Why is Meme Marketing Gaining Rapid Momentum Among Marketers?

Visualizing a digital world without memes has become almost unthinkable, with funny videos, vines, and reels overtaking textual content on social media. On average, a millennial spends over 200 minutes of their daily lives online. In comparison, Gen-Z’s are bound to be more attracted to their social media profiles than their older counterparts. As such, memes are being consumed at a rapid pace. 

The word meme, first coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976, refers to any cultural symbol that is transmitted across various groups like a viral infection. In the urban setting, a meme is a virally transmitted image that makes the masses feel the humor. Since the start of the pandemic, sharing memes has become the trendiest aspect of the internet. 

Social media marketing is key to the success of any ambitious business. However, branding on social media is often greeted with scorn. 

Just think about it, do people log on to social media platforms like Instagram to see brands promoting their content through blogs? Absolutely not! The younger generation uses social media as an escapade – something that is going to take their minds off their hectic lives. That is why Gen-Z’s are so opposed to brand promotion. They avoid all kinds of promotional posts. 

In light of this, marketers found an interesting way to reach out to the younger generation – meme marketing.

What is Meme Marketing?

To put it simply, meme marketing is a part of viral marketing. Through this practice, brands try to use memes to appeal to the younger generation and get them to interact with their businesses. All this is done in a very strategic manner so that brands can capture the attention of their potential customers while also staying relevant to their business’s objectives. 

Let us now talk about some examples where popular brands successfully using meme marketing:

1. Netflix: If you are an active user of social media, you must be aware of the viral ‘Bird Box’ trend that swept the internet off its feed. 

Yes, you heard it right. The popular Bird Box trend was a marketing strategy launched by none other than Netflix. It was a promotional stunt to increase user engagement and promote their latest original movie. And it worked wonders! People went crazy after the meme and used Netflix’s preferred hash-tags to contribute to the trend. All in all, it was a spectacular marketing stunt by Netflix. 

2. BarkBox: BarkBox is a fairly successful organization famed for its dog products and services. Naturally, the company has a huge number of followers who adore puppies. To leverage this situation in their favor, BarkBox has been posting cute and funny dog memes for a long time. It’s giving them a huge amount of exposure and increasing their overall stature.

3. Wendy’s: Everyone knows about this popular American fast food restaurant chain. Wendy’s Twitter presence is something that needs to be appreciated. Their feed is full of memes, jokes, and sassy humor that appeals to the younger generation’s interests. Naturally, Wendy’s success is a well-known story. 

Benefits of Meme Marketing:

So now that we know WHAT meme marketing is let us talk about WHY meme marketing is important for any business’s marketing strategy.

1. Cost Effective – It is natural for companies to be attracted to numbers. Using marketing trends that do not cost a bombshell is mouth-watering for all kinds of organizations. Meme marketing is something that burns a tiny portion of the marketing budget. The necessity for meme marketing is a team of creative employees who are up to date with the latest internet trends, and that doesn’t cost much!

2. Popularity & Engagement – Memes have a massive fan base. The craze has increased ever since the start of the pandemic in 2020. People take to their social media accounts to satiate their hunger for memes. Organizations can tap into this frenzy through the use of strategized meme marketing. And results speak for themselves, business engagements skyrockets if done the right way. 

3. Appealing Nature – Just think for yourself – would anyone like to read a 500-word blog on your product when they log into their Instagram account? No. 

The younger generation has shortened attention spans. Memes appeal to their interests for this very reason. They can view and share the memes that they like, all within 10 seconds. They are more likely to interact with meme marketing than any other form of branding. 

4. Lifespan – If the meme is creative, its lifespan can be very long. This means less effort for companies as they can recycle memes from the same trend. However, trying to revive dead memes has never worked, and organizations need to avoid doing that. 

5. Easy to Create – Creating memes is not rocket science. It doesn’t require the use of any complex software or tool. All you need is a creative mindset, a relevant image, and a cracking punch-line. Thus, memes can be pushed out at a rapid pace. 

Dos and Don’ts of Meme Marketing

Before splashing into the trend of meme marketing, an organization needs to keep in mind the following:

Dos:

• Be on the lookout for existing and trendy memes and try to connect them with your product/services. 
• Make sure that your meme lingo is on point. If not, your customers will be put off and recognize that you’re trying too hard. 
• Don’t try to construct memes that everyone would understand. Only appeal to your target audience. 

Don’ts: 

• Never try to pick up and dead or dying trend. 
• Don’t try to hop on each trend on the internet. Be minimalistic and patient. 
• Don’t delegate meme marketing to an employee who’s not in touch with the concept of memes and social media trends. 

Start Meme-ing! 

The benefits of meme marketing are immense. For a little next to nothing, your organization could scrape in tons of followers through the compelling nature of memes. Top organizations have been leveraging user interests for several years now. With memes being the primary landscape of the social media world, it’s time for your business to use them in your marketing strategy. 

Meme marketing requires next to no investment while providing pleasing returns over your long and short-term future. Now that you’ve acquainted yourself with the benefits of meme marketing, it’s time to hop on to Twitter and get to know the latest meme trends for your business!