Nowadays, memes have flooded the Internet. Popular brands like Nescafe and Netflix have used memes to attract more customers. This has given rise to a new way of marketing, meme marketing. As per Y Pulse’s meme marketing statistics, 55% of people ranging from 13 to 35 year olds share memes every week and 30% share memes daily. Meme marketing has the ability to instantly capture the interest of the audience. Hence, many organizations are adopting a meme marketing strategy to promote their brands and establish relationships with customers. Before we learn how to create a perfect meme marketing strategy, let us first understand what are memes.
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What is a meme?
A meme is the representation of an idea, behavior, culture or style. Memes are imitations of original content. They are normally humorous and carry a symbolic message which the receiver can understand.
Types of memes
- Macro memes– Macro memes are images of familiar topics or ideas with a caption.
- Photo memes– A photo meme is an image which can be used in various contexts. A photo meme doesn’t have captions.
- Video memes– A video meme portrays some action or situation.
- Word memes– Word memes consist of popular and known phrases or terms that can be altered to create an effect.
The company’s digital marketing team plays a vital role in creating a meme marketing strategy.
6 Steps to create a meme marketing strategy
1.Research
- Research the brands which can be marketed using meme marketing.
- Research the characteristics of the target audience for the brands.
- Research suitable meme formats for your brand (image and video memes)
- Research trending topics and memes.
- Research how other organizations are using memes.
2. Create a meme content strategy
- Add the brand name, brand slogan and the picture of the brand icon in the meme.
- Only use those memes which are relevant to the brand.
- Create original memes which have a certain amount of truth to create impact.
- Use meme hijacking. Meme hijacking is nothing but using trending memes created by others. Such trending memes can be used to create original memes aligned with your company’s brands.
- Use the personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘You’ and ‘We’ to create impact.
- Don’t use difficult phrases, jargons and complicated language in the meme. Use simple sentences.
- You can use slangs or short forms which are known to the public in a limited manner.
- Don’t use instruction based sentences asking the audience to do something.
3.Use meme building tools
You can use meme building tools which provide meme formats, fonts, size options, stickers, images and many other features. In the end of this blog, I have mentioned Top 10 meme creation tools which you can use to create memes.
4.Publish the meme at the right time
Trending memes are popular only for a specific period of time. Hence, it is important to publish your memes when the memes are trending. You can post the memes on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Also, using appropriate hashtags, encouraging followers to tag their friends in the comments section can help to engage the audience and promote the brand. You can also approach owners of pages similar to your page in order to publish your meme. One strategy could be to publish memes on festivals. Another good strategy would be to publish relevant memes just at the time you are launching a new brand or product. This will increase the popularity of your brand.
5.Participate in meme contests or challenges
Organizations can promote their brand by participating in meme challenges and contests on social media. The organization can also initiate a meme challenge after launching a meme.
6.Evaluate the response to your meme
Analyze if your meme has received positive or negative response by looking at the comments, the number of likes etc. If your meme has received a negative response, it is better to delete the meme.
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Top 10 meme making apps
1) Meme generator free
This app provides more than 60 fonts and more than 1000 high quality meme templates. It also has many stickers, the ability to crop images for different formats and the option to create modern or classic memes with multiple formats. It allows users to add borders to images, adjust text color, crop images and add other funny effects to themes. It enables users to create any kind of dank meme format, including the highly popular Deep Fried effect memes. Meme generator free does not upload memes automatically. Memes will be shared only if the user chooses the share option. Also, it does not add a watermark to any generated meme. The free version contains ads.
2) Giphy
Giphy is one of the best apps to create GIFs. Giphy has a large variety of templates, fonts, animated stickers, layout options and analytics which helps to improve the users’ search results. This app provides fonts, gives the option of moving the text, a slideshow tool, animated emojis and a GIF caption tool. The GIF caption tool offers animated text options. Giphy also gives the option of searching GIFs and short form videos on Instagram, Snapchat and other social networking sites.
3) Adobe Spark Post
This app has professionally designed templates, options for resizing, coloring, fonts, layouts and millions of free photos to create memes. It gives you the options of saving your creations and sharing your creations on Instagram, Facebook and other social networking sites. It can also be used to make video posts. It also enables users to add soundtracks either from free soundtracks or uploaded files. Adobe Spark Post stores the creations on Cloud.
4) GIF Maker, GIF Editor
It enables users to convert video clip to GIF, compress the GIF, options to crop, resize, trim and share GIFs on social media. It also provides backgrounds, frames, stickers, emojis and various text options.
5) Canva
This app provides 60,000 free templates, free graphic designs, free photos, more than 500 font options and many filters. It also provides the option to share creations on social networking websites. It also enables users to remove backgrounds, resize designs and organize images into folders. Canva has layouts for all kinds of occasions. Canva also provides animation effects and a content planner.
6) Memasik
This app provides popular and classic memes that are regularly updated. It also includes stickers, emojis, options to crop, adjust text style and size, rotate texts and share texts on social media. It enables users to like and comment on posts. Drawing on memes and writing messages in your own handwriting, the option to use your own personal images to create memes are some other features of Memasik. Also, Memasik regularly updates its collection of memes.
7) GATM meme generator
This app has many meme templates to choose from and all generated memes are watermark free. It also gives the option to choose your own images to create memes. The app enables users to share memes on Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites. One con of the app is that it offers only basic formatting tools. The free version of GATM meme generator contains ads. It also frequently updates its memes and has a huge community of meme fans.
8) Meme Maker & Generator+ Funny Video Meme Creator
This app has options to adjust the speed of videos, add text, add your own watermark and add fonts. It also has emoji stickers, Distortion effects, editing tools and popular frames. Users can also create Deep Fried memes and add their own watermark. It also provides the option of sharing memes on social networking websites.
9) Memedroid
It has popular templates, filters, editing, stickers and the option to share the created memes. It also allows users to rate and comment on any GIF or meme of their choice. Memedroid has a huge variety of pictures to choose from. Users can also use pictures from their own gallery to create memes. Memedroid also contains additional features like fun challenges with rewards. The pro version of Memedroid costs 260 rupees. This app contains ads.
10) Mematic
It provides options to add captions, arrange the text, choose styles and add fonts. It has a large collection of meme templates along with emojis and stickers. It gives you the option to save your creation on your device and share it on social networking sites. It also offers various backgrounds and animal memes. The meme designer feature allows users to use their own images to create memes. Mematic also allows users to upload their own photos and create memes. The free version contains ads. A watermark is overlaid on every generated theme which is not possible to remove.
Frequently asked questions about meme marketing
1) Is there any meme marketing agency?
Ans- Yes, there are many meme marketing agencies. The agencies Youngun, Grynow, Hdk Digital, Adniti and The RofIndian offer meme marketing services.
2) Are memes subject to copyright laws?
Ans- Yes, many memes are subject to copyright laws. Hence, whenever you choose a trending meme, it’s important to see if the image is subject to copyright.
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