Meme Marketing - Use Internet Trends To Boost Your Business!

Summary

In the video, marketing strategist Trent Kennelly explores the power of memes for building a strong online brand identity. He defines memes as shareable, relatable, and often humorous internet content, which can include images, GIFs, challenges, and even sound files. Trent emphasizes the importance of understanding meme culture, including their history and themes, to effectively use them in marketing without coming across as a corporate shill. He outlines a strategy for leveraging memes, which involves using established meme templates, collecting source material, keeping product placement casual, and identifying the right distribution channels. The goal is to increase brand awareness and drive sales by resonating with the audience through cultural relevance and humor.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Building a strong online business often involves creating a strong brand identity that is easily recognizable and understood by the audience.
• 📈 Connecting with the right audience requires understanding and communicating in the way they interact online, including the use of memes.
• 😄 Memes are a significant part of internet culture and can be leveraged for marketing, but it's crucial to understand what a meme is and how it works.
• 📚 A meme can be any viral content, not just images or GIFs, and can include challenges like the Ice Bucket challenge or phenomena like Rickrolling.
• 🔍 To determine if something is a meme, apply a two-part test: is it shareable or riffable, and is there a single theme or idea associated with it?
• 🧠 Memes work because they tap into the collective consciousness and culture, making them relatable and shareable, which can enhance brand awareness.
• ✅ Do your research on the history of a meme to avoid using ones with negative connotations or that may be polarizing.
• 🙅‍♂️ Avoid coming off as a corporate shill by not using memes purely for direct sales pitches; they should be used for brand awareness and subtly driving sales.
• 📖 Understand how to use a meme correctly by recognizing its theme and using it appropriately to not appear out of touch or misuse the meme format.
• ❌ Do not post random or outdated memes; they should be relevant to your target audience and the current trends to be effective.
• 👵 Know your target audience and choose memes that resonate with them; different age groups and demographics may respond to different types of memes.
• 📅 Use month-old meme templates that have proven virality and are still fresh enough to be relevant but not too new that they might quickly become outdated.
• 🎨 Collect source material to understand the current trends and how to adapt them to your brand, ensuring your meme marketing is timely and on-point.
• 🚀 Keep product placement casual and subtle; using self-deprecating humor or light-hearted themes can be more effective than overt sales tactics.
• 📊 Identify your distribution points wisely; different social media platforms may cater to different types of content and audiences, so choose where to post your memes strategically.

Q & A

What is the significance of building a strong brand identity online?

Building a strong brand identity online is crucial as it allows people to easily recognize the brand and understand what it offers, facilitating brand awareness and customer engagement.

How does connecting with the right audience help in building a strong online business?

Connecting with the right audience ensures that the brand communicates effectively with its target market, using language and cultural references that resonate with them, which is essential for customer loyalty and sales.

Why are memes considered an important part of internet culture and online business?

Memes are a significant part of internet culture because they are shareable, relatable, and often humorous, making them an effective tool for brand awareness and customer engagement in the online space.

What is the definition of a meme according to the transcript?

A meme is defined as internet slang for anything that's funny or viral content, which can include images, GIFs, challenges, or even sound files that increase the virality of a video.

How can businesses use memes to increase brand awareness and potentially drive sales?

Businesses can use memes by aligning their brand with popular and relevant meme templates, ensuring the content is shareable and relatable, which can lead to increased brand awareness and, ultimately, sales.

What are the two key characteristics that determine if something is a good meme?

A good meme is characterized by being shareable or riffable, meaning it's interesting enough for people to share within their network or build upon with their own ideas. It should also be fun or funny and relatable.

Why is it important for a business to understand the history of a meme before using it?

Understanding the history of a meme is important to avoid using content that may have negative connotations or be polarizing. It ensures the brand's message is received positively and does not inadvertently offend or alienate the audience.

What is the main difference between using memes as a direct sales tool and using them for brand awareness?

Memes used for direct sales can come across as pushy and may be rejected by the audience, whereas using memes for brand awareness is more subtle and focuses on engaging the audience with the brand in a way that is not overtly promotional.

How can a business ensure they are using a meme correctly in their marketing?

A business can ensure correct usage by understanding the meme's theme and history, ensuring the meme is relevant to the target audience, and avoiding posting random or outdated memes that do not align with the brand's message.

What is the strategy suggested for using memes effectively in marketing?

