Marketing is an essential component of any business, regardless of whether they are big or small. It not only plays a major role in promoting businesses but also contributes to their expansion, success, and profit.
In this era of digitalization, our entire world is shifting online. And online marketing and advertising has become the pillar of success in any business.
Today, there are various online marketing, such as social media marketing, influencer marketing, and email marketing, that are dominating the marketing realm. But one particular online marketing that is gaining unparalleled popularity is meme marketing.
Memes are taking over the world, and they have become a means of communication for the majority of Millennials and Gen Zs. This makes meme marketing strategy the foundation of easily sharable content that elevates brand visibility.
Many big and small businesses are using meme marketing to connect with their audience and promote their product while making people laugh. They craft memes in the form of photos, videos, gifs, and text to connect with their targeted audience and customers and make a lasting impression.
Delve into this article to learn how to leverage the power of memes and explore some hilarious examples of companies using branded memes for deeper understanding.
Table of Contents
What is Meme Marketing?
In simple words, when a brand utilizes memes as a part of its marketing campaign, it is called meme marketing. It is a creative way where businesses utilize memes to show their discounts, promotions, and deals.
Meme marketing will include a collection of strategies and techniques that use humor as a mode to promote a brand, brand narrative, product, or service. Their humorous tone, along with aspects like low efforts and cost-effectiveness, make meme marketing an unavoidable part of any marketing strategy.
Importance of Meme Marketing
Low effort, High reward
The most trendy memes are already available online. Therefore, your task is just to find a creative way to relate your brand with these existing memes and then share again! You can either just modify the existing ones or create something new.
In short, memes require minimal effort but yield high rewards as they are enjoyable and sharable.
Attractive to Younger Audiences
Memes are one of the most effective social media marketing strategies as they are an ideal way to connect with the younger demographics.
As per a study conducted by YPulse, 38% of young adults actively follow some meme accounts on social media. Moreover, about 55% of the audience who fall under the age group of 13 to 35 exchange funny memes weekly.
They are Relevant
One of the cons of memes is that they have a short lifespan. When a meme is trending, it will be shared. But it will soon be forgotten as new trends come up.
However, the transient nature of memes is what makes them suitable for social media strategies. Social media content is based on trends. People want to know what is relevant in society, and then they move on.
7 Best Meme Marketing Examples by Popular Brands
Here are some widely popular examples of memes:
Netflix
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Netflix is the most popular OTT platform with a great fan following, especially below 35 years. Therefore, it should come as no wonder why they often use super engaging and viral memes as part of their marketing campaign.
Netflix has taken its strategy further by creating an Instagram page called “Netflix is a Joke.”
(Source: Google image)
This Instagram page is solely for sharing meme content. In addition, they also encourage their audience to make shareable memes, which helps in audience engagement as well as gaining more audience.
Dominos
(Source: Google image)
This is another example of a brand tweaking a celebrated meme creatively and making it relevant to their brand. Here, Dominos used a popular meme of Drake’s Certifies Lover Boy Album cover and edited it.
Dominos were quick to understand the trend and added a creative twist to the image by incorporating their famous garlic dip.
Chipotle
(Source: Google image)
When it comes to creativity, no one can outmatch Chipotle. Whether it’s their Instagram memes or TikTok videos, their creative flair can be seen in all. And this meme particularly demonstrates it.
One of the stand-out factors of this meme is that they have used their product and some emojis to create this relatable meme. They haven’t used any images from outside to highlight their product.
Another aspect is that the text is pretty cool. They send a clear message to the audience: even if you are broke, you can have Chipotle.
OkCupid
(Source: Google image)
The dating app uses a diverse range of memes to put the brand in the spotlight. But this one is a bit different from the others as it is a video meme. Since there are a lot of image-based memes, a video meme will help you get more engagement on social media channels like Instagram.
But what makes the meme really special is its relatability. The main idea behind this image is how today’s people are trying to avoid toxic people and relationships.
With the cheetah on the run, it becomes very clear how desperately people want to get away from toxic people.
