Parody social media accounts can be seen interacting with the majority of viral meme posts on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. The famous beef sick brand, Slim Jim, has been very successful with this approach, commenting witty responses on hundreds of posts. Slim Jim has been able to reach over 1 million followers on Instagram by using this new way of advertising.
In the fall of 2018, Andy Hines’ Slim Jim fan account on Instagram (@SlimJimsDoingThings) was noticed by the brand for its popularity and appeal to teen audiences. Hines’ had been able to reach 15,000 followers by only posting memes related to Slim Jim’s. This fan page had triple the number of followers than the official Slim Jim because of Hines’ genius use of meme culture. The brand’s official page desperately needed help appealing to the social community and later hired Andy Hines as the brand’s new marketing director. Now Slim Jim’s page (@SlimJim) is filled with daily content of dry humor and witty memes.
Part of the reason this approach has been so successful, is the brand’s voice that makes the user want to engage. Consumers are using social media now more than ever before and the Slim Jim page offers content to cure their boredom. Rather than plainly advertising to consumers, Slim Jim has been able to get a conversation going and changed the way consumers engage with the brand.
