WHEN BRAND ‘FAN’ ACCOUNTS MAKE SENSE
The TL;DR: Brands are expanding beyond official accounts to create brand-run “fan accounts” designed for lo-fi, niche content targeted to distinct fandoms. In the era of the algorithm, there are pros and cons to creating secondary accounts to test community-driven ideas instead of making it part of the official account’s strategy.
In a time of turbulent news cycles and overwhelming social media feeds, 51% of consumers believe that it is important for brands to provide community in their lives. We’ve seen brands build dedicated communities by leaning into trends, reactive content, comment sections, but some are taking it a step further: allowing fans to see the brand through a less official lens by creating their own “fan pages” that they (not so secretly) run.
Artists have adopted similar tactics to provide more personal spaces for loyal fans — musicians like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Pink Pantheress use burner accounts to share lo-fi, exclusive content and foster deeper connections. Even Netflix launched a “Finsta.” Now, Spirit Airlines and Arby’s are two brands with notable fan pages (@not_spiritairlines and @arbysboys), sharing unpolished and unhinged content from the POV of diehard fans or employees. As algorithms shift toward interest-based predictions, this method allows for testing insights that resonate, but could be deemed too risky or off-brand for a corporate aesthetic.
For Arby’s Boys, this method has resulted in 38.1k followers on Instagram and over 100 million organic views in six months. Despite disclosing their connection to the brand through hashtags like #arbyspartner, strong engagement on the page implies that fans may not immediately be turned off by the idea of a potential sponsorship if the content feels real and is entertaining.
This strategy could work for more buttoned-up brands who want to test content around the topics and themes they know their audiences love, but don’t fit into current strategy. Expanding beyond the main page could be an opportunity to lean into self-awareness, edgier humor, or niche insights without traditional corporate social pressures. For brands whose primary goal is to build up their existing communities and deepen fan loyalty, this could be an inventive way in.
However, for brands that are still getting to know their audiences or grow their main accounts, it’s wiser to continue testing and learning on main to identify the strongest niches. Whether or not your brand deems a secondary page is necessary, the rising popularity of brand-led burners among consumers is signaling a deep desire for humanity – lo-fi, unpolished, and creator-centered breaks out of the brand noise, standing out in automated feeds. You might not need to create a secondary account — just loosen up on the main one.
A snapshot of buzz-worthy communities and fandoms to guide community engagement
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Four must-click links that crossed our feeds today.
Euphoria Season 3’s shocking Nate and Cassie wedding episode included way more than $50,000 worth of flowers.
Ariana Grande announced a new album, petal, coming July 31!
The rise of the “bookish” or intellectual influencer: audiences are seeking deeper, expertise-led content over fast, AI-driven, product-heavy posts.
StockX launched a new service that lets users buy and resell sneakers on the platform without ever physically owning or shipping the product.
TV/Streaming - Stream the first two episodes of Apple TV’s new horror comedy Widow’s Bay (April 29) or watch all seven episodes of Netflix’s reimagining of Man On Fire (April 30). On Saturday, May 2, catch The 152nd Kentucky Derby on NBC.
Movies: Highly anticipate sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters this weekend.
Music: Albums dropping May 1 include Zara Larsson’s deluxe edition of her 2025 album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip, Kacey Musgraves’ seventh studio album Middle of Nowhere, and Isaiah Rashad’s It’s Been Awful.