The strategy includes using month-old meme templates that have established virality, collecting source material to understand meme usage, keeping product placement casual and light, and identifying the right distribution points for the memes based on the social media channel's dynamics.

Why should a business be cautious about posting outdated memes?

Outdated memes may not resonate with the audience as effectively as newer ones, leading to a lack of engagement and sharing. It's important to use memes that are currently popular and relevant to maintain the brand's connection with its audience.

How can a business identify the right memes to use for their marketing strategy?

A business can identify the right memes by understanding their target audience, monitoring current trends on platforms like Reddit and 9gag, and ensuring the memes align with the brand's message and the audience's interests.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Building a Strong Online Brand with Memes

The first paragraph emphasizes the importance of creating a strong brand identity online by connecting with the right audience and understanding their communication style. It introduces the concept of memes as a significant part of internet culture and discusses how to leverage them for marketing purposes. Trent Kennelly, a marketing strategist, sets the stage for the video by offering insights into meme marketing, including identifying what a meme is, its effectiveness, and strategies to use them successfully for business growth.

05:01

📚 Understanding Memes and Their Impact

The second paragraph delves into the definition of memes, expanding beyond just images and GIFs to include phenomena like the Ice Bucket Challenge and Rickrolling. It explains that memes are shareable and relatable content that can be adapted into various forms. The paragraph outlines a two-part test to identify a good meme: whether it is shareable or riffable and if it has a single theme or idea. The effectiveness of memes is attributed to their ability to resonate with people, thereby increasing brand awareness and potentially leading to sales.

10:03

🚫 Do's and Don'ts of Meme Marketing

This paragraph lays out the dos and don'ts for using memes in marketing. It advises understanding the history of a meme to avoid controversy, not coming off as a corporate shill by being subtle with brand messaging, and understanding how to use a meme properly by adhering to its theme. It also warns against posting random or off-topic memes and emphasizes the importance of knowing the target audience. The paragraph concludes with a warning about using outdated memes and the importance of staying current with trends.

📈 A Strategy for Successful Meme Marketing

The final paragraph provides a strategic approach to using memes for marketing. It suggests starting with month-old meme templates that have proven virality, collecting source material to understand internet trends, and keeping any product placement casual and light-hearted. The strategy also involves identifying the right distribution channels based on the meme's content and the target audience's preferences. The paragraph concludes by encouraging viewers to share their favorite memes and experiences with monetizing them, and to engage with the content by liking and subscribing.

Keywords

💡Brand Identity

Brand identity refers to the visual and emotional elements that make up a brand's image, including its name, logo, and overall presentation. In the context of the video, a strong brand identity is crucial for online businesses as it helps customers recognize and remember the brand and its offerings. The video emphasizes that a clear brand identity allows people to easily identify and connect with the business.

💡Meme

A meme is a concept that typically spreads virally through the internet, often in the form of a humorous image, video, or text. The video explains that memes are a significant part of internet culture and can be leveraged for marketing purposes. They can be shareable, relatable, and fun, which makes them an effective tool for engaging with the target audience and increasing brand awareness.

💡Viral Content

Viral content is any form of online media that spreads rapidly from viewer to viewer. The video discusses how memes, as a type of viral content, can be used to boost a brand's visibility and sales. The script mentions that the shareability and humor of memes make them an ideal medium for capturing the attention of potential customers.

💡Rickrolling

Rickrolling is an internet prank and meme where a person is tricked into clicking a hyperlink that leads to the music video for Rick Astley's song 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. In the video, it is mentioned as an example of a meme that involves audio and demonstrates the diverse forms memes can take, beyond just images or GIFs.

💡TikTok

TikTok is a social media platform known for its short-form videos, which often feature music and trends that can quickly become viral. The video script mentions TikTok as a platform that has popularized sound files as a new form of meme, contributing to the virality of videos through the use of specific audio clips.

💡Cultural Flashpoint

A cultural flashpoint refers to an event, trend, or phenomenon that becomes a significant point of interest or discussion within a culture. The video suggests that if a meme becomes a cultural flashpoint, it can significantly increase brand awareness because it captures people's attention and makes a lasting impression.

💡Know Your Meme

Know Your Meme is a website that documents internet phenomena, including memes. The video recommends using the site to understand the history and context of various memes, which is important for marketers to avoid using potentially polarizing or outdated memes in their campaigns.

