Attempts to present a product or service with funny posts on commercial pages have recently increased in the Armenian territory of social networks. Communication seems to have gone beyond the accepted stereotypes, become relaxed and intimate. If in the past such attempts were few and daring, now they are more widespread.

The time for tidy texts has passed, now joking, creative tricks and meme language have become more important for reaching the audience, communicating, and attracting new followers. And there are many use cases in this context especially from various successful and supermassive international projects – movies, TV series, songs, etc.

Media.am has singled out several examples.

We spoke with Anahit Opyan, head of Prodigi’s SMM department, about this marketing behavior to find out why the amount of humor in internet advertising is increasing.

Anahit says that the use of humorous elements in advertising is not new. “Yes, internet users spread humorous posts quickly and virally, but there is an important nuance here, which brands often do not take into account. The distributors sometimes react to the publication, then they do not even remember which brand used it.”

According to her, although people like such content, it may not be effective from an advertising point of view. And the question is to what extent the use of humor is consistent and purposeful in the case of a specific product or service.

“Now comical content is trendy on the Internet. For example, one of the most common uses of Facebook is situational publishing, the main guarantee of which is the operative and brand-focused response,” she said.

And added that successful comedic posts can be obtained if you have serious marketing, creative and digital experience. “Personal qualities (how funny you are) are not enough to create a successful marketing humor post. Professionals often adapt humor from other fields for their business, but amusing communication requires a serious professional base, taking into account all the possible risks.”

Anahit says that if the specialist looks at the joke through the eyes of their follower and as a result of analysis understands that the follower would like it, then in all probability, it will be so.

“Humor works in the opposite way in all those situations when whatever a specialist likes is published instead of what the followers do, and often it offends or repels the audience.”

Prodigi’s work experience outside of Armenia shows that what is happening in the local market is more related to changing global marketing trends.

“The consumer is at the center of all marketing activities and brands have a task to create added value for the consumer, without which it is impossible to survive in the digital sphere. Humor helps to convey the necessary information in a faster and easier way,” she added.

The company’s experience, both local and foreign, shows that the majority of customers from different countries are ready for creative marketing campaigns, if it is professionally justified.

According to Anahit, here it is important to understand the peculiarities of the company’s activity and before creating a digital marketing strategy, to take into account what concrete steps the results will have for the given business.

In addition to amusing posts and photos, commercial pages also use funny gifs in comments, further emphasizing their popularity.

In this way, the business on the Internet communicates with people, understands their needs, mood, and attitude towards it. Which is something it cannot do on other media platforms – in the case of external, radio, or television advertising.

Gayane Asryan