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I Roasted 23 Social Accounts. Here's What I Found
Some things are so easy to fix!
Samer C.
May 8th, 2024 • Reading Time: 7 minutes
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⏰ Today’s Edition
Findings from roasting 23 social media brands last week
Mid-week updates
And more…
Two weeks I posted on LinkedIn asking people if they wanted me to roast their work.
I felt it would be risky since I operate in a culture that's generally sensitive and unfamiliar with the concept of 'roasting.'
But I wanted to ruffle some feathers.
I received 23+ roasting requests 🤯
And most were happy with some tough love.
Today, I share common threads from this roasting exercise, hoping you find it valuable.
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DEEP DIVE
Here are some common threads across most of the 23 social media accounts that I roasted.
Some are easy fixes, and some take a change in mindset, but everyone’s work should be better if these are fixed.
#1 Wrong Formats
The problem: So many still post square videos and images on Instagram 🥲 I’ve also seen some post 16:9 (horizontal) videos, too (usually bigger brands are culprits of this because ✨cinematic production✨ .
The issue with square images/videos is that you’re missing up to 56% of screen space when you do so. Also, the algorithm will probably penalize videos with the famous black bars on top and bottom because it thinks they’re not good enough. Please stop doing that!
The fix: Easy! here’s the formula:
For images: Always aim for 4:5 or 9:16 depending on where the image is being posted. NEVER go below 4:5 because you’ll be losing screen ‘real estate’ that’s rightfully yours.
For video: Vertical. Always. 9:16 works on all platforms, and please make sure you are adhering to the ‘safe zones’ so your content won’t be covered by logos and user-interface elements of the platform.
#2 Content is Boring AF
The problem: This is mostly for brands on social.
Most accounts end up sounding like an elder millennial (like me 🥲) trying too hard to charm Gen-Zers.
A lot of captions included marketing-speak.
We used to do churn a lot of this work back in my agency days. Caption after caption of committee-approved marketing speak and hashtags.
It’s still happening.
The fix: I know this could be easier said than done for brands (the bigger the brand, the more difficult), but maybe try less content-calendar-approval-workflows and more pop culture. Do you want to appeal to Gen-Z? Let a gen-zer create content, and so on.
#3 Everything is Over-Polished
The problem: So much content looks like ads. Over-polished and over-produced. This is contributing to #2 of making everything boring af.
When everything comes out of an elaborate photoshoot and is approved by a committee, no one engages.
Many brands fear that ‘ugly content’ might damage their brand perception (I don’t agree with that, but I don’t have the ‘science’ to prove it, yet). Fine, but look at the big fat zero that's comments on your content.
The fix: The biggest players in social media have leaned in and embraced ‘ugly content.’ It’s all over TikTok and quickly making its way to IG. There is a reason why audiences resonate and engage positively to this type of content. We want something that looks authentic, makes us laugh, educates us, awe us, sells us something, and *STILL* does not look like an ad.
#4 Zero Pop Culture (Memes)
The problem: Branded and sales content 24/7.
Going back to the most successful brands on social media these days (think: Duolingo, Ryan Air, Wendy’s), these guys were able to plug into many pop culture moments to make their content relevant.
Your audience wants you to give them a moment of “oh no they didn't” every now and then.
The fix: Imagine if you include an “oh no they didn’t” content theme into your strategy and just experimented with it!
Do not shy away from pop culture commentary. Every possible study in the last half decade shows that +70% of social media users are more likely to purchase from a brand after seeing them have more personality, humor, and relatability on social.
Funny I’m writing this during the week of the 2024 Met Gala.
This is not a call to make your account a meme account. It is a call to think of creative ways to be relevant and inject some fun content.
Here’s what IKEA UK posted as commentary on Doja Cat’s Met Gala outfit:
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