If you’ve been on the major social media site today (and who hasn’t?), there’s a pretty good chance that you seen at least half a dozen cat pictures and memes. You probably saw dozens of ads too, but it’s the cats you remember, right?  As a proud owner of two cats, Link and Chip, I have to look at the cuteness.

 

Why is it that cats work better than advertising on social media… and what can marketers learn from the difference?

 

The short answer is that cats (and babies, puppies, videos of people falling down, etc.) just “work” on social media sites because people log on to them to have fun. They are checking into Facebook and Twitter because they want to be entertained, not be bombarded with marketing.

 

So if your marketing is going to be effective on social media, you better embrace your lighter side and offer something fun. In fact, you might want to flip the traditional script for advertising and begin with entertainment, and then lead back to your website rather than trying to make an immediate sales pitch.

 

That’s a hard adjustment for a lot of online advertisers to make, but it’s the only way to make traction on social media. If you don’t believe us, we’ve got the viral cat pictures to prove it.