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If you’re wondering what the heck you just read, you’re not alone. Posts like this litter the social media accounts of the fast-food chain Wendy’s.
The style of posting is eerily reminiscent of a 5-year-old who got hold of their mom’s iPhone and started posting random nonsense to her social accounts. It ranges between utter gibberish and juvenile jib-jabbing with other brands and customers.
Wendy’s isn’t the only brand embracing this style of engagement. Ryan Air, Duo Lingo, and Innocent Drinks have gotten in on the game as well.
Some organizations have gone all in on this unhinged trend of posting to their socials in their quest to become more relatable to their target audiences. At least that’s the theory behind this latest social media craze.
Social media managers have mixed feelings about the risky marketing strategy. Some embrace it while others caution their clients to think twice before going all-in.
Making the (social media) connection
Brands taking on a human persona isn’t a novel concept. Social media managers for brands like Denny’s and Wendy’s hit the social media scene in the early 2000s with some quirky posts designed to ditch corporate speak in favor of a more down-to-earth persona.
However, those posts didn’t rise to the level of derangement seen on some of those same accounts today.
So, why the shift?
In one word: engagement.
The goal is to make themselves more relatable to their core audience. Making a connection to build a strong relationship is the driving force that leads brands to shout in all caps and insult those who dare interact with them on their social feeds.
Ivory Bandoh, a social media manager and image consultant for B2B and SaaS brands, said the trend started picking up in 2020. “The pandemic hit, and (social media) became like the Wild, Wild, West,” she said. “People weren’t going into stores or using products physically, so the main place to get interaction with brands was online.”
Differences in the market forced brands to find new and innovative ways to connect with – and entertain – their audiences. Unhinged posts were more about staying top of mind than converting traffic to sales. The wilder, the better.
“At that point, all bets were off,” said Bandoh.
Targeting the right market
Kristina Sanderson, founder and principal strategist at Clique Marketing, said the unhinged trend opened the door to natural conversation between brands and their followers on social media. “There was never that sort of two-way communication between brands and consumers before,” she said.
Younger generations, particularly Gen Z and Gen Alpha, become loyal to organizations that embrace this style. The more disturbed, the better. A quick stop by the comment sections of Wendy’s, Duo Lingo’s, and Ryan Air’s social media accounts confirm it.
“Younger generations want to feel that connection,” she said. “They don’t trust and follow brands just because they’re legacy brands. It’s a question of buy-in and how do you get that from a generation that isn’t going to inherently give you that same respect that an older generation might.”
Unfortunately, some organizations insist on this style of social media marketing, even when it doesn’t fit their target audience, said Bandoh.
“The main issue I’m starting to see is this isn’t a trend anymore,” she said. “It’s now a baseline or norm for social media marketing, and that’s where I kind of red flag it. One trend or type of social media strategy is not a blanket. It cannot work for every single type of industry or brand.”
Kaiya Williams, a gravitational brand strategist with KAW Management Group, said there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. She suggests companies feel it out a bit more to decide what it means to speak this language and how to get it to convert. They must ask themselves if they’re talking to the people who are buying their products. Most of all, they must make sure they’re staying true to their brand voice.
“Companies like Ryan Air have done a phenomenal job with their content,” she said. “The way they’ve connected and inserted themselves into relevant cultural happenings is a great integration and all very much in line with their brand messaging and tone of voice.”
The rules of unhinged trend club
What happens in unhinged trend club doesn’t stay in unhinged trend club. It’s broadcast to the far reaches of the internet, where it lives on forever.
As anyone who has ever posted something they later regretted can attest, there’s no such thing as deleting content from the internet. Search engines index it. People take screenshots of it. Any blunder you make with your brand’s social media accounts lives in infamy.
That’s part of what makes this method of posting such a risk. The other issue is there’s not much agreement on how far is too far.
There’s little rhyme or reason to how social media managers exploit the unhinged social media method. Someone is always pushing the envelope. In the fall of 2022, Tampax’s official Twitter account went viral for an unhinged tweet that used a play on words about slipping into a woman’s DMs. The cheeky tweet resonated with some consumers while offending others.
Tampax doubled down on their right to post the tweet before finally deleting it after a barrage of unfavorable comments from consumers. However, the post in question was screen-grabbed by more than a few people who have reposted it relentlessly.
“I don’t know that the execution of this unhinged approach is solid across the board,” said Williams. “The approach of making your brand – especially multi-million-dollar organizations – more approachable and truly connecting with the target market is extremely valuable. As it evolves, they need to work out a few of the kinks.”
Crossing the line
There’s a fine line between relatable and offensive. It’s a distinction that’s becoming murkier the longer the unhinged trend continues.
Tampax learned that lesson the hard way. The brand hasn’t posted to its Facebook or Twitter accounts since the DMs debacle. Instead, their social team focuses on making content for Instagram and TikTok, which doesn’t embrace the unhinged style. Posts there are fun yet informative.
Does that mean Tampax learned its lesson? We’ll never know. They didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Brands that take the leap and cross a line must accept responsibility for their actions, said Williams. “It can be as simple as saying you missed the mark, and it wasn’t meant to be offensive. Then, move from there into solutions on how you’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Bandoh agreed, noting that brands make mistakes and deserve to be forgiven. “They deserve an opportunity to learn and grow from the mistake,” she said. “But let’s be real. The likelihood of them being able to do it depends on the nature of the offense. It depends on what you did, how long you let it go before you realized it was a bad move, and how long it takes people to overlook it and give you another chance.”
The internet has selective outrage when it comes to these kinds of missteps, Bandoh said. She recounted an instance with a well-known social media manager who used a brand’s account to jump into conversations on other social accounts using an unhinged style of posting. It wasn’t received well by others. The person apologized for their actions and seemed to recover quickly from the debacle.
Brands that find themselves the victims of unhinged posts from other brands have options for handling it. Bandoh said the best approach is to ignore it. “If it’s so unhinged it needs to be hidden or removed, then do it.”
Sanderson warned brands that go down the rabbit hole of unhinged posting and have it go badly can end up with a PR nightmare on their hands. “At that point, you’ll need someone to help with crisis management and rebuild what you’ve broken,” she said. “There’s no cheap way to do that.”
As a rule, Sanderson tells her clients if they’re not willing to 1000% stand behind the things they’re saying in social media spaces, then they should avoid doing it at all. “Run away, and run away fast,” she warned. “Find another way to communicate your vision to your community.”
Building a box and staying in it
Bandoh said she’s not afraid to speak up when clients want to try this trend and she knows it’s not a good fit for them. “I’m cool if those brands do it because it works for them or their audience,” she said. “But when it starts to become the blanket approach to doing social media marketing, that’s where I draw the line.”
Sanderson said she has similar conversations with her clients. She has represented brands that thought they were ready for the unhinged style, only to discover they weren’t ready when it got down to the brass tax. “In those cases, I tell clients that we’re going to build a box and then stay in it.”
An unhinged voice isn’t the only way to connect with your audience, said Williams. “Authenticity is the key to connecting with your target audience,” she said. “The cold, corporate approach doesn’t translate with most audiences today. Sometimes, brands just need to be a little less polished so they can resonate with people.”
Entertaining, connecting, and informing can be fun without going over the edge. Working with a social media strategist can help brands find the right tone of voice to resonate with their customers, said Williams.
When it comes right down to it, brands must decide if they want to use this tone of voice because it’s trendy, or because it has the potential of boosting engagement with their target audience.
“Don’t do it because it’s trendy,” said Sanderson. “Do it because it’s something that will resonate with your target customer base.”
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