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This study was conducted in order to understand more about the utilization of humor on Twitter by brands, and the ways in which consumers react to humorous content. In order to fully understand this, three main variables were being understood- emotional responses, digital engagement, and brand attitude. Each of these variables were split into research questions that helped to identify the kinds of humorous content that appeal the most to consumers.
Research Question #1
Research Question #1
In order to better understand the potential effect presentation of humor has on consumer emotional reactions, participants were asked to look at an example tweet and to identify which emotion they were feeling. The survey included four examples of each format, which can be seen below in charts 1.1 through 1.8.
These figures are indicative of the emotions that are felt by consumers when exposed to the different formats of humor used by brands. In figures 1.1 through 1.4, emotional responses were linked to humor presented in the format of a meme. This found that among participants, the majority felt either Happy (n=46, n=46, n=42, n=28) or Neutral (n=42, n=37, n=43, n=52) after being exposed to the humorous meme content. This finding is similar to that of figures 1.5 through 1.8, which also found that participants felt Happy (n=62, n=47, n=67, n=21) and Neutral (n=22, n=40, n=16, n=60) in a majority of cases. This information, while not concrete proof, supports the possibility that the format of presented humor on Twitter from a brand does not have an impact on the emotional response from consumers.
Research Question #2
Research Question #2
As this study researched emotional reactions to humorous content, it not only focused on the format of the presented humor, but also on the kind of humor that was being utilized. Humor on social media can be split up into seven categories (Comparison, Personification, Silliness, Sarcasm, Surprise, Exaggeration, Pun), but only the four most common (Comparison, Personification, Surprise, Sarcasm) were studied throughout this research. Using the same figures from above, it’s possible to understand the emotional responses through the lens of the type of humor. Figure 1.1 and 1.5 are the emotional reactions to comparison humor, Figure 1.2 and 1.6 are the emotional reactions of personification humor, Figure 1.3 and 1.7 are the emotional reactions of surprise humor, and Figure 1.4 and 1.8 are the emotional reactions of sarcasm humor. Looking at the figures through the lens of humor type shows that personification humor has the highest amount of happy emotional responses (n=108), while comparison humor has the lowest amount of happy emotional reactions (n=67). This allows researchers to conclude that brands should be utilizing personification humor in any format in their social media marketing strategy, specifically for Twitter.
Research Question #3
Research Question #3
In this study, another aspect that was being researched was the relationship between the type of humor being utilized and the different levels of digital engagement/ behavior. The instrument measured for six engagement behaviors, favorites, retweets, comments, sharing, following the brand, and a willingness to engage with the brand moving forward. Of these six, it was decided that a willingness to favorite a tweet was exhibiting low digital engagement, while sharing a tweet or commenting on it showed a more active, higher level of engagement. As seen in figure 2.1 and 2.2 below, the type of humor does not have a significant effect on the digital engagement behaviors participants were likely to engage in – outside of Comparison humor. As seen in figure 2.1, unlike the other three types of humor which all had over 50% of the respondents agree that they were likely to engage in low levels of digital engagement, Comparison humor had a far lower level (34.2%) of participants that were likely to engage. Comparison also had the highest levels of Twitter users stating that they are unlikely to exhibit low levels of engagement (44%).
When observing figure 2.2, it is equally as clear that Comparison humor has the lowest levels of engagement. Participants showed that, as opposed to the other kinds of humor which all hovered around the 10% mark of respondents claiming they were likely to exhibit high levels of engagement, Comparison humor stayed at less than 1%. Comparison, once again, also had the highest levels of people who were unlikely to exhibit high levels of engagement, coming in at 75.54%, which is almost 10% higher than the second highest. So while it is not possible to claim that one kind of humor is better at exhibiting high levels of engagement or low levels of engagement, it can be said that certain kinds of humor are less likely to garner digital engagement of any kind.
Research Question #4:
Research Question #4:
As seen in figures 1.1- 1.8, the emotional reactions from consumers when exposed to humorous content were a majority positive. In seven of the eight example tweets, a majority of participants chose ‘Happy’ as their reaction (n=46, n=46, n=42, n=28, n=62, n=47, n=67, n=21). Following this, the second most common reaction chosen was ‘Neutral’ (n=42, n=37, n=43, n=52, n=22, n=40, n=16, n=60). As one can see, some of the example tweets flipped between having a majority of happy reactions versus a majority of neutral. This goes to show that, while reactions range from positive to neutral, negative reactions to the use of humor by brands on Twitter is minimal.
Research Question #5:
Research Question #5:
The relationship between brand attitude and humorous branded twitter content is a positive one. Through this research, it is seen that humor leaves consumers with either a more positive view of the brand, or does not impact their opinion of a brand. As neither of these options relate to a negative view of the brand, humor and brand attitude have a positive relationship. Below, Table 1 shows the response to a question in the survey that asked about the consumers perception of the brand after being exposed to the humorous content sample tweet. In order to understand brand attitude on a larger scale, the results from this question were taken from each of the eight example tweets and combined. For the purposes of this study, it was more important to understand the brand attitude in a broader context, rather than just within the confines of their individual example tweet.
As seen in Table 1, a very small minority of survey respondents were left with a more negative view of a brand after being exposed to their humorous content. The overwhelming majority of people either had the same opinion after exposure, or a more positive view of the brand. As neither of the brand opinion options, more positive and remained the same, have harsh consequences for the brand/account employing them, it can be said that brands should be utilizing humor in their social media marketing strategies.
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