Memes are on the rise, being one of the most powerful social media marketing strategies. There are millions of memes that are posted daily across all social media. Initially these were only funny and used as inside jokes but now brands make use of unique humour in the form of memes to promote and boost their social media following. Before diving into the benefits of marketing with memes, let us take a closer look at what memes are.
Meme (pronounced as meem) A meme is a conceptual joke or catchphrase that is shared online for humorous purposes. But internet meme, it refers to an image or video having a definite humour, style and concept which usually go viral on the internet. The copy changes, but the style and concept of the image remains the same. Most memes usually take the format of an image, but they can also be videos or just text. Memes have been around since the early-mid-1990s when the internet was becoming popular but in recent years have exploded and show no signs of stopping. It has the ability to go viral and increase brand exposure. Memes are now being utilized by brands as their one of their core social media strategies.
Any expression, act, or words that are most relatable amongst your target audience can make great memes. Relatability is important, for something to become a meme. Evidently, how relevant or on point, a joke is in your meme depends on how well your target audience are known to you. You can pick any trending meme and make one out of it with a joke that is specific and relatable to your audience. A good meme pairs a high-quality visual with text as quality is crucial. Without it, a good meme might miss its chance at going viral. Well, the copy of a meme of the text you pair with the image is equally important.
Products and services can be marketed through memes that will help them connect with the audience, much better than the tradition ways of marketing. Going viral is the scenario that every brand and business dreams of. Memes are specifically good at targeting the younger generation witty, weird, and confusing humour. Meme marketing is cost effective. The basic need for meme marketing is an individual creative and innovative enough to develop eye-catching memes, accessibility of the internet and a device to create memes. Memes are easy to create and promote, which helps to reach a larger audience faster.
Companies like Apple have inculcated meme marketing to expand the reach of their Airpods. These wireless earphones have become a huge hit with consumers and have even become a status signal like with most Apple products. Although it’s not 100% clear if these memes were created by Apple or user-generated, the memes have still had a big impact on their brand exposure, reaching over a million users worldwide.
Now that you have a good understanding on how companies use memes to market their products, services, and brand. Don’t wait anymore. Go ahead and make some original quality memes and share it with your audiences.