The dress. A viral, dividing, infuriating picture that swept social media late last night and today bringing out the worst in us all, and the very worst in jokey promoted tweets from brands. 

But despite the fact I am a social media manager, I will not apologise. 

Every Bob and Jo on the street has taken to Twitter to loudly proclaim their side of the story, pseudo-science articles have been dredged up from archives to be screen-shotted and hashtagged and even Taylor Swift has weighed in on the debate. It’s a great example of the fun, frustrating, “I don’t even know why I have an opinion on this!” world of virality in social media, but it’s also the first real ‘safe-bet’ topic for social media teams to latch onto. 

There’s no one to insult, there’s no one left out and there’s no ‘right’ answer. Brands can be sure that their jokey promoted tweet – however lame, overtly promotional or downright nonsensical – won’t prompt a hefty backlash from precious consumers, and social media teams have been having a field-day getting their ‘joke’ mocked up in photoshop by Steve in the studio and backed up with some pocket money by Billy in accounts. 

The first rule of using a topical event for your brand on social media: make sure it makes sense to your brand. Weighing in on a topic simply because it’s popular and you want to sell your product, but not actually having anything to say makes you…well…one of these guys:

And I won’t apologise. Being a social media manager myself does not mean I influence the actions of these ‘gurus’. It does not mean we are anything like the same person. They’re lone wolves who don’t align themselves with true social media marketing beliefs, and I will not take responsibility for their actions.

Topical humour needs to be subtle, authentic and – let’s face it – genuinely funny. Knowing your brand, knowing your values and beliefs and most importantly knowing your current campaign like the back of your hand comes first and foremost in the quest for witty banter in the trending topics arena. Take Specsavers for example. Rather than twisting their sales message to fit with the trend, they’ve used their current ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ campaign to respond to it.

It’s simple, clever and works for both the brand and the consumer. Granted, they’re lucky it fit with the moment…but then that’s the beauty of it, isn’t it?

So don’t blame me for other managers of this world and don’t expect me to apologise for your timelines filling with adverts every time something a little bit funny goes a little bit viral. It’s a glimpse of a future we all have a part in, we just need to choose carefully which side of the fence we sit. 

#BlackandBlue