#humorous content

In internet culture’s vast and ever-changing landscape, certain phenomena capture the public’s imagination and become iconic. One such phenomenon is the “Overly Attached Girlfriend” meme. This meme, which emerged from a single image, became a staple of internet humor, symbolizing a blend of comedy, relatable relationship dynamics, and the power of viral content. Origins The “Overly Attached…

Government agencies are not widely known for their sense of humor and relatability, but the TSA is hoping using the former can increase the latter via their Instagram account. Per Digiday:

“We are trying to be professional, but we have a very dry sense of humor at times,” said Bob Burns, social media lead for the TSA. “I choose the best pictures that are not only entertaining but also educational. Sometimes I post quirky photos to keep the conversation going.”

This is an excellent content strategy for Instagram that proves any brand can find a sense of humor that still reflects their brand voice and taps into a wider audience than might be expected with that effort. Burns also smartly includes service dogs that come through TSA, tapping into the large and highly engaged dog-loving community on the platform through hashtags like #DogsofInstagram: 

Aside from increasing the relatability of the TSA, Burns also works to increase the usefulness of the account to its followers:

“In July of this year, he further started posting screenshots from AskTSA, a customer service program on Twitter and Messenger that was designed to answer a travel question about a certain item. AskTSA takes an average of between 300 and 600 inquiries every day.”

As for the future, it looks like Burns is still planning a video content strategy for the TSA on Instagram, but it seems like they could definitely benefit from some service dog Stories as well as AskTSA video Q&As.

Image source: The Found Animals Foundation.

Friday Reads | A quick collection of the best things we’ve been reading recently. This week it’s short and sweet and all about how brands can be funny. 

Nancy Lazarus covers 8 Ways for Brands to Deliver Humorous Content (Part1) 

And 8 More Ways for Brands to Deliver Humorous Content (Part 2), both for PRNewser 

The bottom line? You need to know your audience (surprise!): 

“The key is creating jokes that go viral for the right reasons. But since humor is subjective, there are no foolproof formulas.”