💡Corporate Shill

A corporate shill is a term used to describe someone who appears to promote a product or company without disclosing their commercial interest. The video warns against coming off as a corporate shill when using memes for marketing, emphasizing the need for subtlety and authenticity to avoid alienating the audience.

💡Product Placement

Product placement is a marketing technique where a company's products are incorporated into content to gain exposure. The video advises keeping any product placement associated with memes casual and light-hearted to avoid appearing overly sales-focused, which can turn off the audience.

💡Distribution Points

Distribution points refer to the various channels through which content can be disseminated, such as social media platforms. The video discusses the importance of identifying the right distribution points for memes based on the nature of the meme and the target audience's preferences.

💡Outdated Memes

Outdated memes are those that were once popular but have since lost their relevance or popularity. The video script advises against using outdated memes for marketing as they may not resonate with the audience in the same way as fresh, current memes.

Highlights

Building a strong online business often requires a strong brand identity that people can easily recognize and associate with specific offerings.

Connecting with the right audience is crucial for online success, and it involves understanding and adopting their communication style online.

Memes are a significant part of internet culture and can be leveraged across various industries for brand engagement.

To use memes effectively for marketing, one must first understand what constitutes a meme and its potential virality.

Memes are not limited to images or GIFs; they can also include challenges like the Ice Bucket challenge or phenomena like Rickrolling.

TikTok has popularized sound files as memes, contributing to the virality of videos through algorithmic preferences.

A meme's shareability and riffability are key to its success, meaning it should be interesting enough for people to share or build upon.

Memes are typically fun, funny, and relatable, which is why they are widely shared and can be effective for brand awareness.

Each successful meme has a distinct theme or idea associated with it, which is important for maintaining its relevance and appeal.

Meme marketing works by building on content that already resonates with people, increasing brand awareness and potentially driving sales.

Understanding the history of a meme is important to avoid using ones with controversial or polarizing pasts, like Pepe the frog.

To avoid seeming like a corporate shill, brands should use memes subtly to build brand awareness rather than for direct sales pitches.

Using a meme correctly according to its established theme is crucial to avoid alienating the audience or appearing disingenuous.

Posting random or unrelated memes may increase reach but will not effectively target the desired audience or build a cohesive brand image.

Understanding one's target audience is key to selecting memes that will resonate with them, such as minion memes being popular with baby boomers.

Avoid posting outdated memes to ensure the content remains relevant and engaging to the audience.

A strategic approach to meme marketing involves starting with month-old meme templates, collecting source material, and keeping product placement casual.

Identifying the right distribution channels for memes, such as Reddit, Twitter, or Facebook, is essential based on the meme's content and the target audience.

Meme marketing, when done correctly, can leverage the cultural phenomenon of memes to enhance brand engagement and potentially boost sales.

Transcripts

Building a really strong business online, a lot of the time, means building a very

strong brand identity, something that people can point to and say, "I know who

they are and I know what they offer."

And it's very easy for them to figure it out.

And to do that, you most often need to connect with the right audience.

And connecting with the right audience

means that you need to communicate the way that they do online, which

means in any circumstance, no matter what thing you're focusing on.

If you're focusing on sewing, you're focusing on 360 cameras - anything in

between - you need to understand memes.

Memes are a huge part of the internet.

And no matter what industry you're in, they are a part of your daily interaction,

but how do you take this fun little internet quirk and turn it into sales.

Well today, I'm going to tell you all about it by first clearly identifying

what a meme is, showing you why it works, giving you some do's and don'ts

of meme marketing, and finally sharing a strategy to help you win with memes fast.

My name is Trent Kennelly.

I'm a marketing strategist.

And on this channel, I talk about all the things that you can do

to improve your business through marketing sales and analytics.

So if that sounds good to you and you're excited, make sure that

you like this video, subscribe to my channel if you're into it.

Comment and let me know what your favorite meme is.

If you've thought about monetizing it or not.

I just love memes.

So I'd love to know and let's get started.

All right.

So what is a meme?

Meme is internet slang for anything that's funny or viral content.

So most of the time it'll be an image or a GIF with a white bar on

the top with some explanation or something like that, uh, "That time

when you X" or something like that.

But it's not always going to be an image or a gif.

A lot of people kind of miss this.

But it doesn't stop at images.

It has been expanding for a long time.

Ice bucket challenge was considered a meme.

