The team told Bored Panda that in order to stand out online in terms of memes and humor, you have to pay attention to what your audience enjoys, involve your followers, personalize, network and credit.
"Pay attention to what resonates with your following and post more of it! Over the years, we have very much let our followers influence our content. When we first started out, '90s/nostalgia wasn't a huge focus. We'd post a nostalgic meme from time to time and began to notice that the comments became a space where people really bonded and had funny and positive interactions with strangers on the internet (shocking... I know!)," they shared.
"We started to focus on that more and, in addition to the content we posted in the feed, we created story series around nostalgic themes and launched our global treasure hunt for Nostalgia Grabs (free packs of nostalgic treasures hidden all over the world!). We absolutely post content that isn't tied to nostalgia as well, but letting our following influence our themes definitely plays a big part in growing a page on IG!"
Meanwhile, you should definitely try to involve your followers in your content somehow, and interact with them as much as possible. "We LOVE doing follower-submitted photo contests, asking followers for suggestions on songs/movies to feature in our story polls, etc., and then using their contributions and tagging them. This gets our content shared and makes people feel involved in the content rather than just observing from afar. I also highly recommend keeping a very close eye on DMs. A lot of the content we post is from creator submissions that pop up in our DMs! Also, interacting with followers and replying to DMs helps add a voice to the page and also gives you ideas of what themes people are most connecting with."
Moreover, you shouldn't forget to personalize your content, even if you're sharing things that you didn't personally create. "We put a lot of effort into writing engaging captions, pinning funny comments, and replying to people in the comment threads. Simply posting a meme and bailing isn't a way to connect with people. By hanging around, engaging, and personalizing, you show that you're present and give a human connection to a page. We've put a lot of effort into keeping things consistent through regular features and making story content feel unique to our brand," the 'Thirty AF' team explained to Bored Panda.
When you're sharing posts and memes that you didn't create, it's absolutely essential to give the original creators the proper recognition. "Don't try to take credit for content that you didn't create. Crediting and helping drive traffic to creators' pages is not only the right thing to do, it also is helpful in growing your own page!" they said that everyone wins in these situations.
"People appreciate the tags, follow, and share your original content, too. Over the years, we've actually become good friends with a lot of the creators we've connected with through IG, we just went to one of their weddings!"
The 'Thirty AF' team told Bored Panda that they actually love being in their thirties. A big part of that comes down to have a clearer understanding of what they want and what's good for them. There's a stark difference here, compared to one's twenties.
Some people might focus on health and fitness once they reach their thirties. Others prioritize mental health, looking for happiness and balance, and being themselves—authentically. As you grow older, you realize that you apologize less, do more of what you want and what meets your needs, and feel far more confident in whatever decisions you decide to make.
In contrast, they noted that, in their twenties, they worried far too much about what people thought about them, and wanted them to like them. That changes when you reach thirty. You become more comfortable: you know that you can only control so much; what others think of you is out of your control. That way, you're free to spend quality time with that people whom you genuinely care about. The 'Thirty AF' team would never let go of the upsides of turning thirty and is excited to see what their fourties will bring.
As for what the future holds, the 'Thirty AF' team has a "crazy busy and exciting 2023 planned." There are a few projects that they're working on, including a book, a podcast, and a few other things that are super secret!
What's more, they're going be back at the 90s Con this spring hosting some events and with a few booths on the floor. "If you're in Hartford, stop by and say hi!"
‘Thirty AF’ is the brainchild of Chloe Jankowitz and Peter West. They’re friends in real life!
“We've been good friends since day one of our freshmen year at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Since graduating in 2009, we've always lived far apart, in different states or sometimes in different countries,” they told Bored Panda during an earlier interview.
Despite the sometimes vast distance between them, they constantly kept in touch by sharing memes and videos with each other. Their sense of humor was very similar.
“In 2018, we decided to start Thirty AF as a fun way to share these jokes with a wider group of friends. We never really thought it would ever grow into anything more than a fun hobby, but eventually, it really started picking up and we decided to put more of our focus into figuring out what our brand was and finding creative new ways to engage our quickly growing following through reposted content and regular features that we created ourselves,” they told my colleague before.
“We both have backgrounds in marketing and media, and found that our combined skills helped us create something that stood out from other meme accounts and build a fun and engaged community of 30-somethings,” Chloe and Peter said.
The last time that Bored Panda featured the project, their Instagram page had 1.6 million followers. Now, the account boasts a jaw-dropping 2.1 million fans. It’s not hard to see why. The memes they share are as relatable as they are funny. What more could you want?
"When life changed dramatically for everyone in March 2020 and we all found ourselves spending a lot more time at home and a lot more time with our phones, we put even more energy into building Thirty AF. We grew by over 1 million followers in a single year, and it is now a full-time job for both of us," the founders of the project explained how a hobby turned into a profession.
As the page gained more and more popularity, Chloe and Peter broadened their horizons. They expanded to TikTok and created a spinoff account, called ‘Hungry AF.’ They’re constantly thinking of ways to evolve their brand.
"We run an online shop and release a yearly Nostalgia Box that is a fun mix of products from nostalgic brands like Dunkaroos and the Lisa Frank nail wraps from Orly, and also fun products featuring nostalgic references. Our 2021 box sold out in under 24 hours! We're also working on some very exciting things for 2022 including a touring pop-up event and a TV game show—we can't share a lot of info on that yet, but it is insanely exciting and something we never thought would happen!"
Over the years, the duo has changed how they manage ‘Thirty AF’ because of how time-intensive it is.
“Much of the content that we post is submitted by creators. We love meeting creators and comedians who are new to Instagram and helping drive traffic to their pages; we have networked with a ton of incredibly talented creators over the years and share their content a lot,” they said.
“We keep a close eye on meme trends and will often share roundups of the funniest memes and tweets related to trending topics. We're also part of a lot of online groups, particularly for millennials and different nostalgia groups, and a lot of content comes from there. We also create a lot of original content mostly for our stories and TikTok," they told Bored Panda.
