How Aldi Used Humour to Build a Large Social Media Following

Social media continues to play a crucial role in establishing a strong online presence. It allows brands to connect with their target audience and build a loyal following. While there are various marketing tactics available to build a large following, one approach that has proven to be effective is the use of humour. Aldi, the supermarket chain, is one example where by using humor in their social media posts, have managed to attract a large Twitter following of around 700,000. In this blog, I breakdown Aldi’s use of humor, and show how you can also use humor to attract a larger social media following.

Aldi likes to share Love Island posts. Although Aldi and Love Island may first appear unrelated, they actually share a similar target audience of younger demographics. Aldi leverages this by employing humor on Twitter to engage Love Island’s 1.4 million followers. By doing so, Aldi establishes a positive brand presence and strengthens its connection with this shared younger demographic. This approach allows Aldi to expand its reach, boost brand awareness, and build a stronger relationship with potential consumers.

Similar to Love Island, at first glance, Aldi and Specsavers have nothing in common. However, Aldi and Specsavers share a common focus on delivering affordable options in their respective markets. Aldi’s use of humor allows them to initiate conversations and forge unexpected connections with other brands like Specsavers, who tweets about Aldi in return. This technique is called co-marketing, a marketing strategy where brands and organisations partner together to expand their reach.

Aldi excels at sharing amusing content and relating it to their brand and products. Through funny memes, videos, and visuals, Aldi shares a wide variety of media content, ensuring that their content doesn’t become repetitive and uninteresting for their audience.

Aldi also excels at interacting with their followers. By actively engaging and replying to their audience, Aldi encourages followers to interact, creating a sense of community and loyalty. This not only strengthens the relationship between Aldi and its followers but also prompts them to share Aldi’s brand across their own networks, expanding Aldi’s reach to a wider audience.

Aldi understands that customer preferences vary, and people don’t shop at the same place all the time. With this understanding, Aldi embraces the reality that customers may explore different options, including their competitors. By engaging and joking with their competitors, Aldi not only displays a sense of self-assurance and belief in their brand and products, but also offers a healthy and dynamic competitive environment, benefiting the ever-changing preferences of shoppers.

Aldi effectively utilises humour as a strategy to manage negative publicity, as shown in the case of M&S filing a lawsuit over the similarity between Aldi’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar and M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar. Instead of escalating the situation, Aldi responds with humour. By injecting humour into their social media posts, Aldi diffuses tension and redirects the focus towards the positive aspects of their brand. Their adept handling of bad press allows them to transform challenges into opportunities for engaging with fans who appreciate their witty and light-hearted brand personality.

Aldi acknowledges the importance of maintaining balance and avoiding an excessive focus on their products and services. By posting about non-food related topics, they deliver refreshing and entertaining content to their audience, allowing them to interact with their followers beyond food-related topics.

In summary, dedicating your efforts to a single social media account allows you to prioritise quality content over quantity, which connects with your audience on a deeper level. This strategy increases the likelihood of creating a large, target-focused audience and an engaged community within one centralised platform. Moreover, having one social media platform streamlines management, data analysis, and understanding its algorithm for optimal social media marketing.