There are many advantages of incorporating meme marketing in your marketing strategy. Consumers are becoming more and more aware with time and trust brands that engage rather than promote directly. Are you leveraging meme marketing for your brand?
We all know how memes have taken the internet by storm. According to recent studies, Indians spend about 30 minutes a day, on average, consuming memes. Whether it’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s choice of drink or the questionable lyrics of a song, it takes a few seconds to spark a meme fest all over the internet. Today, memes are the new glue that keeps us together. Within a short span, they have become a marketing strategy for businesses.
In addition to giving us a reason to laugh, they are also engaging and strongly relatable. Readers resonate with memes and further share them with their peers as an inside joke. A recent survey suggests that 75% of 13-36-year-olds engage in memes every day. So, imagine the large share of the market you might be missing out on by not incorporating memes in your marketing strategy.
What is Meme Marketing?
Memes are more than just a video or an image. They enable us to wade through our daily lives as stress busters. People share memes to make someone smile or start a conversation. There is no question that ‘memers’ are the biggest trendsetters on the internet. Therefore, to stay relevant for consumers, brands must leverage memes. If you snooze through the buzz, you may lose. Memes have the power to trigger emotion in the reader and amplify the engagement rate. Meme marketing enables brands to deliver a promotional message as an engaging meme. Unlike traditional ads, they feel more personal and relatable and fit the readers’ social media feed perfectly.
How is Meme Marketing Different From Moment Marketing?
Both meme and moment marketing are essential tools of digital marketing. With meme marketing, brands can create humorous and relatable content to build long-term engagement. Moment marketing, on the other hand, allows brands to accelerate buzz by tapping on a trending event. Brands must understand their objectives before deciding the content strategy they wish to execute.
Why Meme Marketing?
Over the last decade, memes have evolved from being a fun activity into a must-have communication route. Brands can communicate their message in a way that is relatable and influences action. Meme marketing can be beneficial to brands in several ways:
Low cost
A marketer’s favourite marketing tool brings maximum results at a minimum cost. Therefore, meme marketing has emerged as a top choice of marketing technique. A viral meme is significantly less expensive and ushers in a high return on investment.
Engaging
If you create a meme that is funny and relevant to the target audience, it is more likely to be shared and liked across platforms than a conventional ad. It will boost your brand awareness and ultimately drive more traffic to your website. Creating a relatable meme is an art where one must weave the products and services into content that will stay on the readers’ minds for a long time. A meme can achieve high popularity in almost no time if the audience connects to it.
Longevity
Nothing gets lost on the internet. So, if you play your cards well, your consumers will remember the meme for a long time. A viral meme that hits all the right chords stays out there for several years.
How Brands can Integrate Meme Marketing into their Strategies?
As social media consumption is burgeoning in India, brands are realising the potential of memes in their marketing campaigns. According to a study by MemeCrunch, Indian brands are currently spending an average of Rs. 4 lacs per month on meme marketing. Even upcoming brands are allocating about 30-40% of their marketing budget to meme marketing.
Not sure how to get started? Here are a few ideas:
Use memes to show off your brand’s personality
One of the best things about memes is that they can be used to show off your brand’s personality in a way that traditional marketing materials can’t. So if you want to let your customers know that you’re not afraid to have a little fun, using memes is a great way to do it. Just make sure that the memes you use are relevant to your brand and align with your overall tone and voice. Otherwise, you run the risk of coming across as try-hard or out-of-touch.
Create your memes
If you want to get people talking, try creating your own memes. This can be a great way to show off your creative side and get people engaged with your brand.
Use memes to start a conversation
Another great way to use memes is to start a conversation around a relevant topic. For example, if you’re launching a new product, you could create a meme that asks people their opinion on it. Or if you’re wanting to raise awareness for an important cause, you could create a meme that gets people thinking about the issue. Ensure that the conversation you’re starting is one that you’re interested in continuing.
Use memes to show your appreciation
Finally, don’t forget that you can also use memes to show your appreciation for your customers and followers. Whether it’s a “thank you for your support” message or a funny meme about a relevant topic, this is a great way to make people feel good about being associated with your brand.
Bottomline
There are many advantages of incorporating meme marketing in your marketing strategy. Consumers are becoming more and more aware with time and trust brands that engage rather than promote directly. Brands that have welcomed meme marketing have witnessed unprecedented growth in their consumer interaction and conversion rates. We are surrounded by several examples where the consumers don’t see these companies just as a brand but as a part of their lives. If you’re looking to incorporate meme marketing into your marketing strategies, look no further than Pulp Strategy. As one of the leading strategic marketing agencies in India, we are helping brands like The Zoom Studios and Seekmed tap the meme bandwagon and grow their brand.