We all love a good meme, whether it’s a funny cat picture with some text over the top, or something more intricate that requires a deep understanding of a subject to enjoy. This is the great thing about memes – they are basically graphical or text-based templates that you can apply any meaning or context to. People like memes because they are funny, sometimes absurd, and above all, relatable – see below example.
We can all relate to this – the poor quality graphic does not impinge on the humour or enjoyment at all and many memes have this very basic level of resolution. This is natural with viral content, when people are making their own memes, adding their own text to images, and the same file gets copied and saved over and over again. If anything, memes that look a little rough and ready and even more authentic and relatable when compared to a slick image created by a graphic designer.
A million memes get shared every day on Instagram, and 55% of 13-35 year olds share memes every week. This kind of organic virality is not to be ignored. But how can brands leverage the power of memes in their marketing strategy?
Humour is a great tool for marketing as it helps create an emotional connection with the audience and people are more likely to remember something that made them laugh. Being humorous in marketing helps distinguish your brand from competitors and stand out in a crowded market. Funny content is also more likely to be liked, commented on and shared, leading to greater reach on social media.
Using memes in marketing is a way for a brand to show a human and relatable side to their followers. Some of the most popular memes showcase human foibles and failures – memes are a place to be honest and open, while softening the blow of a sometimes harsh reality by making a joke of potentially serious topics. This isn’t always appropriate, but if well executed, a good meme can draw people in and make them feel included. This is a very valuable marketing technique that can pay off well.
Memes can do great things for a brand when used just right, but when used too often or not in the right context, it can have the opposite effect. Trying to shoehorn a popular meme into the context of a brand where it doesn’t fit can make the brand look desperate and out of touch. In fact, this phenomenon is encapsulated by the ‘how do you do, fellow kids’ meme featuring Steve Buscemi.
In this meme, originally from an episode of 30 Rock, he is trying to be a part of a community that he is clearly not a member of. Brands who try too hard with such campaigns often find that they backfire, and they become the proverbial 55 year old man trying to blend in with school kids.
It’s quite tricky to balance the need for authenticity in marketing with the desire to use popular memes. The main thing is to think about what the target audience would relate to, and that may require some research. Look at competitors who are using memes as part of their marketing campaigns and see how successful they are with the audience.
Another important thing to do is to make sure the meme template you are thinking of using doesn’t have any untoward connotations or inappropriate meaning. The once-beloved Pepe the Frog from the webcomic Boy’s Club by Matt Furie enjoyed virality in the mid-2000s, although by 2015 this anthropomorphic frog had become a symbol of alt-right politics and white nationalism. Fast food chain Wendy’s, usually on the top of its social media game, had to delete a tweet featuring Pepe after people pointed out the frog’s fall from semi-obscurity into wild controversy. Such things cannot be controlled, so all meme-related campaigns must be vetted carefully by someone well-versed in internet culture before being posted.
‘Going viral’ basically means that a piece of content has spread quickly over the internet through organic sharing. Such exposure is usually great publicity for a brand, as their audience and the public are basically doing their marketing for them.
Making your content go viral is not simply a matter of ‘pushing the viral button’. It requires intensive knowledge of trending topics as well as the product, the brand and their audience. Most content that goes viral is a short-form video like a TikTok, images, GIFs or text-based content, e.g. a Twitter thread.
The main thing to think about is what could prompt people to share your content to the point of virality, and to do this, you usually have to be funny, entertaining, and relatable. That’s where memes can help.
User-generated content, or UGC, can be a goldmine for brands looking to show some social proof and connect with their audience in an authentic way. Brands can encourage UGC by asking their followers to send in their own content featuring the brand’s products. In an ideal world, the audience will make their own memes, unprompted, and share them with others, giving the brand some viral content without even having to do anything.
Aldi is a great example – they have fully embraced their brand quirks and are a great example of the ‘outlaw’ branding archetype. They regularly repost their followers’ photos and memes, and add their own comments, fully engaging with the audience. This level of engagement, plus their cheeky yet lovable persona, means Aldi are killing it in the social media marketing game.
Trendjacking is when a brand takes advantage of a current phenomenon, challenge, trend or event and shares content relating to it.
When there was a blackout during the 2013 SuperBowl, Oreo were quick off the mark and posted an image saying ‘You can still dunk in the dark’, which got 15,000 retweets and more than 20,000 Facebook likes.
You have to be quick for trendjacking to land right, so staying updated on current social media and global trends is essential.
To effectively use memes for brand promotion, the first thing you should do is identify your brand’s voice. Make sure any memes you do make are aligned with this and the overall brand guidelines. This will prevent coming across as disingenuous or fake. Next, identify the exact demographic your brand is aimed towards and find out what kind of memes they enjoy.
Stay abreast of current trends online as well as global or local events. Sharing a meme that had its day 8 years ago is unlikely to endear you to your audience and could make you look out of touch.
It should go without saying, but just in case, steer clear of anything controversial or offensive. There is such a thing as bad publicity and making a faux pas with an offensive meme is probably the fastest way to get it.
Don’t steal other people’s work. While a lot of memes do have an original creator and most have passed into fair use as a parody, use the template to make your own meme, don’t just pass someone else’s meme off as your own. If someone else has absolutely nailed the message you want to convey and you simply have to share it, just make sure you credit them or share their original post.
Brand authenticity is a tough line to walk, especially when you want to leverage the power of memes on your marketing strategy. You want the meme to be recognisable, but also for your branding to shine through. Try not to change the existing meaning of a meme, as this will be confusing and won’t hit the mark.
Don’t be too heavy on the marketing by including product links and CTAs along with your memes, unless it really is relevant. This will seem inauthentic and transparent and may alienate followers. Not every post should be a hard sell anyway, and definitely not a meme. Use this kind of post to show the audience that your brand is relatable and human.
There are plenty of ways you can measure the success of memes in your marketing campaigns. It can be hard to pin a hard ROI onto a social media post, but you can look at other metrics such as likes, comments and shares. Shares are how a piece of content goes viral, so this is a very important metric for meme-based marketing.
Reach, impressions, and brand awareness are also good indicators that a meme-based campaign has been successful. These help to build recognition and familiarity with your brand, and could mean the difference between someone choosing you over a competitor.
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