Mocking Twitter followers, liberally throwing around expletives and spearheading a campaign to get John Stamos to reunite with his band from the 90s television show Full House are likely not action items that are part of your company’s social media guidelines.
For Riot Fest, a punk music festival held in Chicago, Toronto and Denver, the entire brand identity was based on precisely that: doing everything a corporate social account would be too terrified to do.
And it worked. With over 75,000 likes on Facebook and 20,000 followers on Twitter, Riot Fest has managed to create a genuinely authentic brand identity by sticking it to the man (or, in this case, the standard guidelines of how to run a social account).
From clever to snarky to simply awesome, Riot Fest proved they know how to keep an audience entertained:
i don't know, check the lineup. RT @brohurst: Who will I be seeing at Riot Fest?
— Riot Fest (@RiotFest) September 21, 2013
learn to spell first. RT @schizofr4nkie: i wanna work for @RiotFest i need to know if they will hire ill even be an assistant
— Riot Fest (@RiotFest) September 15, 2013
Dear @JohnStamos, I hope you like the @ButterStamos butter sculpture we made of you at #RiotFest. pic.twitter.com/YxdVKUySTe
— Riot Fest (@RiotFest) September 15, 2013
thanks for the head up and picture. RT @brvndnew: Considering going to riot fest and just trying to sneak in
— Riot Fest (@RiotFest) September 11, 2013
While Riot Fest may be atypical in terms of how far the brand can go with posting nontraditional content, the brand highlights some essential guidelines for having an engaging social presence:
1. Don’t just know your audience – BE your audience
We all know that understanding your audience is important, but Riot Fest realized that their followers needed to be able to relate to them. Their social media presence never felt like a traditional corporate social account. Riot Fest was your brash and blunt friend, the guy in the back of your 11th grade science class with something to say and a lot of attitude when he says it. With a personality that your target market can appreciate, a relationship is able to develop with your followers. These relationships will help your brand gain increased awareness and (more importantly) engagement and genuine interest in what your brand says.
2. Have fun
It’s hard to deny the fact that it looks like the man in charge of social accounts for Riot Fest has a blast doing his job. This infectious passion (which, admittedly, was often disguised as snark) wasn’t lost on followers: Riot Fest consistently finds itself earning high numbers of likes, favorites, retweets and comments. Your brand may not be as inherently fun as Riot Fest, but figuring out how to have fun with writing content and responding to followers will help you be a happier employee and more successful at managing social media.
3. Respond without hesitation
Riot Fest was lightning fast when responding to the questions, comments and occasional jabs sent their way (and sometimes to tweets not even sent directly to @RiotFest). The short response times supplemented the quick-witted nature of the brand, helped provide content for them to share with all followers, while also providing something vitally useful for followers: access to information in a very timely manner. If you’ve ever had a brand take hours, or even days, to respond to your tweet or Facebook wall post, you can appreciate how timeliness aids your brand’s usefulness and reputation.