Who leveraged Severance best? These brands deserve all the choreography and merriment.
Bust out the marching band, Mr. Milchick. These are the best Severance-inspired posts. Please enjoy each one equally.
Severance took over my life over the last few months. And it turns out I’m far from alone. In the streaming era, it is so difficult for a show to break through culturally, but for the first time in a long time, it truly felt like everyone and anyone was talking about Mark S. and Helly R.
And it wasn’t all Reddit theories and TikTok deep dives, either. The work — that is mysterious and important — bled through on a larger level to brands who were eager to tie their content into the cultural phenomenon.
Feeding an audience that was ravenous for more Severance content, these posts didn’t feel desperate or like a weak attempt to capitalize on a trend. They also felt appropriate for each brand's corporate culture (if your company has even sniffed inhumane moves like laying off people in favor of AI, maybe sit out the Severance discourse). Instead, the posts that stuck out and performed the best were the ones that reflected the show (a customer caricature portrait, if you will): They were thoughtful, enigmatic, detailed, and it was clear they were created by a team who is just as obsessed with the show as we all are.
Here are a few of the best. Please enjoy each post equally.
Your outie enjoys spending time at The New York Public Library
The idea: The work is important, but the secrets of the NYPL’s special collections storage shouldn’t be mysterious. This extremely well-produced video gives users a behind-the-scenes look at their climate-controlled research stacks through the lens of Lumon.
Why it works: Severance is the hook, but the inside look at a widely unknown department of the NYPL is what keeps people around. Plus, the time and care that went into the creation of this is obvious — between the font choice, the motion-activated lights, the music, and the Cold Harbor reference.
Your outie shops at Reformation
The idea: Inspired by Helly R. and Severance’s symbolic use of elevators, Reformation nonchalantly used the show as a vehicle to show off new items.
Why it works: Like the show, it’s all in the details. And all of the details say this post is very Helly-coded. So much so that one commenter said the character would wear Ref workwear – a point that feels more powerful for a follower to make as opposed to the brand stating it outright.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation does its best Ms. Casey impression
The idea: A wellness session, but make it focused on outdoor education.
Why it works: It’s the Oklahoma Wildlife Department’s pinned post for a reason right now. It’s a great way to share their message to the masses while tapping into the language of the most popular show on TV.
Fandom gives us the Parks and Rec x Severance crossover we’ve been asking for
The idea: Take a scene from Parks and Rec where Adam Scott’s character, Ben Wyatt ‘pitches’ the idea of Severance — or at least the idea of separating work life from home life — and combine it with a corresponding scene from the series.
Why it works: There had been iterations of this post floating around the internet, but they weren’t as polished as this one. Fandom took the time to create a cohesive video that perfectly merged the two shows and satisfied both of the fanbases as well. This reel earned 3.7 million views but that’s not even the best part. That honor goes to user randyinla who commented ‘Severance should’ve been called Marks and Reintegration.’
Amazon’s Invincible flies into MDR
The idea: Using a quote tweet as a prompt, the Invincible account Photoshops one of its main characters into the Macrodata Refinement department.
Why it works: There’s no better inspiration than fan/viral tweets that are already gaining steam. Invincible took things one step further and combined forces, resulting in an over-performing tweet that reached over 3 million views. But it also received some of the highest praise ever given on X with Mr. Beast chiming in with ‘never seen an account post so many bangers.’
ICYMI:
At long last Instagram users can now watch Reels at 2x speed by pressing and holding anywhere on the screen above the heart.
Facebook is “bringing the magic of friends” back to the platform with an updated friends tab that will not include any recommended content.
Retweets but make it Insta. According to Threads user sarahs.insta.secrets, Instagram is rolling out an option to repost users’ posts and stories directly into their followers’ feeds.
YouTube is switching up how views are counted -- and it's good news for creators. Now, views will count the number of times a creator’s Short starts to play or replay.
LIKE/RETWEET/SHARE/ETC
Oh what do you know, just another library absolutely crushing it on TikTok. This post from the Richwood Library showed up in my feed organically and if I ever find myself in Richwood, Ohio, (it could happen) I’m making a beeline to the public library. Here’s how an account with less than 3,000 followers struck social gold with a post that’s at 1.8 million views and counting.
You just know you’ve made it when the official Barbie account celebrates your work. And they weren’t the only big name to hop in the comments section: Microsoft 365, Swiffer, TikTok, Zola, and more, all joined in with praise.
Library content in general has found this magic sweet spot that combines humor with education. At the core of every post is some element of “what do I wish more people knew” and it’s clear they want to educate followers and non-followers alike.
It’s employee generated content that doesn’t feel coerced. Instead these are real people who believe in their mission to spread the good word about libraries, and in turn, this provides even more credibility to the videos.
For an account that launched in July of 2024, they found success relatively fast and that’s the beauty of TikTok. They’ve spent the past few months finding their voice, experimenting with content types and eventually their consistency paid off.
Make it work for you: Let them cook, as the kids say. As a concept, this video could have been a hard sell. “There will be a fakeout intro. We’ll include a Charli XCX song. There will be fun effects throughout.” But no one is on these platforms more than people working in social, so trust them to know what will perform.
Whether or not Threads has made its way into your daily rotation of social apps, there are plenty of people/brands who have found their voice on the platform and it's paying off in the form of staggering reach and huge engagement. One of those brands is a tiny little operation named @Microsoft. While they keep the majority of their social presence on X, Instagram, and Facebook buttoned up and focused on product news and updates, they’re able to loosen up and have some fun on Threads. Here’s how their recent engagement play landed:
Yes, it is an engagement play, but it’s one that isn’t a reach for Microsoft. The content relates to their core offerings and it can easily be tied into what they are and what they do.
Brands engaging with brands has become a core part of Threads. But instead of some instances on TikTok that can feel like they’re trying too hard to join a viral moment, these interactions feel more organic.
The back and forth game is a nice treat. Engagement plays are usually so one-sided that it’s lovely to see an account put in the effort and thoughtfully respond to users who are taking the time to reply.
They could come up with different riffs of these with some sort of rating system every time and they’ll always hit. Ex: Drop your favorite corporate jargon and I’ll rate it from 1-10 or Drop an industry buzzword you wish you could block from your emails.
Make it work for you: You don’t have to overcomplicate it, you just have to put in the time. Engaging with followers goes a long way in keeping them around and encouraging them to continue to reply in the future. It’s difficult to set aside time to do this, but it will never be time wasted.
Post of the week:
227,000 likes later...
Make It Go Viral 🫠 is a social media newsletter from Pennant Digital Director of Social Media Anna Fogel that hits your inbox three times a week. The Monday edition includes news, industry updates, and a breakdown of accounts doing social right. The Wednesday send features interviews with the best and brightest minds working in social media. And we close each week with a curated list of interesting social media job openings.
Share this newsletter with someone who loves social media, won't you?