Planking was considered a meme.

Rick rolling is a meme.

These are not still images.

They're not always gifs.

Rick rolling requires audio.

So they're not the same thing as an image or a GIF, but they are memes.

Okay.

Just to even add further to that, Tik Tok has made sound files memes.

Because if you use certain sound files on your video, you're going

to increase the virality of that video, just algorithmically.

But the meme definition is both incredibly broad and highly precise because

it kind of encompasses everything.

And at the same time, it's anything that's viral that gets people's

attention and gets them interested in sharing it with other people.

So, how do we tell if it's a meme?

I'm going to give you a two part test here.

So the first part is, is it shareable or riffable?

So what I mean by this is, is it interesting enough that someone

either wants to share with their own network or wants to riff off of it?

They want to take their own idea and apply it to this meme template.

So a good example of this would be distracted boyfriend or side-eye Chloe

and how you see a bunch of different varieties on that same meme template.

That is a good meme because it's shareable or it's riffable.

And in these cases, it's both.

Okay.

How do we tell if it's shareable?

Memes are almost always fun or funny.

They're always going to be relatable.

So what you want to do is look at other memes with the same template and see

if there's a lot of variety there.

If you don't see a lot of variety.

It's probably not going to be relatable and shareable enough.

It's probably not going to be riffable enough.

So it's probably not going to be the right meme for you.

Second, is there a single theme or idea associated with

this image or this template?

Most memes are going to set a pattern and then follow that pattern.

So a good example would be distracted

boyfriend.

Distracted boyfriend is you.

Girlfriend in that scene is something that you're involved with currently.

Red dress girl is going to be something that you're at least briefly

more interested in than the thing that you're already involved in.

Actual advice mallard is known for giving actual advice about things.

So kind of like life hacks, it's not intended for jokes.

So if you're using actual advice mallard for jokes, it's not going to really

do very well because that's not what people expect out of that meme template.

Gru presentation is a four panel where Gru from Despicable Me will be giving a

presentation about something and in the

third panel I believe it is, he double takes his own, uh, presentation

and he realizes that he made a huge mistake and he's actually just messing

himself up inside the presentation.

There's a theme for every single meme that's very successful out there.

So you want to understand if there's a theme here

that you can work off of.

All right.

So why does this thing work?

Well, it's vitality personified.

So you're effectively putting content out there that already

strongly resonates with people.

And you're just building on that.

So you're just taking something that already works and you're stacking

your own blocks on top of it.

Okay.

Which is going to cause people to want to share it with their own friends

and family, which increases that brand awareness and those sales, et cetera.

If it's funny or it's punchy, it sticks with people in their minds a lot longer.

And if you're really lucky, It becomes a cultural flashpoint and people

remember it much longer and it increases that brand awareness a lot faster

because people are so taken by it.

Okay.

It could be a bad thing to be a cultural flashpoint too, but

let's focus on the positives.

Next, the do's and don'ts of memes.

So the first do is to understand the history of a meme.

There are a lot of memes out there that have kind of a rocky history

and you want to be careful about.

A good example of this is Pepe

the frog, which very famously during the 2016 presidential election was effectively

co-opted by the alt-right and ever since then, it's a pretty mixed legacy and any

meme that uses Pepe the frog is going to have a hard time not being polarizing.

So what I would suggest is to check out knowyourmeme.com.

It's a fantastic resource to understand memes very up to the minute so you can

understand the history of any particular meme that's out there, even if it's

only been out for a couple of weeks.

Don't come off as a corporate shill.

Okay.

It is really easy to sound like a corporate shill when you're using memes

as an advertising mechanism, because a lot of the time, people just try to

directly sell with a meme, which is not how you should be doing things.

This is not considered a sales device.

It's considered a strategy and brand awareness device that's going

to push people towards the sale.

Okay.

There's a subtle difference though, right?

If you're just using your memes to directly sell to people, they're

going to know deep down that they're being advertised to, and

they're not going to want that.

And they don't want that shoved in their faces and they will ignore

you or worse call you out for it.

Especially if you're using something like Reddit, they're really gonna go

after you if you just start trying to advertise with memes, okay.

Do understand how to use a meme.

This is really important.

The worst mistake that you can possibly make when you're marketing with

memes is to use that meme improperly.

Remember the test of a meme, the second part, is to understand

that there's a specific theme.

So understand that theme, understand how to use it.

