Sometimes you think content is going to be great and it bombs. Sometimes you think something is terrible and it takes off. Over time you get a little better at predicting.
The Queen of The Dad Ally Probst is notoriously good at knowing what the audience will like. Early on she had this idea for âTag a dad to ruin his day.â We were both CERTAIN it would work.
Maybe youâve seen similar videos were they take something oddly satisfying⊠and wreck it. Like a beautiful cake being perfectly cut and then a second knife comes in and screws it all up. Ally had the idea to do this but with very dad-centric things. We talked about this before The Dad even launched but with the craziness of getting things started, didnât get to it until months later.
We ended up posting it in December 2017. Howâd it do?
23 MILLION views on FB alone! For a brand that was just getting started at that point, this was huuuuuge for us.
Not only that, but 1.7k comments, most of them tagging SPECIFIC PEOPLE IN OUR TARGET DEMO. (Honestly when we created it, I donât think we gave that part a ton of thought. But this was huge for us.)
I rushed editing to get it done because I was so excited for it. (Youâll notice there is 5 seconds of blank space at the end. Haha. Just a video editing error made in haste.)
I posted it, went to get my kids from school, and by the time I came back it was clear it was taking off.
Other accounts (Menâs Humor, Tank Sinatra, etc.) posted this vid on Instagram in December and it reallllllly boosted us.
When youâre building a social media content brand, each post is a bit of a lottery ticket. You focus on content first, content first, content first, then stick to a schedule and routine, and try to create something that takes off. This one won the content lottery.
To be honest, I wish thatâs where the Tag a dad story ended. But in true BUSINESS fashion, we squeezed every little bit of engagement we could out of the idea. Donât recommend.
So we created Tag a dad to ruin his day part 2.
I actually had something about âTag a dad AGAIN to ruin his dayâ in the copy on the video but Ally was like âNah, you canât expect everyone to remember the first. Even if they saw it, they have already forgotten it.â Thatâs a valuable social media content lesson right there. People donât care about your content as much as you do! Theyâve already forgotten. So we kept it simple.
It did pretty well.
4.4M on Facebook! And I think I like this one a little better actually. My daughter stepping in front of the TV for one of the biggest NFL finishes in a long time was my fav part of this whole series. (This isnât even related to this post but I mean câmon. Watch the Minneapolis Miracle again. Chills. And Iâm not even a Vikings fan.)
Okay, fine, but Iâm sure we stopped there, right? Nope.
Tag a dad to ruin his day part 3
A bit much. Ice water on charcoal? Um okay.
Quick reminder of 90% of why I post on social media at all: to make and record memories with my kids. My daughter and I shot all these videos together and we had so much fun doing it. Itâs a win regardless.
Guess what? There was even more footage that was abandoned. It got a little ridiculous. I took an old pair of cargo shorts, dosed em in lighter fluid, and lit them on fire.
I recall showing Ben Stumpf this and he said, âOkay but would that ruin anyoneâs day?â Hahahaha. Also, it felt⊠extremely aggressive⊠for some reason. Youâll see.
So I finally gave up on Tag a dad to ruin his day.
But Iâll never forget the thousands of followers The Dad gained because of it! Thank you angry dads.
You still reading? K just for fun letâs do a little experiment together.
Last week I posted the original Tag a dad to ruin his day on my personal Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and YouTube.
This morning I went back and dug up the discarded crap footage left on the editing floor and created Tag a dad to ruin his day part 4 with never before seen ridiculousness.
Letâs run this one and see how it does. Links below. Will show stat comparisons next week.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, YouTube
My hypothesis is that this one will bomb, hardcore. We shall see!
Have a good week everyone. If youâre a dad, I hope I havenât ruined your day.
OH NO, NOT THE CARGOS!!!! lol, absurd.