Marketing Strategies and Memes in the Corporate World

Corporate companies have been known to hop onto popular trends when creating a new marketing strategy. But what about memes?

Memes have become a huge part of our Millennial culture. We’ve seen more companies go to greater lengths to reach younger audiences. Now with the influence of memes, it’s hard to say whether these internet mimicries will infiltrate the corporate marketing world.

In case you were wondering what a meme is, it functions as a popular element of our culture or behaviour that’s passed along from one person to another.

In our current social media age, Internet memes have done just that, often reflecting popular trends, news, and nostalgic references.

Here we’ve compiled a list of things to consider when deliberating if you should use memes.

Audience

You’ve heard us talk about the importance of knowing your audience before, but here’s another reminder. If you’re still reading this, your target audience is probably Generation Y and younger. Knowing your audience then becomes a bit more strategic; you’re no longer targeting an age group, you’re targeting people based on their interests. Sports fans. Music fans of multiple genres. Fandoms of various shows and movies. The whole shebang. Make sure you understand who you’re speaking to.

Social Media Trends

When it comes to memes, timing is of utmost importance. Unless your meme content is strong (or memorable enough) to stand alone, memes are almost always made right after a popular event. Twitter is infamous for using the popular ‘Crying Jordan’ meme for sports events and awards shows. More specifically, it’s often photoshopped onto the face of someone who’s experienced a loss of some degree.

For example, when the Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals, the Crying Jordan meme was instantaneously photoshopped onto Steph Curry’s body and spread across the Twitterverse.

Photo via sportige.com

Relevance

Nothing screams embarrassing more than an outdated meme. The content must be relevant. The subject of your meme should be easily recognizable by a multitude of people. Only then will it resonate and spread. Memes are most effective when they reflect current or recent events and go viral through social media.

Here at Key West Video we create fun, ‘memeable’ content on demand. For more on our services, visit our website today!

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Corporate Company Marketing with Memes and GIFs

In the age of #internet popularity, #memes and #GIFs (Graphic Interchange Format) have infiltrated the way we think. Gone are the days when celebrities and public figures were our main source of #entertainment. Now with #pop #culture, if something is funny enough, the whole world will see it.

We live in an age where a lot of the things we post online have the potential to go viral. This influences the way companies post, with some striving to make their content as “shareable” as possible.

Both memes and GIFs originated off the internet in the late 70s and early 80s. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” in his book, ‘The Selfish Gene’ back in 1976. Originally, a meme was meant as an “an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture”, but with the introduction of internet and pop culture, that would soon change.

Memes

Affectionately renamed “memevertising”, memes essentially are what advertising is supposed to be at its core: funny, smart, and aimed towards a specific audience.

Take, for example, this Dawson’s Creek meme that was geared towards the height of the 90s:

There’s a mutual understanding that happens between meme-maker and content-consumer. Memes rely on users to understand their referential material and share its #content.

#Corporate companies can benefit hugely off of “memeing” popular culture. Like #parody, memes serve to make a statement about #culture, popular ideas, or simply make us laugh. They are a great way to access a specific audience and, if done right, keep them.

However, with the increasing #popularity and accessibility of memes, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. Before, #advertisers would struggle to keep their retained #audiences, now #memevertisers find it difficult to penetrate that bubble to get an audience’s attention in the first place.
One of the reasons why memes are so successful is their reference material. Most people feel like they are “in” on a secret joke that is inclusive. You will have #brand evangelists who will spread the word to a like-minded audience and possible potential clients.

GIFs

GIFs, in essence, are animated pictures.

GIFs are another popular way to emphasize subtleties in video that we don’t realize impact us. Popular on #subculture websites like #Tumblr and #Reddit, GIFs tap into an even more niche counterculture that requires real substance from content providers.

#Media outlets like #BuzzFeed are notorious for their use of memes and GIFs in their posts. They realized that our generation is less likely to read paragraphs of text post, and soon started incorporating GIFs. An animated bridge between image and video, GIFs literally “give life” to an otherwise dead text post.

They’re also great “calls to action”. Since they attract our eyes, marketers would benefit from using this platform to get their audience to do something.

Here at Key West Video, we create exceptional, GIF-worthy content. Contact us for a quote today!

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