Or again, people are going to see you as a corporate shill and ignore you, call you

out or get really angry at you about it.

Don't post random memes.

Now this might increase how many people see it in the beginning.

That's your reach, right?

But if you're looking for an audience of knitting enthusiasts, but your

memes are about cars, those memes are not going to get you there.

They need to be at least a little bit on topic to attract the people that

you're trying to attract to your brand.

Okay.

Do know your target audience.

So certain meme templates work better with certain audiences.

The most obvious example here is minion memes never worked for a

single day on younger audiences.

But baby boomers eat them up.

They absolutely love them.

It's been like 10 or 15 years since Despicable Me came out.

But there you go.

They absolutely love them.

So just keep in mind your audience, because you might find that somebody

in a very specific niche audience loves deep fried memes for instance,

but that's a very very niche audience.

You need to be very specific about that, but again, there are billions

of different memes out there.

So you just need to understand that audience to figure out what works.

And then finally do not post outdated memes.

So let's be very clear on what I mean by outdated here.

Outdated means the circulation and the creation of new memes

for that meme has decreased.

So for instance, grumpy cat blew up for a long time, but now

the circulation is pretty low.

People don't really talk about grumpy cat as much anymore.

So the meme is probably considered outdated.

So you don't want to post about grumpy cat anymore because it's not going to

have that same relate-ability factor.

It might get nostalgia, but it's best to go with something that's

more new and out of the box.

Okay.

Now this can get very tricky because there are literally memes

that blow up and die in 24 hours.

So if you're up for that, if you're up for understanding, what's working in the

moment, creating in the moment, that's probably really good for your business.

Good for you.

You should go for that.

Otherwise just keep an eye on things like Reddit and 9gag if you're into that.

And it'll kind of inform you exactly what memes are coming up and what

things are getting really popular.

All right.

Here is a strategy that you can use to help yourself get moving with memes.

So step one, use month old meme templates.

Memes, of course, have been around for a long time and you can use

those old memes if you want to.

But again, you have to be very skilled with that.

It's better.

If you can, to start out to use these months old memes.

The idea being that the virality of the meme has already been established

because it's been around for a month, which means it's made it through

that original 24 or 48 hour gauntlet.

And people are really riffing on it quite a bit, but it's not so old that

the people who originally saw it in that first 24 to 48 hours think that it's old.

Okay.

So it's a good middle ground for piggybacking on the virality and

pushing your product or your service through that viral meme status.

Step two collect source material.

So again, understanding how to use this meme is extremely important.

So you want to have a lot of examples to pull from.

It's going to help you really understand the angle the internet is taking for a

meme so that you can take that exact same angle and apply it with your new idea.

And then the final step is to keep any product placement,

very casual and in light.

BarkBox is a great example here because they use a lot of self-deprecating humor.

They don't always directly mention themselves.

They just make jokes and they're kind of related as you can see to dogs

and dog food and that sort of stuff.

Whereas ruffles using this Arthur meme with the clenched fist was way too on

the nose way to direct salesy and it just didn't work and everybody rejected it.

And even all these people were starting to make fun of that meme.

So it was like a meme on the meme.

And final final step here is to identify your distribution points.

So some distribution points are going to be better than others, depending

on what your meme is so Reddit, for instance, those subreddits r/me_irl

and r/memeeconomy can be a little bit on the edge, a little bit on the nose.

So unless your meme is super out there effectively, me_irl, probably

isn't going to be the best, but maybe Twitter would work better for you.

Maybe Facebook would work better for you.

Instagram, I would play back the memes I wouldn't use them too much Instagram

every once in a while will go through and just flush accounts with memes in them.

So you really don't want to be in the middle of that.

Okay.

So it's important to understand your distribution channel based on exactly

how the social media works and how the social media channel works.

You can check out this video for more detail on how they work.

So we all love memes, right?

The idea here is to figure out how to take that love of memes that we all

have and apply it to a sales process.

Okay.

So I hope that this helped you to figure out how to position those memes better.

Let me know if that was helpful for you or otherwise.

Let me know what your favorite meme is.

If you've tried to monetize it, or if you're thinking about that

or not, how you want to use it in the future, I would love to know.

I just love memes.

So please let me know what your favorite one is.

Otherwise, make sure that you liked this video.

Subscribe to my channel.

If you're into it.

And I'll catch you in the next one.