You might be wondering how an iconic pretzel brand that’s been around for 26 years continues to go viral over and over again. Well, one thing we know to be true is that everyone loves hot, handmade, pretzels. But that’s not the only reason why. Auntie Anne’s has become a brand on social that takes (calculated) risks when it comes to content.
The brand’s content strategy is simple: make pretzels part of the conversation.
Since 2021, Auntie Anne’s has evolved its content strategy from exclusively posting crave-worthy pretzel pictures to horoscope posts, delicately crafted memes and everything in between. This evolution did not happen overnight. Let’s talk about how we did it.
First, Instagram is not all about pretty pictures
We started to see across the industry that the “aesthetically” pleasing feeds were becoming predictable and less interesting. Yes, following brand guidelines is extremely important, but we identified that our brand had an opportunity to post more than our products … because that tactic gets tired. So, we decided to personify our brand and explore other types of content including more graphics and (brand-safe) memes.
And then this post was born.
It was different than our normal “picture-perfect pretzel” images. Our fans responded and the post blew up. It took one risk to try something new and gain the trust of our fans. This post alone garnered 7.1M impressions on FB and IG.
This gave us the runway to explore super-engaging content with our fans. Our top posts of 2023 were all graphics. Like this post about jimmies vs. sprinkles (argue in the comments). And this post about our confetti nuggets. And this post about the pretzel-holding form.
The common theme is that our fans feel like we know them. They feel like they can relate to our content (whether we picked their right horoscope-product-duo or not). They feel obligated to comment or tag their friends. That is where the magic happens: a brand becoming best friends with its fans.
Keep your For You Page for you
The days are over when you set alerts for “TikTok trends.” Do you know what’s in? Take this as a social media hack: keep your for you page … for you.
Take what you’re interested in and let that inspire you. Inspiration comes from everywhere and everyone. Use your interests in your favor. Sense trends in different parts of the internet. This is where you can find niche trends that might work for your brand. This is where you can become different than your competitors and ultimately find things to help you ideate.
Your drafts aren’t getting views—hit send
We live in a world where content is posted constantly. Your drafts aren’t getting views.
At the beginning of growing Auntie Anne’s TikTok, we were only reposting viral videos. Then as we got comfortable creating, we tried almost everything. For every viral video and video that flops, you learn something. When we reached the milestone of our first-ever viral video on Auntie Anne’s, we later noticed it had a spelling mistake in it. The lesson learned there is that it’s about the content of the video. If you create something that is so engaging and captures attention visually, the followers may even overlook a misspelled word.
But, always check the spelling.
Last year, as we were brainstorming new content ideas for Auntie Anne’s TikTok, we remembered we had a video of Auntie Anne’s at a wedding just sitting in our drafts. We decided to post, and we had no idea what was about to happen. With 2M+ views, a sweepstakes and a social activation later, that draft (and the risk) was worth it.
Because of that TikTok, we saw thousands of comments from brides saying that they want Auntie Anne’s at their wedding. So, we told them to send us their invitations for a chance to have Auntie Anne’s crash their wedding. Hundreds of invitations later, we randomly chose a couple and started to plan.
In December, we drove to North Georgia and prepped over 100 pretzels and nuggets to be served at the winner’s wedding. They had NO idea. At 8:15 pm, we walked through the front door of the venue with pretzels in hand. The bride and groom were stunned. And, this all came from a Tik Tok that was sitting in our drafts!
The takeaway is the content doesn’t have to be pretty. It doesn’t always have to be planned months in advance. But taking the risk is worth it and often necessary to break through the sea of sameness on platforms. Think differently. Become obsessed with your brand fans and get to know them. Find trends on your feeds to drive inspiration. Have fun. Be social. All those things are what making content is all about.
Oh, and always send it.
