For decades, marketers and advertisers have realized the value of humor in branded content. Indeed, one needs only to consider the vast array of funny commercials down the years to understand that humor can be a powerful advertising tool.

However, there’s a big difference between a 30-second commercial and a full-length blog post. What’s more, consumers have different expectations regarding blogs than they do other forms of marketing and advertising.

Given all that, today we’ll tackle the question: should professional blogs be funny? 

Examining the Purpose of Blogs

A commercial or a short video on social media isn’t designed to inform an audience about a product. Sure, a short piece might mention a new feature or benefit that a product offers, but, in the main, short videos exist to grab a consumer’s attention and to inspire them to visit a website or storefront. Because of this setup, short videos lend themselves to humor. Blogs, on the other hand, don’t function in this way. 

Read: How to Write a Great Blog Post for a Global Audience

While it’s important that blog content be compelling, blogs are first and foremost meant to be informative. They should contain helpful information, and it shouldn’t take a reader much time to access this intel.

The reality is that few people will take the time to read through an entire blog post. Rather, most will skim until they find content that relates to their situation. Because of this, jokes or comedic elements to blogs may be skipped over entirely. 

Blogging Best Practices –– Humor

When done well, humor in a blog post can endear your business to readers. Yet, when handled poorly, attempts at comedy in a blog may come off as amateurish or disrespectful. If you’re intent on injecting a bit of levity into your work, make sure to keep these tips in mind: 

• Be consistent. A random joke out of the blue isn’t likely to delight a reader so much as confuse them. That’s especially true if your content isn’t normally humorous. 
• Stay appropriate. Some topics simply don’t lend themselves to humor. If you’re writing about serious subjects, like where to find STD testing near you, for instance, then table the jokes. Trust us, your readers won’t appreciate them. 
• Don’t sacrifice content for humor. At the end of the day, blogs need to be practical. So if you find yourself rearranging a post to serve a joke, then reconsider your priorities. 

Conclusion

Humor within blog posts isn’t necessarily a bad thing; a few well-timed jokes can help to liven up an otherwise dry education blog. Nevertheless, copywriters should be wary of incorporating jokes, puns, sarcasm, or gags within their writing. A good rule of thumb to follow: never antagonize your readers with humor. Because if you do, the last laugh will be on you. 

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