Are your brand’s messages on fleek?

I don't want to be a traitor to my generation and all but I don't get how people speak these days.

I’m a bit appalled with the slang words popping up like daisies on the Internet. I have to remember that words evolve and change over time and I can accept this for general use – sort of. I still chastise friends for using shortcuts when texting. But when I came across the Twitter account @BrandsSayingBae, I realized the person running it is probably my soul mate.

I understand and emphasize the idea of humanizing a brand, but in my opinion this crosses the line. Or to borrow a 90s classic, “You’re so far past the line, you can’t even see the line. The line is a dot to you!” Friends’ Joey Tribbiani in case you forgot.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Television & Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions

My favorite thing about this sarcastic-filled Twitter account is its location tag: Hell. It’s the last resort for social media marketing apparently. Again, I’m not saying have no personality or no sense of humor. Use memes, correctly and appropriately, to showcase your brand’s personality and share jokes or funny images that apply to your industry. But throwing in a “bae” at the end of every tweet doesn’t add value. Marketers build their careers around proving content’s value through the customer journey. This kind of marketing isn’t content’s bae.

Brands want to and feel like they need to be relevant to younger audiences, but where’s the respect? I mean respect for English and for your audience that doesn’t know what bae, fleek, or turnt mean.

What great branding from Jimmy John’s, you're totally relevant since you speak slang too! @BrandsSayingBae has it spot-on: “Do whatever it takes to connect with your customer base.” Well in that case, why even learn how to be a marketer? Anyone can Retweet someone saying, “thanks, bae!”

I challenge you to be better and cleverer when it comes to crafting messages to meet your audience’s need. It can be clever a handful of times or when done to make a major impact, but I don’t think all messages should follow this trend. Show me the value in your content and how it helps the brand’s overall image. Use the content marketing skills you’ve developed over the years or end up as a hilarious screenshot online.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of brands incorporating slang into social media marketing in the comments below.

Clueless photo credit: Paramount