Most of us have seen memes when we browse the internet. Every single day, you’re bound to run into at least one meme on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even WhatsApp!

They are entertaining, funny, and easy to consume. However, there is more to them than what meets the eye. The trend of meme marketing is an underrated one that is rapidly gaining traction in recent years.

The practice led to the creation of a new term: “Meme Jacking”. A marketing tactic called meme-jacking involves using popular memes to promote a product.

With the growing popularity of meme-jacking, it’s becoming a more lucrative way to share fun content that may go viral. After all, who doesn’t like fun, entertaining content?

I am sure you also like memes, don’t you?

In essence, a meme is a way of connecting people and generating community by sharing something that everyone can relate to.

In recent years, memes have become a part of everyday life for many people. In addition to being funny, they can create memories and can serve as inside jokes.

However, did you know you can use this as a digital marketing strategy for your business?

That is what we will discuss in this article.

HOW TO USE MEMES IN MARKETING (+9 TIPS)

First, let’s explore why meme marketing is beneficial, and then we will explore how to use memes in marketing to promote your business.

Benefits of Using Memes in Marketing

In a time when most consumers avoid ads as much as possible, a marketing strategy that relies on humor and familiar media can engage consumers who are difficult to reach. 

Meme marketing can be an extremely effective way for professionals, such as digital marketers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and creative professionals, to create engaging content at a low cost).

Memes offer a number of advantages that will help you stay ahead of your competitors. 

There are numerous reasons why businesses should incorporate memes into their marketing strategies, and many of the world’s most popular brands have already done so.

Here are some reasons why:

• Memes are Free Advertisement

In terms of money, memes don’t require any kind of investment. There are many meme templates available online, and all you need is a funny caption to turn them into a funny frame.

Since you do not have to hire graphic designers or illustrators to create memes, they are not expensive. As long as the content is unique and interesting, people do not mind DIY material that is of low quality.

There are many websites that you can use for making memes. The best sites include Canva, Pinterest, Kapwing, Imgur , Meme Generator and many more!

• Increase Engagement

Memes can be very shareable and help connect people through humor.

A good inside meme makes people feel like they’re a part of an inside joke, and who doesn’t like to feel like they’re part of something?

Having relatable or humorous posts means that you won’t be able to relate to them to only one person or find them entertaining to only one person. Generally, these types of posts are inclusive in nature and relevant to a wide range of people. 

As a result, funny posts like memes receive more likes, comments, and shares. In fact, brand-specific memes often go viral as well.

• Entertain Your Audience

Entertainment is the most effective way to keep users engaged on social media.

However, the memes do not need to be related to a particular brand. You can make memes that simply entertain and relate in some way to your audience.

• Increase Brand Recall

People remember a brand well after liking and sharing it several times and developing a relationship with it. You should focus on providing a consistent stream of quality posts instead of quantity. 

There is no doubt that memes play a huge role, as they’re funny, relatable, and leave an impression.

• Memes Make You Creative

There’s no need to rely solely on a meme that’s already trending. It can be difficult to stay up-to-date on all the latest memes.

As soon as you’ve gauged what your audience responds to, you can create your own memes from scratch. Obviously, this will require more effort and more time, but if your audience enjoys what you do and shares it, it may be worth it.

Now that you understand how memes can help you and your business, it’s time to put them into practice.

Let’s talk about how to use memes effectively, along with some practical tips :

9 Tips on How to Use Memes in Marketing

So now you understand the importance of including memes in your content marketing strategy, however, there are a few strategies on how to use memes in marketing.  And that’s what we’re going to discover here.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking for stock market memes, affiliate marketing memes, branding memes, funny marketing memes, meme marketing examples or advertisement memes, this blog post will provide you with a few strategies that will surely help you to take your meme marketing campaign to the next level.

Even though memes are easy to make, there is still some planning involved, and some solid techniques can make your memes instantly relatable, shareable, and perhaps even viral.

1. Know Your Audience

It is one of the first and very old marketing tips given by all marketers, which is very important. 

A meme is about not just establishing connections with Brands and situations, but also with an audience. If you create a meme that does not resonate with your audience, it is unlikely to get good engagement. 

There is no doubt that you already know your audience’s age, interest, location, industry, and every other characteristic. You can use all that information you gathered for your other content marketing initiatives to create memes that truly engage with your audience.

2. Maintain Your Brand Voice

Even though most marketers are aware of memes that might appeal to their audience, it can be difficult to incorporate them while maintaining brand voice.

The best memes usually incorporate satire, social commentary, or nostalgia, which means they’re insightful as well as funny. When marketers experiment with meme marketing, they must tread a fine line in order to avoid offending consumers. It’s also a good idea to educate yourself on current memes.

A meme may be divisive and not appeal to everyone, but it can support a niche positioning and reach a specific audience. If you’re trying to fine-tune your voice, start by clearly defining your target audience:

• What type of content do your customers consume?
• Who do they like to listen to, watch, or idolize?
• What can you do to entertain them?
• What problems do they share with their community?

Once you have a sense of what content your target audience will be interested in, begin making relatable jokes and commenting on relevant fads and cultural trends.

Zomato’s target audience spends a lot of time on social media, and through meme marketing, they were able to interact with them via this funny meme.

They launched a meme on “Harmonium Chacha” that helped them generate a great deal of engagement.

In addition to receiving plenty of likes and shares, the campaign prompted humorous comments and memes from people.

PRO Tip: Meme marketing attempts often miss the mark because they are designed as generic advertisements rather than cultural commentary. A successful meme does not include any CTA such as “Buy Now”, “Apply Now”, “Learn More” etc.

3. Create Original Memes

No matter what image you use, your message should be original and somehow related to your audience or brand. Please don’t use someone else’s joke for your audience. It just doesn’t work.

It’s always good to create your own memes rather than relying on others. Naturally, this will be much harder since you’ll need to collect information, create a structure, and come up with creative captions.

Although this is a time-consuming process, you can rest assured it will be worth it in the long run.

Why? 

Developing your own memes for your business creates an identity that promotes brand awareness for it.