Telfar
(Source: Google image)
Another creative use of memes in marketing on social media comes from a New York-based luxury unisex purse brand, Telfar.
In the meme, Telfar slices two comical robbery scenes from the movie “White Chick” to highlight the quality of the purse and the unwavering brand loyalty of dedicated Telfer customers. This meme is surely a masterpiece that juxtaposes creativity and wit.
KFC
(Source: Google image)
When the highly anticipated Hollywood blockbuster “Godzilla vs. Kong” seized the spotlight in 2021, KFC captured the attention of a lot of audiences by sharing a hilarious meme on Twitter.
Metaphorically, yet in a funny way, they have shown that they are ruling the American fast-food chain with a monster-fighting scenario. As anticipated, this became quite trending on the internet.
Totinos
In January, during the inauguration of US President Joe Bidden, an image featuring Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders maintaining a social distance from the other attendees popped up.
(Source: Google image)
The image became viral quickly, and everyone tried their hand to create a meme with that image coupled with some funny captions. Like other top brands, Totinos also took part in the trend.
(Source: Google image)
But what makes this particular meme go viral is how creatively they have used a popular meme and made it relevant to their brand.
Top Tips to Create Branded Memes
In this section, we will look into some actionable meme marketing tips for your brand.
Understand Your Audience
The first step to creating a very impactful meme is to understand your targeted audience.
- You can use free insight, ads, and analytics tools on different social media channels to find the interests, age groups, geography, shopping habits, and more of your targeted audience.
- You can also analyze the social media accounts of Followers on tiktok, Facebook and Instagram and figure out what type of posts they are sharing and engaging with.
Create/ Choose Memes That Resonates with Your Brand and Customer Values
One of the biggest errors a brand can make is selecting a meme template just because it is trending. Choosing some memes without thinking about their impact on your targeted audience, especially if the meme is related to race, religion, sexuality, or violence, can ruin your brand image.
To avoid this, you can use a free online website like KnowYourMeme that can help you determine the origin, types, and status of the meme.
This will help you to decide whether a particular meme aligns with your brand values and customers’ interests. Through this platform, you will also be able to view video memes, GIF memes, and comments.
Also, to understand how the public will react to a meme, you can do a test run with the support of your teammates. Additionally, make sure not to use outdated memes.
Embrace Humour
When creating a marketing meme, make sure it will entertain people and make them laugh.
- To do so, craft marketing memes that joke about your product, brand, or service and resonate with your target audience.
- Employ self-deprecating humor.
- Keep the texts crisp and sweet.
- Make the product placement subtle, like Netflix.
(Source: Google image)
Utilize free Online Sources for Memes
Instead of taking meme templates from Google, you can find trending memes for free through online platforms like KnowYourMeme, GIPHY, FlexClip, and Imgflip.
Identify the Ideal Social media platform for Sharing Your Memes
Determine the most suitable platform that will work perfectly for your brand by analyzing audience engagement data from various social media platforms. You can use tools like Buffer and Hootsuite.
To Wrap Up
Meme marketing has taken all over the world. They have grown so much that today, most of the big companies are leveraging memes to engage with their audience, narrate brand stories, and sell their products effectively. Creating memes for your brand not only helps in gaining the audience’s trust but also expands your customer base.
Once you have decided on the perfect platform and suitable meme templates for your marketing campaign, brainstorm and create custom memes that resonate with your potential customers and align with your brand identity. Make sure to create memes that are witty, fun, and subtle to get the desired results.
FAQs
Is meme marketing an effective marketing strategy?
Leveraging memes for your marketing strategy is an effective method to enhance your brand visibility and engagement.
Is it legal for brands to use memes?
Yes, you can freely create and share memes on the internet without the risk of legal action. However, it’s important to note that you can find yourself caught up in a lawsuit if you use someone else’s copyrighted meme for promotional purposes.
What is meme branding?
Meme branding is a strategy that uses viral internet memes to boost its marketing tactics. This tactic involves leveraging social media and word of mouth to achieve the desired objectives. It utilizes users to promote a brand or product by crafting relatable, funny, and shareable memes.
