Our brand manager insisted on a 'fun' social media voice and it tanked our engagement

Three years ago, our team in Austin was told to make our brand sound 'young and fun' on all channels. We switched to using slang and memes in every post. Last month, our quarterly report showed a 40% drop in engagement from our core customers, who are mostly professionals over 35. They said the new tone felt fake and they stopped trusting our advice. Has anyone else had a rebrand backfire because the new voice didn't match the actual audience?

2 comments

2 Comments

anderson.gavin5d ago

My buddy's company tried that with their accounting software blog. They started writing like a hype man for a video game, all "slay those spreadsheets" and "get that bag." Their main readers are CFOs and controllers. The comments section turned into a support group for confused accountants. They lost a ton of newsletter signups before someone finally admitted it sounded like a dad trying to be cool.

noah9145d agoMost Upvoted

That "dad trying to be cool" vibe is a real trust killer. It makes readers question if the company even knows what they're talking about. Once that doubt sets in, you've lost them for good.