From X Factor To "H" Factor!!

All of us have heard about the X factor but ‘H’ is new. Isn’t it. So what is it? Here H stands for “Humour”, “Hassi” as you would like to put it and the way people are using at every place shows its popularity. In facebook recently, I saw almost everyone had updates of Rajnikant jokes. Why so? Because they all want to attract others attention towards it and make them comment on the same.

“OMG!! What kind of ad is this” was my first reaction after seeing the recent advertisement of Idea which spoke of “No Abadi, No Barbadi” because people are “3G Pe Busy”(no population, no detriment since people are busy on 3G). Even my friends had lashed out rash comments on our very own facebook for the same brand.

Like it or not, this ad caught attention of people and good or bad but things were talked about it. What I want to assess is that such ads immediately gain a foothold amidst the competition since they are catchy or pitch in a different manner and at times, even weird. The crux is that customers would remember you and will have a better understanding of what you stand for, only and only if you come up with something that is out-of –box but hmm, not blown out of proportion.

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Now I speak of Social Media, you might think I brought the subject quite suddenly rather abruptly. But let me tell you guys that social media is not just a platform used by a company to promote their brands but in our recent training session they went on to say that it is an “industry”. This quite explains the scope of social media in the corporate sector. Social media is being used by students, professionals, amateurs, (off late, even politicians I heard) and organizations such that the corporations seeing its booming growth wants to cash on the wider range of people to whom they can connect to and even promote their brands.

But if you think that by simply giving updates can help to reach that vast diversified group of people, then sorry to interrupt your blossoming thoughts you have to come up with something “different” since that will help to grab people’s eyeballs and soon the brand becomes the topic of the town. One such distinct way is to inculcate humor in your social media. Using funny anecdotes in your status update or giving a humorous touch to your description of the product can totally bring the game on your side.

In the examples given, the Apple and Airtel are more informative and the ones apart from the apple’s loyal customer base might not be interested in the content. But Vodafone’s ZooZoo is just ‘so cute’ as my little sister says so and the typical comparison with the famous South Indian actor Rajnikant, all the more tickles our funny bone. Even MTV’s amusing update instantly connects with the youth. One of them was "QUESTION: What’s the real reason behind global warming? ANSWER: HOT girls grinding to sexy moves on the dance floor!".

Humorous updates tweeted on social networking sites will automatically generate attention and also create awareness of the brand. It will attract comments from people and help the company to know where they falter. I found that the ones which were humorous updates had more comments, likes or tweets as compared to others.

Humor is something which can make or break your brand. Thus, special care should be taken while using this tool especially in the social media. There are certain things to be kept in mind while using this strategy otherwise it will have a snowball effect.

Firstly, there are companies which only blabber about their products and services in social media sites and in the end get reactions like “duh” and “boring”. Therefore, the boring content needs to be revived by using humor and make the topic more interesting. If your social media strategy is boring, if your content is boring, you will bore everyone in the social mediasphere. Secondly, using humor may sound exciting but the company needs to take special care in using the correct form of humor. Humor may not work in categories like condoms, sanitary napkins as these products need to explain the benefits of the product more clearly.

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Thirdly, Wit used should be intelligent. They should be able to outsmart the customers and should be tweeted at the right time. One such ad which I have always liked for its wittiness is Naukri.com which even got rave comments in facebook.

Fourthly, the strong creative idea should be carefully blended with subtle humor. Example of Fevicol where the powerful idea with humor helps in beating the clutter or Saint Gobain glass is another wonderful example of how humor has been used subtly. The restaurant advertisement (where the water is thrown) created by the company is so refreshing that one never gets bored of viewing it. Also, humorous photographs can be used in social medium to create a favorable impression.

Lastly, humor is no rocket science. Here’s the thing: You don’t have to understand social media. It comes naturally and those who consider themselves as “social media rockstars” really don’t get it. Nobody gets it, not really, not yet. It’s evolving and requires trial and error method. As rightly said today’s expert is tomorrow’s idiot.

Humor should be used tactfully by a company and tap different avenues in social media and broaden their scope. If you are using it do remember the above given tips, they will definitely help you go a long way. So, bring on the funny side of your company and just see the effect it will have on the public.