With the rise of social media, memes have become an invaluable aspect of any successful content marketing strategy. When your audiences do not want to see branded content in their news feeds, memes are the opportunity to keep them engaged.
Memes are all about evoking positive emotions and creating an online community. They engage, entertain, inspire loyalty, and build a sense of belonging.
While memes are easy to make, they still require some planning. In this article, you will learn how to use memes to promote your business on social networks.
Understand your Target Audience
Just like any other digital marketing strategy, meme marketing requires you to understand your target audience. Analyze your social media channels to understand which audience groups interact with your posts the most.
Based on their demographic and psychographic data, develop a buyer persona. When you know your target customers’ age, problems, and content preferences, you can create the memes that hit the mark.
Most importantly, make sure you find a balance between brand promotion and user engagement. Respect your target audience’s choices. For example, Netflix is a brand that creates instantly relatable memes that reflect its users’ attitudes, emotions, and values.
Design Original Memes
Brands often seek inspiration in popular meme images. However, to create a meme that reflects your brand’s values, your message should be authentic. Consider using a meme generator that lets you edit your images and add the original text to them.
For example, some brands use memes to evoke nostalgia. Others use sarcasm and even poke fun at themselves. Apart from amusing social media followers, such an approach makes your company seem more human.
Always determine what your memes should represent and stay true to your brand’s values. Gucci, for example, used a Renaissance painting in their meme marketing strategy. While the meme went viral, it still embodies the brand’s luxury and their customers’ good taste.
Whichever tone of voice you choose, make sure your meme is relevant to your target customers. If they do not find it funny, they will not share it.
Stay on Top of Relevant Memes
In content creation, keeping track of the latest trends is essential. That is the opportunity to keep your brand relevant and boost audience engagement.
The same goes with meme marketing. Every trend has its lifecycle. So, always use relevant memes that connect to your audiences fast.
One such example is Amazon’s tweet from 2020. When a mysterious monolith appeared in Utah, the brand saw that as an opportunity to show its relevance and sense of humor. The meme perfectly matches both their brand presence and their audiences.
Sure, do not force the meme just because it is viral. Make sure it aligns with your brand image, voice, and overall content marketing strategy.
Build a Brand Personality with Memes
Meme marketing requires lots of strategizing. You need to have a clear branding strategy and objectives. The goal is to determine how the public will perceive your brand.
A perfect example of online branding is Wendy. While they may not be your top fast-food restaurant, they are probably one of your favorite Twitter accounts.
We have been enjoying their hilarious Twitter roasts since 2017. The fast-food brand uses memes to troll both their customers and competitors.
What’s more, Wendy’s social media marketing does not stop at its memes. They take the game to the next level by jumping on their competitors’ posts. One such example is the Twitter rivalry that erupted when Burger King tried to throw shade on them. Unsurprisingly, Wendy dethroned them.
Like they emphasize on their Twitter account: “We like our tweets the way we like our fries: hot, crispy, and better than anyone expects from a fast-food restaurant.”
What you can learn from them is that maintaining brand consistency is essential. Keep your tone of voice recognizable. Otherwise, you risk confusing your target audiences and even losing them.
Keep It Appropriate
While Wendy’s memes have gained momentum over the past few years, even they make mistakes.
On one occasion, Wendy’s responded to a customer by posting Pepe the Frog dressed as their mascot. The meme is an anti-Semitic symbol. They deleted the tweet soon and responded to followers with an explanation: “The person who tweeted it did not know the meme’s new meaning, and promptly deleted it.”
Even though they managed to recover from the mistake, it still generated lots of negative press. Therefore, always research your memes before publishing them.
Over to You
When done right, memes are a powerful content marketing tool. They help you put your brand in front of wider audiences. Above all, they increase user engagement and loyalty by giving your brand a human element.
Before publishing memes, make sure you research them well. Avoid any inappropriate content. Every meme you share with your audiences should be original, relatable, and on-brand.
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