Meme marketing
What are memes?
The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the
term “meme” in his 1976 book, The
Selfish Gene. The word is a combination of the Greek “mimeme” (something
imitated) and “gene”, pronounced to rhyme with “cream”.
In Dawkins’ definition, memes are contained in how,
“our ideas, ideals, cultures, and customs replicate themselves. Almost like a
virus, they travel from person to person through imitation, sharing, and
repetition.”
The social networks of today are perfect for
transmitting these cultural genes. If a post strikes a chord with the audience,
it can go global almost instantly. The most successful memes tend to capture a
moment, a thought, or feeling in a visual, social media-friendly format.
This timeliness does not have to exist within the
original meme; it can be added by the user, through new text, or by using it in
a new context. Take the classic “distracted boyfriend”, for example. You can’t
claim to have never seen this image - which first appeared online in 2015 -
used in some form.
What is meme marketing ?
Meme marketing is the use of memes to promote your
brand narrative. It’s a fun, low-effort way to connect with your audience and
increase your engagement rate, as memes are highly shareable.
A quick background on memes – they’re concepts,
behaviors, or ideas that spread on the internet. A meme can be any type of
media format, including a GIF, video, text-post, or basic image.
The truly successful memes spread like wildfire.
That’s exactly why marketers want to leverage these already viral pieces of
creative for their own marketing.
Another benefit to meme marketing is that it’s low
effort. Most of the work has already been done: It’s being shared all over
social media and it has a clear concept. All you have to do is fit the meme to
your brand and hit "post."
Furthermore, memes help bring communities together.
Not only are users tempted to like and comment on them, but they also want to
share them.
Now that we know the benefits of using meme marketing,
let’s get to a few examples of brand memes in the wild.
Memes Increases The Chances Of Going Viral
Going viral is undoubtedly the holy grail of brand marketing. It is more like a dream for any brand or business to create and publish content that spreads like wildfire in minutes and takes their brand to every screen. Sadly, achieving this dream with usual social media posts turns out to be almost impossible. But with memes, it is a whole different story!
Meme marketing gives your brand the perfect
opportunity to go viral. ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World’ by Dos Equis
beer is one of the best examples of viral meme marketing as per meme
marketing statistics. After the ad was released, the internet picked up the
bearded, debonair old gentlemen with voiceovers in it and turned it into one of
the most viral memes to ever exist. But remember, not all
memes go viral; only the best ones rule the internet!
Meme marketing examples
1.Netflix’s strong black lead
The brand will often take the concept behind a popular
meme and recreate it with their own image.
Netflix leverages its extensive media library to
(re)create relevant, funny memes like the one above.
2.Diamond express travels
The rapper Drake has been the face of quite a few memes. That’s likely what inspired his latest album cover, as referenced above.
The original meme shows him avoiding or disliking
something he's presented, then agreeing with the new option he's presented.
In actuality, this was taken from a music video the
artist shot as he was dancing. But we'll save the meme origin stories for
another time.
Travel agency Diamond Express Travels uses the meme to
highlight a pain point many travelers may have: The burden of planning and
booking your own vacation.
Another thing to note is their logo addition.
Because of how shareable memes are, brands are
encouraged to add their logo or name on a meme to ensure they remain top of
mind when their post spreads.
For further requirement of designing memes and many other services to improve the business, entrepreneurs can enlist the marketing services offered by skyrocket.
Comments
Post a Comment