Social Marketing Review: April 2021

Is April the worst month in the social media calendar? It just might be.

It kicks off with April Fool’s Day, which is the most strained and painful day of the entire year. And it rounds out with Ed Balls Day on the 28th — another twee Twitter in-joke that has long outstayed its welcome. And almost everything in-between is garbage as well.

So let’s jump straight in and get wading through the trash heap that was April 2021. If one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, then that other man will have their fair share of treasure to enjoy.

April Fool’s Day is the worst, and I hate it

Was April Fool’s Day ever good? Really? Can you think of a single April Fool’s Prank that was even any good? If the best you can think of is ‘BBC spaghetti tree’, then I implore you to think again. That happened in 1957; find a more recent example.

Ok, maybe ten years ago, when digital marketing was still fresh and new, you could get away with things — a fun prank here, a fake announcement there. We were just happy that the brands were making content. But then it just got boring.

The average April Fool’s Marketing stunt would go as follows: the company makes a surprise ‘announcement’ of a brand new product. Usually, that product is something unexpected but cutesy. The most basic execution of this is just “X… but for your pets!”