3 more social accounts that should be boring, but aren’t
A few weeks ago, I geeked out over some typically “boring industry” social media accounts.
Why? Because one thing I’ve heard a lot from clients is, “I can’t be on social because no one cares about what I do! There’s no way to make interesting content for this field.”
It’s my mission to find as many should-be-boring profiles and point out all of the ways they’re leading the pack and breaking the mold—and I hope you get inspired to see outside the box, too.
Liquid Floors TikTok
Liquid Floors is a company that puts epoxy coating on floors. Think: garages, workshops, commercial buildings, that sort of thing.
Every project is different, sure, but this is a process that’s more or less the same: epoxy, pour on floor, spread out, repeat.
Over and over again.
And yet, they’ve filled their account with these videos. One of them even has 16.8 million views.
Super simple: three shots, a voiceover, and a straightforward answer—that’s all.
Here’s another one—same thing, different font:
…and one more for good measure, in case you’re not convinced:
Okay, so, what gives?
This, friends, is a prime opportunity for breaking into ASMR and/or ‘satisfying’ social (think, people cleaning things, power washing things, etc).
A better reason: this isn’t stuff the layperson gets to see every day, and people dig stuff that’s outside of their little world. If you check the comments, these people are curious.
Not only that, but there’s plenty of people saying, “wow, I need this in my house!”
It’s doing a few things for Liquid Floors:
Associating their name with this process. They have a really large audience—they serve the entire southeast and bid elsewhere, too—so if someone’s researching this, they’ll come up. They did a smart thing by offering their services outside of their region.
It’s giving them plenty of ideas for content. Every question someone asks is another opportunity to make a video. And a lot of questions are repeated, proving that you can never say the same things enough, even if it exhausts you.
They’re tapping into homeowner/DIY social. I don’t know about you, but as soon as I’m ready to do a home project, I turn to social for inspiration and research. I’ve found plenty of vendors and suppliers this way, and they have a massive track record of cool projects in a million different places.
How to take inspiration: If you feel like you’re saying or showing the same thing over and over again, it’s okay! Even if you’re getting thousands or millions of views, there are going to be people who haven’t heard the message.
Also, don’t sleep on mundane or repetitive tasks. There’s probably an audience who wants to watch you do it.
The Washington Post TikTok
I’m sure someone out there would say that news isn’t boring, so I’ll reframe: the Washington Post has done a hell of a job separating itself from the rest of the boring media pack.
Not only that, they have some stellar examples on how to make dynamic, interesting talking heads.
How do they do this? They take news stories and turn them into skits to distill down the facts. It’s like a living comic strip. A dark comedy, usually.
Like this:
And this:
In a world where it’s easy to post clickbait headlines or even just boring graphics, they’ve taken things a step further and have—gasp—found a way to keep users on the platform.
Here’s the thing about media outlets: most of them rely on ad revenue to stay viable. Therefore, they want to keep pushing people back to their websites and other properties so they can collect it.
The Washington Post, however, has gone all in on content that keeps you away.
They have the same recurring cast of characters pumping out content, so you get familiar with them and start to trust them—a huge deal for reporting. You even get to enjoy their subtle running bits (ie, the girl and all the poofy-topped pens that make appearances in her videos).
But I think the thing that draws me the most is that they’ve found a way to take this infuriating, stressful thing—news and politics—and make it actually palatable. I enjoy getting updates about what’s going on in the world in this way.
How to take inspiration: If you work in a ‘serious’ industry, how can you respectfully flip it on its head? If you need to do a lot of informative content, how can you bring more of a storytelling element to it rather than talking at your audience?
Utah Department of Transportation Instagram
Nothing gets a crowd going like roadwork, amiright?
No, but for real—it’s so easy to make an account like this boring. You could take a really straightforward angle and talk about how your work is benefitting the community, or make graphic-based announcements, or post crappy fliers.
Or, you could do what the Utah Department of Transportation does.
Not only is it way too easy to make boring content, but in an industry like this one, you’re going to spending most of your time battling what I call the CAVE people—”citizens against virtually everything.”
Guys. This is huge. The CAVE people aren’t complaining—instead, there’s people in the comments asking if they’re selling merch.
This is the type of profile that exists as a public service—it’s pure communications. They need to get important messages out to the public in a way that sticks AND informs.
They’ve hit the jackpot here.
Oh, and they found a way to make learning about concrete interesting…and made a freakin’ social media icon along the way.
How to take inspiration: This is a pop culture driven approach, a situation where someone chronically online would be a perfect fit for the team. But it still needs a level of seriousness and intelligence behind it! Again—public safety is the point. The seriousness of the message is never lost in the pop culture magic, and that can be a delicate balance.
What do you think about these? Did anything give you an “aha” moment for your business?
Or, if you’re sitting there thinking, “Jen, my brain doesn’t work that way!” just know that I offer (paid) brainstorming sessions where we can hash out creative ideas for your content. Book one below!