Memes in Marketing

By Adam  |  3 Sep 2015 08:00:00

Internet memes are shared around the internet in large quantities. Are you familiar with internet memes? If not, I'll offer a brief introduction to the concept. In many online threads, people will post memes instead of regular, written responses. These memes come in all kinds of forms, but are usually images; one shows a picture of Michael Jackson eating some popcorn and is used when somebody has posted something controversial which is likely to prompt an argument. Another is a rather mischievous 'troll' face which people use when something has been done to intentionally trick, confuse or annoy people. There are a huge number of different memes and many posts will have a huge number of them in their comments. People don't usually create the memes they share, they just find them in one place, enjoy them, and share them in another.

So with memes being shared on such a large basis, it's no surprise, therefore, that some businesses are starting to use internet memes for marketing purposes. One common meme is "That moment when..." and something which most people will relate to will be written in brief along with a funny image. This sometimes goes in the other direction and it'll be something extreme that nobody will actually relate to, but the joke is that it is presented in a way as if it were. I've actually seen it in a few posters advertising a bank.

So, should you use memes to advertise your business? Well, you can, but just don't expect it to be any more effective than any other image you might produce for your marketing needs. I get the impression that businesses expect to be shared all over the place if they create a meme. If somebody sees your marketing based meme, they aren't really likely to share it like they are with the other memes. People like memes that are funny and that's why they share them around; memes that were made to advertise a product won't be shared so commonly. If you can create a meme which simultaneously has the sharing appeal of common memes, but also advertises your business, then, my goodness, you might have marketing gold in your hands. But that's going to be very hard to do, and, really, you're not that likely to succeed. Often memes may come across as a poor attempt at trying to be trendy, so, don't worry too much about trying integrate them.

In the end, it’s for you to decide. If you know a lot about memes, you might like to try and use them, but if they're a somewhat alien concept to you, don't force yourself. Do whatever comes naturally to you and don't do memes for the sake of doing them. I hope that gives you some ideas for your marketing. But if you don't even have an eCommerce website yet, then sign up to Sellr now and create one for no cost at all!