The York Regional Police’s Twitter Is Hilarious
The York Regional Police Twitter account is a prime example of a corporate social media win. Usually when people think of police — humour is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind. The YRP’s social media strategy showcases how effective humour is within social media to engage, entertain and inform a large audience. Through their use of wittiness and puns they are able to connect on a much more personal and human level with individuals and this has definitely helped lighten the more intimidating image of police and police work.
I absolutely love what the York Regional Police is doing with their Twitter and not surprisingly so many others do as well — as evident through the hundreds to even thousands of retweets and favourites some of their tweets gather. Corporate social media accounts are generally kept very professional and, in my opinion, bland. But the YRP alongside with it’s 107,000 Twitter followers showcase how making an effort to produce useful or amusing content that makes an impact & is engaging pays off. Their strategy is successful, but not without planning and a goal. In an interview with the Toronto Sun, Const. Andy Pattenden mentions,
A lot of the stuff we do on there, the entertainment side of what we do, is to continue to build our following and attract our audience and keep them engaged so that when we need to get information out quickly on an active investigation or an incident where public safety is a concern, we have those followers active and ready, watching what we’re doing (“Video: York Regional Police read mean tweets”, 2017).
The engagement and following they have built through their use of humour on Twitter has aided in finding missing person’s and even catching a poppy charity box thief among others. Utilizing a platform and popular culture the York Regional Police are able to connect with younger demographics as seen through content such as:
Their Twitter game is A+ and goes to show how effective and engaging utilizing humour can be. I’ve recently began noticing more and more corporate accounts going away from the more ‘professional,’ ‘bland’ route of communicating on these social media platforms to interacting with humour, wittiness and puns to engage their audience and to be honest it makes me like their brand more. This can be seen through the savagery of Wendy’s roasts:
or even through Denny’s hilarious feed (literally all their tweets are like this):
Nevertheless, I enjoy brands and corporations that utilize humour within their social media strategies. It really works to engage with younger demographics and levels the corporation or brand at a more human level that the audience can connect with.
To conclude, it would feel wrong to finish this post without attaching some great and hilarious YRP tweets.
