Memes have become the voice of social media today and are at the marketing forefront of many businesses. Both individuals and organisations recognize the marketing potential in memes and are using this in almost every branding and marketing strategy. According to a study by YPulse, around 75% of millennials today share memes, and at least 38% follow meme accounts on social media.
Amidst the rise in social media, everyone is looking for an effective meme marketing strategy. Well, you are at the right place!
In this blog, we will take you through a detailed meme marketing guide that will cover the following:
- What are Memes?
- What is Meme Marketing?
- Benefits of Meme Marketing
- How to build a Meme Marketing Strategy? – Meme Marketing Tips
- Best Meme Marketing Examples By Popular Brands
- Frequently Answered Questions
What are Memes?
Before we learn about meme marketing, let us understand the term memes. The meme was a term coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976 when he stated – How an idea could spread and have a hold-in popular culture(audience) just like genes can multiply(shareability). A meme can be a catchphrase, joke, or even a GIF/video generally derived from popular cultures such as a TV series or a movie. Here is an example of one such famous meme:
What is Meme Marketing?
Meme marketing can be defined as the usage of memes to promote your brand. It’s a fun-loving way to connect with your audience or followers and gives you a chance to engage with your readers. Memes are highly relatable and shareable to most of the audience on social media and this gives a huge edge to brands to improve their storytelling and brand narratives.
Benefits of Meme Marketing
In a world where people skip ads, it is difficult to establish a relationship with hard-to-reach customers. One such way to get to them is via memes. There are a lot of benefits of memes or meme marketing:
1. Memes are Inexpensive content
Memes are easy to create and need not be original all the time. Digital Marketers can save a lot of time and get their customers/followers engaged with existing content. Trending memes with an analogy from a TV series or movie have a high chance of going viral. One need not worry about resolution or design too much either in the case of memes.
2. Memes give high reach
One of the major advantages of using memes is the expanded reach one can get. Memes are relatable to almost everyone, and with the proper use of hashtags, they can reach a mass audience. Most importantly, meme content is more shareable than ads and helps you increase your brand presence.
3. Memes are a huge recall
We only remember things when it is highly important or something that grabs our attention. Good memes can make one stop scrolling on the phone and get engaged with it. We are more likely to remember posts that are shared by our friends or that make us laugh crazily. If it was a really good meme, there is also a high chance that the user might recall your brand. Although not all users who like your memes will be potential customers, they will recall your brand and look at what you do.
4. Memes give higher Engagement
Likes, Shares, Comments, and a Brand recall! Memes give you all these and also boost your followers on social media. Users might not even mind if now and then a meme is related to a service or product. Balance is important here. You can follow a 75/25 rule, where 75% of memes can be general and 25% related to your service/product.
How to build a Meme Marketing Strategy? – Meme Marketing Tips
Building an effective meme marketing strategy is not rocket science, but a marketer needs to keep a few important things in mind. Here are some meme marketing tips:
1. Know your Audience
This is one of the first and very old conventional marketing tips given by all marketers, which is very important. Memes are not just about building connections with the Brand and situation but also with the audience. If you create a meme that is not relevant to your audience, you might not get good engagement. Understanding the audience and knowing what they can relate to will give a high engagement.
2. A Brand Voice
Memes indirectly showcase what your Brand believes in. So, it is important to stick to the values of your Brand. Everyone wants to go with trending memes as they help in getting higher traction and better engagement. But, it is important to ensure that the meme is authentic to your Brand. Choose the memes wisely.
3. Do not get Offensive
As much fun as the memes are, ensure they are not offensive to any group or community or include some offensive words. This might backfire and will decrease your brand value and credibility. If you create any such meme, please reconsider and make the right call.
4. Simplicity
Do not complicate memes; keep it simple. No one likes complicated memes. The audience today might not spend much time understanding things. Create a meme that any person should be able to understand. Do not try to be a Cristopher Nolan’s Inception where people need to watch multiple times to understand. Keep it plain and simple.
5. Strike with the Viral trends
One of the meme marketing strategies that helps you get high traction is creating memes that are trending. The meme market is always flooded with one or the other trending meme. Try to use that to your advantage in your content marketing strategy. Ensure not impose it against your brand voice.
Best Meme Marketing Examples By Popular Brands
Meme marketing is widely used by many popular brands across the world. From memes of “The Rock” to the latest “Squid games”, brands never leave an opportunity. Let us take a look at a few meme marketing examples:
1. Netflix
Netflix’s social media team is famously known for creating viral memes. The OTT platform generally goes with memes from a movie or TV series.
2. Zomato
Zomato is an app where you order food but have a great online presence. Many follow Zomato’s social media handles just for their witty, sarcastic posts. They have risen over the last year with some amazing memes. They try to relate everything to food.
3. BarkBox
BarkBox is an online pets shopping site and is popularly known for subscription boxes. Since they are a pet store, they widely make use of the viral animal memes and dominantly use the ‘Doggo’ memes.
4. Burger King
Burger King is known for its affordable burgers across the world. They are one of the companies that are known for their customer service and they are witty as ever.
After reading this, pretty sure you have already started thinking about your meme marketing strategy. Memes are the voice of many brands today on their social media and can take you a long way ahead of your competitors if used in the right way. So buckle up and get started now!
Frequently Answered Questions
1. What is Meme Strategy?
Meme strategy is a strategy where you leverage entertaining, humorous, and shareable content in the form of memes to increase your brand presence and market your products or services to the market.
2. What companies use Meme Marketing?
Many companies or popular brands have started using memes to engage with their followers and are acting as a brand recall. A few such popular brands are Netflix, Paytm, Zomato, Mad over Marketing, Burger King, Disney+ Hotstar, Great Learning, and many more.
3. How can I learn Meme Marketing?
You can register for some free courses in Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing to kick-start your journey. Below are links to a few free marketing courses:
