Before, it was all just about a virtual dancing baby in your email, trying to entertain you in some strange and somehow creepy, however new it was during the time. Now, memes –particularly Internet memes– are no longer considered as a simple culture-spreading phenomenon, but rather a way of life and a state of mind.
That being said, the popularity of this popular culture movement became so powerful, it somehow influenced the paradigm shift of marketing and advertising models in general, be it on print, TV, radio and on the web. Its emergence became widely accepted as social media’s own voice for practically “every word of mouth” that it has over the internet. And perhaps this plethora of “concepts, ideas, behaviors, puns, characteristics and/or information” in the form of Bad Luck Brians, Conspiracy Keanus, Condescending Wonkas and Rage Comics is the reason why some, if not most of the best internet marketing firms and business owners nowadays are capitalizing on this trendy idea in reaching their target market, prospect niche and potential leads.
“Why Use Meme?” You May Ask
For one thing, internet memes have the ability to be passed from one person to another, as it crawls and spreads like wildfire by means of a simple click of a share from one person to another. Its capability to trigger a sudden blast of interests to the general public can easily pinpoint the right market, niche and/or prospect for your brand –hence, raising awareness (creating a buzz if you will) for your business.
A particular meme has a certain characteristic of being viral is what makes it a perfect online marketing/advertising tool. Aside from this, creating one is practically easy, especially if you consider the planning, deliberation and cost-efficiency.
Internet Marketing Firms Can Benefit From Memes
In the recent study, it shows that more and more people are spending their past times and breaks scrolling over their mobiles and devices, just browsing for pretty much anything and everything under the sun through various social media platforms. So, it is pretty much safe to say that there’s a little possibility that these legion of social media savvy individuals won’t see a piece of internet meme on a single day.
In relation, with the vast media channels all over the information superhighway, the utilization of memes in internet marketing –more specifically in social media and SEO– can create a direct, accessible and casual interaction with the audience. Moreover, the meme’s entertainment value engages customer to take a curious look at the brand/company that’s associated with it. As a result, this will convert to greater numbers of shares, comments, retweets, reblogs and pins coming from various social media platforms.
And the best part about employing meme to your marketing strategy? It’s virtually free!
Here’s The Challenge
Now, just because it’s easy to create one, it does not mean that it will generally work for your business, or brand to say the least. Remember, humor isn’t always good. For this to work, one must study and determine the perfect image, video and tagline that will be associated with the meme to effectively associate this to the brand. It is also a-must to put yourself in your niche’s shoes to have a better grasp of the success rate of your planned meme-driven campaign. Bear in mind that the content must be engaging, entertaining and at the same time, covers the parameters of what exactly you want to express to the audience.
Understand Each Meme and Gauge Potential Backfires
On the other hand, Internet memes have the capability to downgrade the integrity and the credibility of a specific business as well, in most cases if this fad is misused or had gone overboard. Business owners have to understand the demographics that they are catering to before deciding to apply this to their strategy.
Another thing is that image/macro memes in particular, utilizes images, mostly from general pop culture references such as movies, TV shows and the likes; as well as from personal obscurities of internet users like self-deprecating/self incriminating images and videos, most of them are privately-owned.
Ergo, in some cases, permissions for the use of photos and even ready-made meme templates are now being required by the owners and meme generating sites, otherwise it may cost your business a hefty wad of cash over some legal actions due to copyright infringements. Okay, given that it is aforementioned above that it is free, it does not necessarily equate to having the right to excessive use of pre-made memes you see on the internet, particularly for direct commercial use.
If You Decide To “Meme” It
The best way to do this is to create your own. That way, your creativity will be put to the test. And although it will be difficult for you to create your own “persona” and capture the same essence of the meme you ought to use for your campaign, it is better that you might as well have your own version than to face legal issues in the end. It is a trial-and-error of course. But then again, so does online marketing. And creating something out of thin air to promote your business is the main job.