Why Memes Matter: Their Influence on Digital Advertising

You immediately stop scrolling once you see a funny and humorous post on your social media feed!

What else do you do? You probably like it and share it with your network. And why not?

Everyone loves a good laugh. Plus, something humorous instantly captures our attention and uplifts our spirits. That's what forms the crux of Memes. A quirky and witty image or short video – memes – is taking the digital world by storm.

What started as jokes and fun posts has now transformed into one of the best ways to captivate attention and get your message across in a more memorable way.

Interestingly, memes are the second most shared social media content, and a meme campaign has a 14% higher CTR than email marketing. Not to mention, brands from Netflix to Zomato, Uber to Swiggy– every big name in the market are tapping into the power of meme marketing to achieve digital success.

Read on to learn what memes mean, how they influence digital advertising success, and how to create an effective meme strategy.

What is Meme Marketing?

Meme marketing is using memes or humorous content to promote your brand. A meme can be any type of media format that spreads virally, primarily through the internet. It's often visual-heavy and paired with clever text that resonates with the audience.

Although memes are witty and funny, try not to come across as offensive or disrespectful. Sensitivity and relatability are essential when using memes as a marketing tool.

The Power of Memes In Digital Advertising

Regarding digital advertising, memes are a popular and incredibly effective addition. When people see a funny post, their brain releases endorphins - natural mood enhancers. As such, memes allow brands to elicit laughter from their audience and make them feel good – which ultimately enhances their experience and leads to satisfaction.

To put it simply, memes have a positive impact on your campaigns and come with immense capabilities, such as:

1. Higher Virality and Reach

The primary goal with advertising or marketing campaigns is to go viral, and what better way to do this than with memes? Not only do they help to tickle your funny bone, but the context behind them also fosters relatable emotions within your target audience.

Once a person in your audience relates to your meme, they will share it with their network, especially with those who find it appealing, boosting virality and enhancing reach.

2. Fosters a Sense Of Community

Almost anyone can come up with a meme, and you can use this to your benefit by allowing your audience to run with your meme and create their own variation. This helps cultivate a sense of community where like-minded individuals share their own interpretation of your meme, boosting your engagement. Also, with every reaction, comment, and share, you will know how well your target audience has received your message.

3. Humanises Your Brand

When businesses use meme marketing, they inevitably reflect their human side. They're making the brand more approachable by creating unique, funny, and witty content - and less corporate uptight professionalism.

Your memes also do not have to be funny—they can be insightful and thought-provoking. This will help showcase your unique brand voice and authentic idea, helping you connect with the audience on a personal level. For instance, see Bangalore and Mumbai traffic police authorities—they often use memes on their Twitter to spread awareness on things like road safety.

4. Captures Attention Quickly

Memes are witty one-liners that are easily consumed, making them perfect for the fast-paced world of digital advertising. In a world where humans' attention spans are shrinking, memes can capture and hold people's attention in a matter of seconds. In particular, memes help deliver in-depth content more creatively and crisply.

5. Makes You Memorable

If your meme content is innovative, entertaining, and resonating with your audience, it will be remembered for a long time. Moreover, if it becomes viral, most content creators will use it. As more and more people create and share your meme, your brand becomes more memorable, indirectly translating to increased brand awareness.

Meme Marketing: Best Practices On How to Get It Right?

Given the popularity and simplicity of memes, it could be tempting for you to start straight away. But if you want your memes to work and not make you stand out like a sore thumb, you must be careful and pay attention to details when creating one.

Here are a few practices that you can follow to get a hang of meme marketing and get it right:

1. Stay On Brand

As with any advertising strategy, you must ensure your memes align with your brand. The thing with viral trends is that everyone wants to be a part of it. However, not every viral meme will be a suitable fit for you. Be careful about the memes you create and see if they sync well with your overall brand tonality, messaging, and content theme.

For instance, a political or thought-provoking meme won't be such a good idea if you're a lifestyle brand. You must opt for something fun and light-hearted that goes with your brand narrative.

Check out Zomato meme marketing. Almost all their memes go viral and accurately represent their witty and light-hearted brand voice and messaging.

2. Keep It Simple & Relevant

When designing a meme, keep it simple and relevant. Try not to pick an old popular meme and repurpose it for your brand just for the sake of meme marketing. You must ensure that whatever post you're coming up with is relevant.

Also, given the audience's limited attention span, keep your content easy to understand - as no one would spend much time understanding a single post. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating a meme:

• Keep it short and sweet

• Use simple-to-understand, large text

• Make certain the meme is still recognisable after customising it

• Don't attempt to change the meaning behind the original meme

• Avoid adding CTA in your meme

• Prevent from poking fun at a competitor or specific community

3. Watch Out For Viral Trends

There is always something going on in social media. If the buzz is relevant to your brand's niche, you can create memes and give people something to laugh about. Also, please keep track of any new show or movie coming, as they're often part of viral memes.

Watch out for the events around you and create a meme about them before anyone else.

For instance, the recent Cricket World Cup saw a stream of memes making their way into social media feeds. From brands like Zomato to Fevicol, everyone tapped into the World Cup's popularity to create engaging and brand-relevant memes.

4. Participate In Meme Challenges

A great way to secure success with meme marketing is to participate in meme challenges and contests on social media proactively. These often spread like wildfire, and if your business can use them to promote its brand, it'll be able to capture a lot of attention.

One popular meme challenge was the Ten-Year Challenge, which involved taking pictures of people showing how they looked now and ten years ago.

With that said, you can also come up with your meme challenge. Brands can easily engage customers with a "caption this" contest, offering them a stimulus to develop their own memes.

5. Make Your Own Meme Template

While repurposing popular meme templates is an excellent way to increase awareness, creating your meme template is worthwhile. If you can take a particularly "meme-able" picture of your product, you can use it to make your meme. If done right, you can increase the likelihood of your content going viral and shared by everyone.

In addition, meme marketing does not only work when brands are riding on a trend. You can incorporate memes into your marketing strategy rather than using them as a moment marketing tool. Brands can create engaging and unique memes to create hype around their offerings or simply raise awareness.

For instance, Netflix uses memes routinely to create awareness and fascination for its popular shows.

Summing Up

Memes have transformed into dynamic and influential tools in the digital world. They offer a unique and effective way to engage the audience, spread a message, and reinforce brand recognition.

Through the power of relatability and humour, you can use meme marketing to form a connection with your audience and humanise your brand.

When creating memes, please keep them simple, authentic, and aligned with your brand narrative. Also, try to blend insights with humour to develop something that gets the people talking. Pay due attention to keeping your message appropriate and not coming out as something offensive.

As meme culture continues to adopt, reach out to GrowthJockey to incorporate memes into your digital marketing strategy. We help you develop effective campaigns to keep your brand current, relevant, and memorable.

FAQs

1. Are memes used in advertising protected by copyright?

Some sites, such as Reddit, Imgur, and Tumblr, protect most of their memes with copyright laws. Moreover, section 2(C) of the Copyrights Act, 1957 comprises a part on "Artistic Works" that might protect any new meme created.

2. Is meme marketing suitable for all businesses?

Meme marketing can be useful for many businesses, but it may not be the ideal fit for every brand. Factors such as your target audience, brand identity, and the ability to create relevant and suitable content aligning with meme culture are important to ensure the success of meme marketing.

3. Which platforms are best for meme marketing?

Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are the perfect fit for mem marketing. They are visual-heavy channels that make it easy to share content. However, it's also essential for brands to see which platform effectively reaches their ideal audience.