Whether or not you think Twitter is in a death-spiral, the site is a popular place for thought-leaders, entertainers, and brands to interact with the people who they want to reach. It’s also a great site for parody accounts to skewer thought-leaders, entertainers, and brands. If you are a brand marketer, a parody Twitter account might be a nightmare. After all, who wants to see an account that mocks your customer service issues go viral? Still, there are lessons to be learned from parody Twitter accounts. Successful parody accounts are funny and studying them can be a good way of determining your brand’s comedic voice. Also, they can show legitimate criticism of your brand that you can address in real-time, allowing you to turn satire into a brand win.
Without further ado, here are five of the best parody accounts on Twitter.
@mayoremanuel
When Rahm Emanuel ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2011, an anonymous Twitterer (later revealed to be local journalist Dan Sinker) set up the satirical Twitter account @mayoremanuel that detailed a fictitious, hilarious version of Emanuel’s journey to the mayor’s office. The account eventually accrued 43,000 followers, more than Emanuel’s real Twitter account.
@BronxZoosCobra
Much like @mayoremanuel, @bronxzooscobra took a news story, specifically, the escape of a cobra snake from the Bronx Zoo, and turned it into a fictitious adventure for the Cobra. The snake got into various predicaments throughout New York City before the Zoo recaptured it and returned it to its enclosure. This account is still active.
@probirdrights
Since 2011, Bird Rights Activist, @probirdrights, has presented somewhat nonsensical tweets revolving around bird rights. Specifically, the Birds Right Activist tweets about bird rights from the perspective of… well… a bird. It’s nonsensical, bizarre, and completely hilarious.
@feministhulk
The Incredible Hulk stole the show in 2012’s hit film “The Avengers.” On Twitter, the parody account “Feminist Hulk” portrays Hulk-ed out versions of screeds from feminist philosophy.
@NotCoatFactory
Burlington Coat Factory has to deal with “NotCoatFactory,” a parody account of their social media presence. @notcoatfactory is such an effective send up of Burlington Coat Factory that they have twice the number of followers on Twitter as the actual account for BCF.
