The Meme Game

A meme is not just viral content on the internet, it’s a religion for millennials. Every morning they wake up and check their mobile phones to be greeted by memes. A daily dose of memes are posted, shared and laughed at every single day. How can one forget all the Dank Irrfan memes or the Salt Bae guy.

The brands that realise the power of memes know how to churn content according to the latest trend. It shows a humorous side of the brand. Memes hit a common chord due to which they are widely accepted and helps in engagement. Sponsored advertisements are skipped, hence brands had to understand what works and adapt it. Memes are interesting and memorable pieces of content. When brands adapt meme culture into their social media, users learn about the brand and the memes shareability increase brand awareness.

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Getting Into The Meme Game:

Brands need to keep in mind that memes work when people actually understand what it means. They need to use the language that the millennials are familiar with. However, if you try too hard to be cool it can be off-putting. They also need to make sure that they don’t take themselves seriously. Memes work because of their humour, they are bound to be silly and ridiculous. Only then will it resonate with the audience. While keeping the language in mind, the looming terror of people not understanding still prevails but memes are crafted for the niche audience who understand it. Memes work when they are sizzling hot. No one wants to see a meme that has lost its spice. Meme culture is like the local train, you need to catch it fast or wait for the next one.

The sixth season of Game of Thrones was successfully turned into a meme campaign by a number of major brands. The luxury brand Gucci also took the meme train to engage its audience, but it was subjected to criticism as some people felt that it was in bad taste, keeping the brand’s personality in mind while others thought it was an amazing move and showed a quirky side of the brand.

One fundamental thing that brands need to keep in mind is that memes are only for generating engagement, they cannot be a substitute to quality content.