Meme - the new marketing language!

The usage of memes has transformed from being recreational to commercial - meme marketing has become an official medium of communication now.

Social media users always tend to avoid ads. But they can't seem to avoid the fact that they can't avoid ads on social media. They're everywhere. Even creators have started including not so subtle brand pushes.

84% of millennials don't trust traditional advertising. That is a huge chunk of your audience. When you are pushing your products, you are not attracting them, you are pushing them away.

Social media platforms have given marketers and advertisers the ability to boost and promote campaigns through sponsored content. But, the audience doesn't want a feed filled with ads and would probably skip it or scroll over.

Enter - Memes

So how do you advertise to the audience who doesn't want to see ads? One of the effective methods is to turn the ad into a meme.

Memes can make anything popular. It can make an egg popular, it can make a movie popular, it can make a bag popular and it can also make your brand popular.

Meme is not just an image, video or a piece of text anymore. It has become the dialect of communication on social media and a form of advertising. Internet memes grew in the mid-1990s, evolved with the internet and video memes became popular with YouTube in 2005.

A trending image and a piece of text can do more than you'd expect. Feeling tired? Share a meme about it and people would know how you're feeling, without you saying it.

Similarly, want to announce the offers you have available? Share a meme about it.

Brands have used memes as a vernacular to either promote their products or share instances that revolve around their brand.

Memes affect the psychology of your viewers and may transform your audience into your target audience. They also help the brand communicate with the users in their language, helping the brand appear as a pal.

Zomato targets feelings like being hungry (almost) all the time, hilarious instances shared between friends and family related to food while subtly sliding in their offers.

Like this one above, the meme visually shows the feelings provoked when you find out you have to pay the bill. They subtly also plugged in the certainty that they are offering a product for outdoor dining at a discounted rate.

The video was a part of their own advert, making the meme original. Although, they also keep up with topical trends and popular templates.

Comedy Central is another player in the game. Their stills from the catalog of shows that dominate pop culture are used for relatable references.

How to execute a Meme Marketing Campaign?

A meme is not an ad but can act like one. It is supposed to gain engagement but can also gain conversion.

Having a quick turnaround is a significant factor in determining the success of this strategy. The brand should have sufficient resources to create and put out memes in real-time, as we see a new topical wave almost every other day.

The perk you as a brand gain when you turn around briskly is the engagement you attain while the topic is trending and being spoken about widely.

Another important specification while executing this strategy is to create the memes in good taste. Destructive criticism or below the belt digs, attacks on gender, race etc. should be avoided.

Such content may gain backlash and along with you losing your target audience, you may also lose the customer base you already have. The negative reactions may come at the same speed you wanted to gain positive ones.

Further to be successful, the memes need to be relevant and relatable, adding share value to it. You also need to understand that the meme shouldn't be overtly promotional. The thin edge of engaging and promotional is really thin but you need to learn how to walk on this edge of sword.

So far, we've seen meme marketing through one tactic, now let's explore a different tangent.

Brands also plant memes that promote themselves on meme pages that are relevant to them or have a lot of following, to increase their engagement and expanding their audience.

Most social media users follow a ton of meme pages. Planting memes(ads) relating to your brand through these pages, is a natural placement of an ad.

Though, the specifications like age, gender, geography, income, etc. of your target audience should coincide with the audience of the page you're looking to distribute your content through.

Last few years of marketing has taught us that memes are not just meant to be shared for humor purposes, they can also increase a brand's reach and influence.

Also Read: Occasion Marketing campaigns that still spark festive vibes

Netflix India

Zomato

Comedy Central India

Barkbox

Seamless

Mutual Funds Sahi Hai

ALTBalaji

Moschino

Power of memes as a marketing vehicle has been proved time and again - how far & how innovatively the meme marketing language goes will be interesting to see.

Memes are much more than a creative or a video that we share with friends. Memes have evolved into a mode of communication and a benchmark of virality. For a better understanding of Meme Marketing, tune in for the 6th edition of #SMLive on June 30, 2022.

Speakers such as Arihant Jain CEO at WubbaLubbaDubDub and Nikhil Jain, Co-Founder at Stonks Studios spill the beans.

Register Now.