The Real Gushers Instagram page is a true representation of the heart of the brand: a burst of fun in every bite. In 2019, we set out to unleash our quirk and be the go-to and favorite meme account for teens on Instagram.
Today’s teens are deeply-rooted in meme culture and have a higher aversion to traditional advertisements compared to older generations. Knowing this, we had to create humorous, thumb-stopping content that fits naturally in their feeds and makes them say “woah I didn’t realize this was from the real Gushers!”
The keys to our social success are a knowledge of meme culture, strong social listening, and a passion for our fans.
No Way Boomer
To earn the right to hang out in meme culture, we must first understand meme culture. We have to know how to create humorous content that sticks while avoiding a “Silence Brand” or an “OK Boomer.” Immersed in the worlds of Twitter, TikTok, and Reddit, we seek to understand the current meme trends and craft our own take on them, incorporating our unique and fun brand personality. We make sure the memes we create look just like the ones they see in the rest of their feeds, or like they possibly could have made them themselves. The result? The Real Gushers Instagram is a curated collection of relatable scenarios and in-the-moment cultural references that ultimately relate back to a love for your favorite hexagonal bipyramid fruit flavored snack.
Listen Up
When you listen to what people are saying about your brand, you are able to learn your core consumer truths. These are the things that the majority of people using your product are experiencing. For Gushers, it can be someone’s pleasant surprise of opening an all-Strawberry pack (yes, those are meant to be there), or perhaps you may believe that Gushers are a form of ravioli. By consistently tying our content back to these truths, they become increasingly more relatable and shareable. While listening for consumer truths you can also discover common memes or phrases people use about your brand. For example, the meme “pizza rolls are just Italian Gushers” was very popular in 2019, so we made multiple pieces of content on the topic.
Stan the Fans
Engaging with our fans is the lifeblood of our page’s success. When these relationships are established and nurtured, great things happen. This opens up opportunity for our most loyal fans to send us user generated content that we turn into new memes on our feed. By incorporating their images into our meme content, they feel like a part of the joke. This relationship is also lived out in the comment section of our posts, where fans flock to grab the attention of The Real Gushers. Our posts are flooded with comments trying to provoke a reaction and connection with the human side of Gushers, which sometimes helps a piece of content take on a second life of its own. All of these things combined are what keep our audience engaged, loyal, and coming back for more.
-Average Engagement Rate of 13.26%
-Total Impressions over 12 Million
-Over 120,000 Shares
-17.38% Follower Growth over the year
-Comments from our audience like:
“oh shoot @therealgushers is my new favorite account”
“I legit thought this was a meme page”
“why is the real Gushers the funniest and best account on all of Instagram”
“Gushers are the only company that can meme correctly”
“This account is legendary”
“@therealgushers makes better memes than any meme page”
And of course,
“Hahaahhahahahahaja why is this so good omg”
