Every day I open my LinkedIn… well, that’s a lie. Let’s start again, every hour I open my LinkedIn and without fail within the first few posts what do I see? Memes are being used as marketing tools. Now I am certainly not complaining because who doesn’t love a meme? But are they really the future of marketing?
Firstly, what is Meme Marketing? It’s using a meme to highlight brand narrative over social media and within the meme community. Believe it or not, the meme community is vast there are even meme influencers! For those of you who do not know what a meme is, a meme is an image or a video which shows a specific audiences’ thoughts and feelings.
The next question is why? Why memes and why now? Well, the world is changing, social media marketing is more important than ever and to market your brand successfully you need to keep up to date with how your audience wants to be communicated with!
Obviously, brands are targeting a range of different audiences but that does not change the fact that social media is a powerful marketing tool. As the way, we communicate and entertain ourselves changes, brand marketing strategies must also change. For example, there is no point in running an advertising campaign directed at 20–25-year-olds over the radio because they almost exclusively use music streaming websites.
That said, different brands have different target audiences but what do all those audiences have in common? Online Media! The difference with the audience is the platforms they use and communicate on. Therefore, with any form of online marketing, we must look deep into the analytics of the audience in order to understand the various platforms they use which enables us to target the best performing system for your marketing budget.
No matter what platform you use you will find memes, even in the most unlikely of platforms. Just when you thought you could escape them on Pinterest or LinkedIn, they will look for you, they will find you, and they will make you laugh!
Brands these days want to disguise their Ads, they, therefore, get you to laugh at their memes instead and bang, there it is, an ad in full camo mode. It’s a stealth operation but a very successful one!
A lot of brands don’t really understand this as a potential marketing channel and have therefore yet to break into the meme marketing sphere. They still believe TV ads, Radio, influencers, and billboards are the best form of advertising and, depending on their market, they may be correct however, this is an effective and free marketing tool that should form part of your outbound strategy. Don’t be lulled into thinking memes only appeal to the younger generation, my nan sends me more memes than my friends do!
So, let’s consider that meme marketing is a route you’d like to explore but you have no idea where to start? Here are my top tips to help you dive into the meme marketing pool.
- There is a multitude of meme influencers! Have Google check them out for you and give them a follow. Here are a couple of the most popular meme accounts, @epicfunnypage and @memezar.
- Use your company’s junior team. Generally speaking, they’re probably the most up to date in the meme world. Speak to them and see how they can help.
- Don’t try too hard! Don’t force the meme. If it isn’t funny or if it doesn’t flow, then don’t use it! There will always be more memes and you’ll know when it’s right.
- This is important: if you don’t understand the meme then please do not use it! You don’t want to look silly!
- Please do not treat meme marketing as another way to smother your followers with Ads! Yes, it can be successful for some Ads, but it should only ever form part of your marketing mix.
- I think this one is a bit of a given: do not rely on memes as your only marketing tactic. The brands with the best marketing campaigns use a variety of marketing tools.
Meme marketing may be the new kid on the block for marketing opportunities but, for some audiences, this is the past present and future. So, get with the program and try it, it may just work for you. If you’re still not sure, get in touch with us at Crowdify Social team to talk about how we can support your social media campaign with meme marketing and a whole lot more.
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