3 Powerful Ways Memes Can Benefit Businesses
The globalization of the world economy grows rapidly every day. Fierce online competition has forced businesses to capture a loyal consumer base at all costs. A clear brand identity, branded merchandise, and digital ads through Google and FaceBook used to be enough- but not anymore.
To survive and thrive in the cutthroat market today, brands must infiltrate a niche, create original content, and personally interact with customers now more than ever before.
One emerging trend that’s been successfully capturing customers at record rates is meme marketing.
Memes take the form of a phrase, picture, hashtag, or a trending online movement. Meme marketing is the infusion of these memes in social media marketing campaigns. Creating original content customers want to engage with is how you can leverage meme marketing to your advantage.
In this article, I discuss three powerful ways businesses can benefit from using memes in their social media advertising campaigns.
Higher Sales
The best salespeople promote themselves without appearing salesy. Slowly building rapport, generating trust, presenting their solution, and closing the sale is how people like to be sold to.
This process is very similar to how meme marketing works.
Businesses-related memes build rapport with funny videos and images, generate trust with their captions and comments, present their solution in an indirect yet intriguing way, and drive sales.
The above Totino’s pizza roll meme builds rapport with a funny image, generates trust with a short but catchy caption, and boasts an impressive 6.9% engagement rate.
Humanizing Your Brand
First impressions are important. What could be better than introducing your brand to new customers with some humor and light-heartedness? Posting fun, relatable memes creates a comfortable online environment, and subsequently, an easy buying process.
Plain and simple. humans prefer to buy from other humans. When customers see memes instead of ads, it shows them your business isn’t just a robot looking to sell a product or service.
Memes show your audience that you enjoy having fun- like most normal people.
Organic Engagement
The days of traditional marketing and advertising are over. Consumers recognize paid ads from a mile away and scroll past them without second thought.
“As a young adult, I’ve been bombarded with paid ads on social media for as long as I can remember. The marketing pitches have gotten old, and I find them a real turn-off”
Meme marketing, on the other hand, teaches the constomer about their brand in a fun and friendly way. It’s no surprise that memes generate 10 times more engagement than paid ads.
55% of Millenials and Gen Z send memes every week- 30% send them every day (it’s me, I’m the 30%.) As a result, organic engagement dramatically increases as your followers share memes with one another.
Building a Community
Anyone who runs a business knows word-of-mouth advertising from happy customers is the best form of advertising. The word-of-mouth communication of the digital world is, you guessed it- memes.
Memes are a fun, subtle way to connect with your target audience, start conversations, foster relationships, and grow online communities. Nobody can resist a funny meme. People share images and videos they enjoy- it’s a social glue that keeps online communities together.
This online frenzy of sharing memes translates to free organic outreach for your business!
When businesses post memes their customers can relate to, it creates a personal connection. This bond, strengthened over time, creates online communities, loyal customers, and reliable sales.
“I might not be interested in a company’s meme about their product or service, but either way I know I’m in for a good laugh! That’s often enough to pique my interest and hang around to see what else they have.”
Cheaper than Traditional Advertising
It’s irrelevant whether your business spends $100 or $1,000 per month on paid ads- memes will always and forever be cheaper. At the low price of free, the incredible cost savings of using memes in place of traditional ads is a no-brainer.
That said, memes are an art form- and despite what modern society tells us, we all know that some art is better than others.
Of course, nothing is without its risks. If you post a meme that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t “vibe” well with your audience, you risk losing social points that can damage your reputation over time.
Therefore, investing in memes is a great idea for those who aren’t confident in their meme-making abilities.
When you outsource memes, you pay for the creativity and unique ability for someone to produce engaging memes related to your business. Outsourcing content to meme accounts allows you to focus on other areas of your business, creating a win-win scenario.
Sales and engagement soar, costs plummet, and you find more money in your pocket when meme marketing is done right. Today, cutting down on business expenses is especially important considering the ongoing recession and inflationary economic environment.
Is Meme Marketing Right for Your Business?
Memes are funny, relatable, engaging and cheap to make- the pinnacle of advertising campaigns for businesses looking to stand out yet cut costs. Using memes as cultural currency in social media can have huge ramifications for companies who take advantage of them.
Online shopping continues to grow at a rapid pace, and businesses are small fish in a huge ocean. They must get crazier and more unique to differentiate themselves from the competition. Meme marketing is the perfect solution.
The difference between paid ads and meme marketing is obvious. If your consumer base is young and likes having fun, you’re already missing out. Younger generations are more “in-tune” with internet trends and therefore more receptive to new memes. They “get it.”
Conclusion
The numbers don’t lie. People go on social media to look at memes, not ads. Memes have fundamentally and permanently changed the way people communicate and use the internet. The potent combination of pictures and text is an unmatched, powerful form of communication ripe for the taking. Three powerful ways businesses can benefit from memes are:
Higher Sales
Increased Engagement
Reduced Marketing and Advertising Costs
But as with anything, meme marketing isn’t without its risks. Done incorrectly, your company could be mocked on social media. There’s plenty of brands who’ve embarrassed themselves with memes, leaving the whole internet to cringe.
Shown below, McDonald’s UK posted a bad meme. Surprisingly enough the post is still up, and you can read everyone roasting them for their poor use of meme marketing here. Some of the replies include “Russian bots got better memes,” and “This meme is almost as bad as your hamburgers.”
If your business is open to the idea of meme marketing done correctly, Contact me here. Memes are proven to consistently drive high engagement rates, and it’s an explosive trend you can’t afford to miss out on.
