Did you know that meme marketing is a thing? Yep. Businesses are using memes strategically in their marketing.
So, what makes memes special?
When we’re told that the average person spends nearly 2 hours on social media EVERY DAY, you can see why creating content that cuts through the scroll is important.
And people (apparently) love memes.
According to Google Trends, “memes” are becoming a more popular search term than “Jesus”, although they are not yet as popular as “chocolate”.
Surely there’s a meme in that!!!
Basically, it’s the way they are able to quickly communicate attitudes, feelings and situations. And usually in a funny way. And we all know humour is an extremely effective way of cutting though all the promotional activity that is out there.
If you’re on social media for your business, and are posting organically, you are most likely getting low engagement. Especially when compared to a few years ago. This low engagement is usually due due to the never-ending changes of the dreaded algorithms And, let’s be honest, very few of us have time to keep up with the changes, and make the required changes to keep your engagement up. (That’s why you need people like starfish marketing – we do it for you. Please excuse the shameless self-plug.). Anyway, I digress.
Memes can cut through and “stop the scroll”, engaging people (your audience) so they comment or share your posts.
If your meme marketing is effective (engaging) it can help spread the word about your business because your customers and audience will comment and share on social media.
What is meme marketing?
Meme marketing is more than sharing memes on your business page. Meme marketing should provide value for your audience through entertainment.
Good meme marketing isn’t overly promotional either. You can use memes to create a laugh whicl including a casual reference to your brand.
When done correctly, meme marketing can be very successful. They can engage your target market and help to build authenticity and the identity of your business and brand.
Good memes won’t feel like an ad or a promotion. And while they can engage your audience by being funny, or clever, or irreverent, the trick with meme marketing is to make sure you are not attracting an audience that aren’t actually interested in your business or products. This is why knowing who your target market is, is very important. It’s also why you shouldn’t make every social media post a meme!
Did you know that meme’s can trend? How many memes of “Brace Yourselves. Winter is Coming” have you seen? It’s certainly a long trending meme.
How do you create a meme?
Well there’s a stack of platforms out there to help you create your memes. We use, Imgfip.com. (note, we don’t have an association with them, we just find the platform easy to use).
When you’ve chosen your platform, there’s usually two types of memes you can create. Use an existing meme (perhaps a trending one) or create your own.
When using an existing meme you need to make sure that your content is funny and original. OH, and make sure you fully understand a meme before using it. It’s sort of like emoji’s. You don’t want to be posting eggplants everywhere.
You should also make sure the meme’s are aligned to your brand, both from a visual and language (tone) point of view
Creating your own memes is more challenging, but they can be more reflective of your business and brand. The important thing to remember is, like using an existing meme, your image and language need to be ‘on brand’.
So make sure your meme is going to be appealing to your target market. There’s no point putting meme’s out there to engage people who are not your ideal customer.
How do you do meme marketing?
Start with a sense of humour! 😊
Actually, you should start with a strategy. Understand if meme marketing is going to work for you.
Yep, it’s question time again.
- Will meme marketing appeal to your target market? If not, then perhaps don’t do it.
- If it does, what are you looking to achieve?
- How will you use memes to engage your audience?
- What platforms will you use?
- Will you use existing memes or create your own?
As always, have a strategy behind your approach and a plan on how you will carry out your meme marketing.
