by By Seth Thompson
Since the inception of social, brands have been toying with ways to use it to their advantage. Initially, brands used these platforms to share information while trying to insert as little personality as possible. While there were people behind these accounts, the accounts functioned as if there was a robot behind the page.
It wasn’t until the fast food chain, Wendy’s, in January of 2017 began to post “relatable” on Twitter. It was here when the account started to use notably witty language, clearly trying to come across as more human as opposed to the robotic tone every other account was using at the time.
The post came in response to a user asking how they can keep their beef cold while never freezing it, to which the Wendy’s official account replied, “Where do you store cold things that aren’t frozen? I’ll wait.”
This stark tonal shift from the robotic tone Wendy’s had always used in the past, on top of the fact no brand had ever spoken like this online was instantly attention grabbing.
Wendy’s was a true pioneer on this front, as this was very quickly shown to be an effective strategy. People instantly recognized that this was very far out of the norm for corporate social media accounts which got Wendy’s a lot of news coverage at this time.
Before this move, it was almost seen as an unwritten rule—possibly a written rule for the employees running the accounts—to not show there was a human behind the account. It was always an available option, but nobody tried until this.
It didn’t take long for other brands to follow suit as well. Soon sports teams like the Sacramento Kings and the (formerly San Diego) Chargers were posting more authentically. Fast forward to today and nearly every brand is posting in a human-like tone. It has gone so far that it is almost harder to find a brand not doing this.
This is because brands have found it makes them come across as more trustworthy with people if they can become more humanized. Today, being funny online does wonders for your overall likability, and if you are a likable brand, you’re likely a profitable brand.
The evolution of brand voices on social media was fascinatingly explained. Wendy’s proved that consumers are more receptive to companies that sound personable rather than impersonal, which was a complete 180. I find it remarkable how this change in tone became the standard so rapidly, as a result, “robotic” brand accounts no longer have any relevance. This begs the larger question of how much relatability is too much and how to distinguish between genuine brand personality and contrived relatability. It will be fascinating to observe the next big change in brand communication as more and more organizations use humor and “human” language.
Hi Seth! I really enjoyed your post — your example about Wendy’s was the perfect way to show how much brand tone has changed over time. It’s crazy to think about how “robotic” corporate accounts used to sound, and how one bold shift completely reset the standard. I also liked how you connected Wendy’s strategy to the way sports teams and other brands use humor now. You made it really clear why humanizing a brand can build trust and likability.