12 Social Media Posts That Are Funnier Than Yours

It may sound like a cliché, but it’s absolutely true. Laughter is the best medicine.

Laughter is good for your health because it’s known to lower blood pressure and stimulate the release of endorphins, a powerful set of hormones that can actually get in the way of pain and may even lead to euphoria.

Laughter is good for business, too, because if people are smiling, they’re usually less guarded and more agreeable.
Of course, marketers who know this go to great lengths to develop campaigns that are infused with a strong dose of humor. In seasoning their ads with reasons to snicker and snort, they’re putting customers and prospects in the mood to buy without employing anything even close to a hard sell.

You might say they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

That’s why so many brands are going out of their way to let their hair down on social media, taking great pains to reveal their lighter sides. If the cool kids have a sense of humor, then so do they. No brand wants to be perceived as uptight, old-fashioned and out of touch.

It’s too bad more brands didn’t take themselves so seriously on social media, especially B2B brands, which even in this day and age remain reluctant to as much as crack a smile.

Yup, as long as they’re in good taste, funny posts win on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Vine and perhaps every other social network but LinkedIn, which is probably a little too buttoned up for laughs. Here are 12 good examples…

1. Ben and Jerry’s

Besides mouth-watering shots of its frozen treats, this legendary premium ice cream brand’s sense of humor is one of the key ingredients of its engagement strategy on Instagram, as indicated in the puns used to call attention to Chunky Monkey, just one of its many popular flavors.

Call us nuts, but we’re bananas for riddles. Name that flavor!

A photo posted by Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) on Feb 22, 2015 at 4:16pm PST

2. Hanes
A nice example of thinking outside the box, Hanes flaunts its creativity with this shot of a T-shirt that looks like it was gored by bull horns. It’s edgy for a relatively conventional brand, but well within the bounds of good taste.

You ran with bulls and all you got was this T and a crazy maybe- not-one-of-your-smartest-moments to tell. pic.twitter.com/NHAAdWgnMv — Hanes (@Hanes) March 10, 2015

3. Bissell

This well-known manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and floor care products has been around for forever (well, since 1876), but this user-generated-content (UGC) campaign has 2015 written all over it. Good for them. And good for animal welfare, too. They’re donating $1 to the BISSELL Pet Foundation (up to $50,000) for every post.

4. Lowes

This Vine includes six seconds of hilarity as well as words to the wise from Lowes, the giant home improvement store chain. First and foremost, it’s entertaining, but it’s also very educational.

5. Dunkin’ Donuts

Dunkin’s Donuts wasn’t alone in newsjacking this viral, washed-out photo in late February. Apparently more than 10 million tweets mentioned #TheDress. This post is a great example, though, of the fun this iconic brand has on a regular basis not just on Instagram, but all over social media.

Doesn’t matter if it’s blue/black or white/gold, they still taste delicious. #thedress

A photo posted by dunkindonuts (@dunkindonuts) on Feb 27, 2015 at 7:43am PST

6. Citrix Go ToMeeting

Leveraging the kind of catchy, provocative hashtag you might see as a trending topic on Twitter, this clever tweet shows an otherwise serious brand going out of its way to make you laugh out loud.

“My doctor says it’s contagious” How to #RuinAMeetingIn5Words pic.twitter.com/1bKc0ErBiL

— Citrix GoToMeeting (@GoToMeeting) February 18, 2015

7. Coors Light
Beer brands are notorious for incorporating humor into their marketing, advertising and social media activities, and this post, a newsjacking nod to #EmployeeAppreciationDay, is no exception.

8. Charmin

When it comes to bathroom humor, Charmin may have cornered the market. Seriously, this toilet paper brand knows how to work the crowd on Twitter with a continuous series of puns, double entendres and zany one-liners – tagged #tweetfromtheseat – such as this one about the Apple Watch.

Yeah, but can the watch tell you when to go? #tweetfromtheseat pic.twitter.com/tQgW7Y7xhh

— Charmin (@Charmin) March 9, 2015

9. Microsoft Dynamics CRM
As both a way to capture your attention and underscore the importance of its “real-world” sales solutions, Microsoft Dynamics shares this short, comical parody video of a sales superstar in action.

Are you synergizing your manifestation? What about manifesting your synergization? http://t.co/Xo6N8X7V5N http://t.co/Mh6b7hrZOG #MSDynCRM — MicrosoftDynamicsCRM (@MSDynamicsCRM) October 24, 2014

10. Ellen DeGeneres

With over 40 million followers, Ellen ranks 10th on the list of Twitter’s most popular accounts, outranking the second TV host/comedian on the list, Jimmy Fallon, by over 18 million followers. So if you want to learn how to tell a joke in 140 characters or less, learn from the best. Follow @TheEllenShow. http://twittercounter.com/pages/100

Happy National Grammar Day! I hope you have someone wonderful to whom with which to celebrate with.

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 4, 2015

11. CBS News

So much bad news is reported by not just the local, but the national TV networks, it’s not only refreshing, it’s riveting to see when one of them files a funny story such as this one about a “koala car-jacking.”

12. Old Spice

This classic brand of grooming products for men is yet another funny account to follow on Twitter. Many of their tweets are bold, irreverent and more than just a little bit amusing, like this well-crafted, well-timed tweet on Presidents Day.

If history has taught us anything, it’s the importance of smelling great and standing in a rowboat, looking cool. pic.twitter.com/Qoz9oGFfUg

— Old Spice (@OldSpice) February 16, 2015

Note: This post, “12 Social Media Posts That Are Funnier Than Yours,” was originally published on ClickZ on March 24, 2015. To read the post there, click here.