April Fools Day 2021: Tracking Aprils Fools Pranks by Brands using Brand Moran Social Listening Tool
April Fools Day is celebrated annually on 1st April. April Fools’ Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes and brands have been pulling pranks on their customers. According to Ann Gynn, a content marketing consultant, through a post in Content Marketing Institute, Fool’s day, gives brands a reason to breaks the rules – crafting fake content, writing absurd headlines, and even promoting faux products.
Putting that in mind, we are into the second year in the pandemic, and some brands like Google canceled April Fools day two years in a row because of the pandemic. However, some brands gave us some pranks that some people probably fell for it, from Friends of Karura Forest to the Star Newspaper announcing President Obama’s arrival.
At Brand Moran, we began tracking the Fools day pranks before and after April Fools day 2021 so that we could know posts that were pranks and brands that would admit past Fool’s day that were pranks.
The Keywords and Hashtags We Tracked:
- #Aprilsfoolsday
- Fools Day
- April Fools’ Day
The Sources We Tracked
We tracked the April Fools Day keywords and hashtags on Twitter and Web mentions. As for web mentions, Brand Moran can track keywords on over 100 websites, including all local dailies and popular Kenyan blogs.
We tracked
- Twitter Mentions
- Web Mentions
April Fool’s Day 2021 Pranks in Kenya
Here are some of the pranks that our social listening and digital monitoring tool identified
1. The Star Kenya News on Obamas landing in Kenya
The term “Obama” was trending in Kenya on 1st April 2021, thanks to The Star Kenya tweet link. The Star Kenya pranked their readers that President Barrack Obama and his family would be landing in Kenya to attend his late grandmother Mama Sarah Obama’s burial rites. Brand Moran found matches in the reply section that it was a prank.
2. Kiss 100 Kenya Announced Kamene Goro’s Pregnancy
Kiss 100 Kenya posted a tweet congratulating their morning breakfast show presenter Kamene Goro for her pregnancy, but it was a prank. Our tool found out in comment sections mentions that it was a fool’s day prank.
3.Tusker Kenya Introducing Tusker Sufuri
Tusker Kenya posted a graphic that they were introducing Tusker Sufuri, a non-alcoholic lager. One of the tweeps was able to note that it was a prank.
4.ODM Leader Raila Odinga submitting ODM presidential application
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party stated on their social media platforms that Hon Raila Odinga, Governor Oparanya, and Governor Ali Hassan Joho would battle it out for the 2022 presidential ticket, and they had submitted their applications. Brand Moran, through web mentions, noted that Hon Raila Odinga did not apply. It was a prank.
5.Karura Forest Monkey Wearing Mask
A prank that sounded real and many online users fell for it was a post by Friends of Karura Forest. In the post, they said that a Skyes’ monkey had been spotted in Karura forest wearing a facemask demonstrating imitative behavior. Through replies, some comments matched April Fools Day keywords that the Brand Moran social listening tool tracked.
6.Ghetto Radio Acquiring A Helicopter Plane for Business & Expansion Program
The last prank that caught our attention was a post by Ghetto Radio, saying they had acquired an 18 capacity H17 helicopter plane for business & expansion program. The replies matched out tracking keyword fools day, and again it was a prank
Why Does it Matter?
As a brand tracking direct and indirect your competitors’ activities online gives you a competitive advantage. You will know the strategies they are using, how they are performing online and their weaknesses that you can capitalize on.
Book a demo at info@brandmoran.com and start tracking keywords, hashtags relating to your brand and your competitors.
