# Transcript: Featured Session: From Meme to Meaning: Making the Most of Accidental Virality **Date:** March 15, 2026 · 10:00 PM **Session:** [Featured Session: From Meme to Meaning: Making the Most of Accidental Virality](/sessions/2026-03-15/pp1162470-featured-session-from-meme-to-meaning-making-the-most-of-accidental-virality) ## Summary A panel featuring social media leaders from Nuuly, Graza, and newsletter Lincoln Bio explored how brands navigate unexpected viral moments. Through case studies of a subway incident, an olive oil disaster, and the PetSmart metal song, they revealed that the best responses match the audience's energy, move fast with leadership trust, and prioritize authenticity over corporate polish. The conversation also tackled the shift from follower-based to interest-based algorithms and why serialized content beats trend-chasing. ## Topics `viral marketing` · `social media strategy` · `brand voice` · `influencer marketing` · `content creation` · `tiktok` · `brand authenticity` · `community management` ## Key Takeaways 1. Virality is not a strategy — shareability is. Focus on making content people want to share, and virality becomes a result rather than a goal. 2. Non-follower views are up while follower growth is down. Every piece of content should pass the test: why would someone who doesn't follow us care about this? 3. When a viral moment hits, match the audience's energy rather than defaulting to corporate voice. Let the moment breathe before responding — sometimes doing nothing is the right call. 4. Stop chasing every trend. Instead ask 'what show could we make?' — serialized, trend-agnostic content reduces burnout and builds the 'my show is on' engagement that algorithms reward. 5. Build trust with leadership before viral moments happen. Establish guardrails in advance so your social team has license to move fast without lengthy approval chains when the moment arrives. ## Full Transcript When a Nuuly customer sat in human waste on the New York subway while wearing rented Nuuly jeans, the brand faced an unexpected viral moment. Kim Gallagher, Nuuly's Executive Director of Marketing, let it breathe over the weekend rather than rushing a response. On Monday, the creative team used the same meme format to respond from the social media manager's perspective, hitting key messages: the jeans were removed from circulation, cleaning protocols are stringent, and customer service had already reached out. The response itself went viral, becoming one of Nuuly's peak brand awareness moments and driving signups. Graza, the olive oil brand, sprinted to capitalize on a viral story about someone's disastrous olive oil hair mask. They found the creator in New York, created a custom illustration called 'Flip and Tizzle' showing their mascot with a saran wrap head slipping on olive oil, had it printed locally, and delivered it to the creator's door in olive oil costumes — all documented for social. Days later, they helped her redo the hair mask successfully. The speed was key, and their leadership structure enabled it by trusting the team to run without lengthy review processes. Rachel Carton of the Lincoln Bio newsletter highlighted a fundamental shift in social media: follower growth is down but non-follower views are up. Interest-based algorithms mean a post from someone with 2,000 followers can get millions of views. Brands need to stop creating content for existing followers and start asking: why would someone who doesn't follow us care about this? Influencer marketing becomes the targeted bottom-funnel approach while the main page serves top-funnel discovery. The panel agreed that brands doing 'messaging karaoke' — singing along to every trend without their own voice — get into trouble. Graza leans into chaos and approachability; their packaging wasn't designed for social but became central to their social strategy. Nuuly balances fun with reliability since they're a rental service that depends on trust. The shared advice: hire genuinely funny people, because you can't fake wit. AI can't replace the instinct for what's authentically funny. A key insight emerged about the relationship between social teams and leadership. Rachel observed that 70% of McDonald's feed was campaign-related content, often dropped to social managers as afterthoughts. The best brands let social teams into campaign concepting from day one. Gap hired a separate director just for the 'making of' content. For brands where execs 'don't get the jokes,' the solution is building trust through clear guardrails in advance, then having license to operate quickly within them. On platform strategy, Nuuly's Kim chose Pinterest for its optimism and conversion rates. Graza's Gabby chose TikTok for its fun, low-stakes chaos. Rachel advised brands toward Instagram for stability amid TikTok's ownership uncertainty. All agreed threads works mainly for fandoms (sports, entertainment) but feels like talking to a wall for consumer brands. The panel challenged the pressure to post daily. Rachel advocated for posting only when you have something worthy of someone's feed, reducing burnout. She also suggested brands stop chasing every trend and instead ask: 'What show could we make?' Serialized content — like a coffee shop documenting their fall menu development — gets people commenting 'my show is on,' which is the ultimate engagement signal. The lifespan of trends isn't necessarily shorter; there are just more of them, and a clever twist a week late beats a generic response on day one. --- *Source: stt · Language: en · Model: claude-opus-4-6* [← Back to session](/sessions/2026-03-15/pp1162470-featured-session-from-meme-to-meaning-making-the-most-of-accidental-virality)