With over 4 million followers on TikTok and 300k on Instagram, Emily Zugay’s dry humor and satirical logo redesigns are beloved by many. When you go to the comments and see huge brands like Adobe, McDonald’s, the NFL, and Arizona Tea asking for logos, it is obvious that they are just trying to get in on the virality of her videos.
Virality and Branding
Viral social media can be huge for a brand – increasing exposure in a unique, extremely cost-effective way. Especially for brands that want to evolve quickly with younger audiences, social media is huge.
The key to successful virality in social media marketing lies in creating genuine resonance with the target audience. Here are a few cases:
1. McDonald’s: Grimace Shake and Travis Scott Meal: These campaigns generated immense user engagement and brand recall. The Grimace Shake, in particular, inspired hilarious user-generated content that went viral, making people curious to try it out themselves. The Travis Scott meal got every die-hard fan (millions of them) to try the meal.
2. Popeyes vs. Chick-fil-A: The viral debate led to a nationwide frenzy, with many fast-food chains jumping on the chicken sandwich bandwagon. This not only boosted sales but also sparked significant online conversations, keeping both brands in the spotlight.
3. Spotify Wrapped: This annual viral sensation perfectly targets Spotify users by reflecting their individual music tastes. It encourages users to share personalized summaries, resulting in highly targeted messaging and widespread free promotion for Spotify.
4. Wendy’s Twitter: While Wendy’s Twitter account has its moments of humor, it often falls into the trap of trying too hard to be relatable. This can lead to short-lived spikes in engagement without fostering a long-term connection with the brand.
The Pitfalls of Forced Virality
Unsuccessful attempts at viral social media marketing comes off as cheesy. Wendy’s Twitter, for example, has some funny tweets but overall, they are trying too hard to be ‘relatable’. It may increase engagement with their page for a bit, but once the shock value wears off, they’re stuck with an account full of likes from people who don’t care about Wendy’s food.
Emily’s videos, however funny they are, are similar to Wendy’s Twitter in that way. They attract some attention, but there’s nothing connecting the consumer to the brand through them. People watch her videos for her. I would bet the NFL gained 0 viewers out of the 40 million people who saw Emily’s video. The NFL’s brand and viewers have nothing to do with cute, dry, millennial humor.
The Misconception of Social Media Marketing
If you asked random non-marketers, they would probably say that the goal of marketing is going viral and getting millions of views. Yes, exposure can be nice, but exposure means nothing when it doesn’t lead to either sales or developing a connection with the consumer to the brand.
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