there focused on stuffing their social platforms with mostly self-promotion.
But, even if you come up with the funniest, best copy ever, don’t be surprised if not everyone will laugh or enjoy it on the same level as it was written. Some have a good sense of humor, while others don’t.
However, social channels welcome funny copy as a way for brands to engage audiences. So, ready to be funny? Funny ha-ha, or…
An easy way to help with the fun part is using: gifs/memes/funny videos.
There are some great, funny GIFs out there. Look for the ones that perfectly represent the message you are trying to send to your audience.
Do you like memes? Well, if your audience is into them as well, you could make their day with some funny memes.
Make sure the copy you’ll write creates context to your image, and you are good to go.
As for the funny videos, you could share from other sources (by mentioning the source in your post) or you could make your very own fun video.
You can always find a few TikToks that represent your message and embed them into your post.
Wrap Up
So, in conclusion, humor is like a superpower when it comes to copywriting. It’s like a secret weapon that can help you connect with your audience and stand out in a sea of boring, yawn-inducing copy. But, like any superpower, it should be used wisely. You don’t want to force it, or you might end up looking like a clown (and not the cool, Stephen King variety).
Adding humor to your social media strategy is a great way to grab your readers’ attention, and the instant feedback you get can make you feel like a stand-up comedian killing it on stage. Plus, when you manage to make your audience laugh, they are more likely to stick around and engage with your brand.
So, if you want to add a bit of fun to your copy, don’t be afraid to use GIFs, memes, or funny videos. Just make sure that your copy creates context for the visual element, or you might end up looking like someone who didn’t quite get the joke.
Remember, with great humor comes great responsibility. So, use it wisely, and who knows, you might just become the next copywriting superhero!
