Taylor Swift is inescapable.
Her music dominates the airwaves. Her record-breaking “Eras” tour is boosting the economies of total areas. She’s even taking on soccer now with a rumored romance with Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce that noticed her in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium.
Manufacturers are taking discover of her cultural hegemony too.
In every single place you activate social media simply now, you will discover firms leaping as onerous as they’ll onto the Swiftie bandwagon.
Some are pure extensions, just like the NFL making hay after her look at Sunday’s recreation — even going as far as to briefly change their header picture and bio on Twitter.
Most of the posts have garnered excessive engagement (one gif of her yelling what lip-reading signifies is a profanity has greater than 11 million views) — however that doesn’t imply they’re with out backlash.
There’s additionally a sure thirstiness to the NFL’s new obsession, as Swift reportedly turned down this yr’s Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present.
Now, there’s a sure logic to the NFL’s posting. Swift was at an NFL recreation. It was information. They’d be silly to not do one thing about it — although the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs have notably been far more low-key about their new well-known fan.
However different manufacturers are making extra of a stretch to hitch the hype prepare.
Hidden Valley Ranch, for example, has tweeted about Taylor Swift six occasions within the final 24 hours — with largely excessive engagement. They used a wide range of techniques, together with a photograph that “seemingly” reveals Swift consuming ranch with wings in addition to a joke combining the Swift craze and the Roman Empire meme.
Heinz is even launching a condiment primarily based on the “seemingly” tweet, which has change into a meme in its personal proper. Insanity.
However different manufacturers with out even that tenuous connection are getting in on the Swift motion. Take this sequence of shareable memes from Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt, together with one which touts their yogurt retailers in Kansas (Kansas Metropolis is, confusingly, in Missouri).
Why is that this occurring?
There are two main explanations for why TayTay is all over the place.
The primary is the only: as we famous within the intro, she’s some of the common people on planet Earth proper now. Everybody needs to take a little bit of that shine for themselves. She’s a star and a meme and a soundtrack. There are one million angles manufacturers can take, from quoting music lyrics to utilizing pictures and memes. The percentages are good you will discover a connection, even when it’s a stretch.
However there’s one other issue seemingly at play too: the individuals who handle social media accounts for a dwelling are inclined to fall immediately into the Taylor Swift demographic.
They’re followers themselves.
Utilizing a database of greater than 30 million job profiles, Zippia estimates that 61% of social media managers are girls, with a median age of 39. That places them squarely within the Millennial age vary that loves Swift probably the most. It’s content material they’ll get personally enthusiastic about — and need to share.
Ought to your model go full Swiftie?
The reply to that is, as all the time, dependent in your viewers and your objectives.
The technique appears to be working effectively for manufacturers like Hidden Valley, that are seeing excessive engagement. The NFL is seeing some backlash, but additionally stable engagement. However bear in mind, engagement (good or dangerous) will not be the one means of measuring success: Manufacturers just like the NFL want to concentrate on oversaturation and straying too removed from the rationale folks observe them within the first place. Swift is common, sure, however she isn’t the one factor occurring on this planet. You’ll be able to run a joke into the bottom and annoy even ardent Swift followers.
As all the time, perceive why you’re posting on social media and what you hope to attain. Does Swiftposting feed into what you are promoting objectives? Then proceed, monitoring outcomes rigorously. Is it too far out of your audience or too divorced from what you hope to attain? Then it might be higher to remain on the bleachers as an alternative.
Allison Carter is govt editor of PR Day by day. Observe her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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