Barbenheimmer, Chinese Spy Balloon, Big Red Boots, photo of the Distracted Boyfriend - do any of these ring a bell? If you are active on social media, which nearly 6 billion of us are, you must have encountered social media posts around these themes. These themes, commonly known as memes, hey! it rhymed!, have growingly become the staple diet for social media fanatics out there. Memes have become the lingo of the netizens.
Fueled by their boundless excitement and zest for being part of the pop culture, digital natives are taking memes to new heights of reach and visibility. Of course, every forward-thinking brand and marketer chose to jump onto the bandwagon and has been using memes for increasing brand awareness and customer engagement.
Still, I think, brands have barely scratched the surface of what is known as 'Meme Marketing'. What inhibits them? Is there a space for meme marketing in the B2B space? How are memes subtly influencing the future of marketing? Grab a cup of coffee, dial up the volume on those speakers, listen with intent, and let the mind scroll through the world of memes.
History of meme is a meme in some ways…
Read any article around memes online, and you will find the reputed evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins being credited for coining the word 'meme'. Derived from the Greek word 'mimema' which means 'that which is imitated', the word was used as part of the work around gene-centered evolution by Mr. Dawkins. He refered to meme as a cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He has, however, distanced himself from the word itself and emergence of the related field 'memetics'.
While the reason for such a choice is not fully known, I would presume that he may have viewed the growing usage of memes as a deviation from his professional work and domain. Interestingly enough, this is a behaviour commonly found amongst professionals who dismiss memes as a mere distraction and choose to not bring them up in work-related conversations. This replicated behaviour of dismissing memes over time has become a kind of a meme in itself.
...so are the benefits of memes…
Taking the theme of the meme forward, oh! it rhymed again!, meme marketing is a way of riding the meme wave to create brand visibility and awareness. Meme marketing helps the brand to take advantage of the 3 key ingredients of a meme - it roots from a trending pop culture reference, which also makes it relevant to the latest trends, and it is entertaining. This brings several advantages to the brands.
Memes are very simple to make and do not require much of originality. This allows marketers to create one in a very short time and at a low cost. Some of the nuances of creative design like resolution and design language can be ignored in case of memes. There is a certain raw appeal to memes.
This raw appeal brings a very unique quality of imperfection which makes it more relatable, more human. For marketers, this means more engagement in forms of views, likes, shares and comments.
The core context of a meme is based on a trending topic. Meme marketing enables a brand conversation to remain relevant for the life-term of the topic it is based on. In some cases, the shelf life a brand meme long after the topic is not trending anymore. So, in a world where information gets obsolete in a blink of an eye, marketers are able to make their brand relevant in the ongoing conversation and open new avenues for reach and visibility.
And because it is trending, it appeals to the younger audience who are the true digital natives. A well thought out meme can also evoke feelings and emotions making it more in-tune with the times, contemporary, and genuine. It also makes the brand more friendly, approachable, and relatable which also appeals to the digital natives.
Another possible benefit is that of virality. Well-crafted branded memes have gone viral, and still do. A highly desirable feat every marketer and business wishes to accomplish because it can take the brand to unforseeable heights. Meme marketing has the potential to make that happen and there are umpteen examples in the market that support this argument.
… and the data supports it, too!
Going beyond the examples of memes we may have interacted with, there are multiple data points that support the argument in favour of meme marketing. Forbes, for example, cited a study by a meme discovery and creation app which showed that memes have about 10 times more reach with 60% organic engagement comparted to regular marketing graphics. Then, according to some estimates, CTR in meme campaigns are 14% higher than e-mail marketing.
B2C's usage of meme marketing is a meme, so is B2B's avoidance
These are a few of many data points that I have shared with you. The idea is not to throw numbers at you to convince about the relevance of meme marketing. Every business has a fair understanding of its target audience, and if you speak to the marketers they would cite examples of what's working for them on the whole. You will also find them talking about looking for more avenues for running targeted campaigns, primarily through digital marketing.
Digital marketing is always changing, so staying relevant and capturing consumers' attention can be tough. Marketers are always seeking new ways to cut through all the digital noise and engage their target audience, whether they're in the known or unknown universe. To tackle high customer churn rate, keep customers engaged, and reach new customers, B2C marketers have been using meme marketing as part of their marketing strategies. And quite successfully.
Meme marketing can help B2C brands boost their online presence, drive engagement, and cultivate stronger relationships with their customers, thanks to its humor, virality, and authenticity. If you search the Internet for examples of successful meme marketing campaigns, almost all of them are from B2C brands. Neftlix, Oreo, Wendy's are some of the brands that have successfully leveraged meme marketing.
Marketers, especially B2C marketers, know that customers don't wait for brands to become visible to start the buying journey. Customers seek to be informed, educated, and wowed when they discover a brand. This means that if the content is not meeting some or any of these requirements, the bus is missed. It's not necessarily because that content is bad, it's just that today customers don't like to be marketed to. It makes them feel manipulated and dumb. This is most particularly found true for Gen Z's who are the true digital natives. According to GWI research, about 56% of Gen Z's viewed a meme in the past week, about 52% shared a meme, and about 34% followed the specific meme account and commented on the post! For B2C marketers, meme marketing opens doors into reaching a new audience every time.
B2B marketers, on the other hand, tend to look at meme marketing as not very relevant, if not irrelevant. Their perspective is that their audience typically falls in higher age groups. Their expectations and sensitivities are different, so memes must strike the right balance between humour and professionalism, and be relevant to the industry or domain. Memes are culturally specific, so branded content leveraging them must align with the brand voice and not be risky. These are all very valid reasons. Still, considering memes less relevant for B2B marketing stems from a patterned behavior of safe play and being scared of risk. This is a meme in itself, from a B2B as well as B2C perspective.
B2B's adoption could become a meme of success!
Trying something has as many reasons as not trying it. Humorous memes could add a light-hearted spin to a serious business challenge that's memorable, relatable, and attention-grabbing. B2B marketers don't have to pick up a trending meme like Barbenheimmer or the Distracted Boyfriend. Rather, it could hurt the brand. But, nothing stops them from taking a trending topic in their industry or domain, and use wit or humour to convey their message.
Interestingly, there are many good examples where a B2B brand has successfully leveraged meme marketing to tell stories that change customer's perception, and appear more relatable and accessible. Zendesk, a SaaS company, created an alternate website for an imaginary grunge band called Zendesk Alternative that disliked sharing its name with a boring software company and eventually found inspiration in customer service. It helped them appear more friendly and approachable to their customers by taking a lighthearted approach.
Cisco created a Cyber Threat Response Comic to raise awareness about data security. This humour approach spreads awareness about a not-so-sexy but critical issue of cybersecurity and encourages customers to act.
Team work management software, Confluence, used a Pedro Pascal meme to ride the trending topic of companies asking employees to return to office. No wonder it got a lot of popularity simply because it was so relatable and 2023!
I'll share links to these B2B marketing memes for you check out in the description. These should give B2B marketers food for thought for creating space for memes in their content marketing strategies.
If you still don't agree, gen AI is turning every content into one
It's pretty cliché that most marketing is digital today, and it will only get more so. With so many people spending time on digital, every marketing effort becoming scalable and measurable, and emerging technologies will make it even better and widely used.
It's a two-sided story - people and technology. You get reach at scale with technology, and people engage with your brand to amp up your online presence. Simple. Technology enables all of this, but it's also learning and adapting its algorithms to retain and engage people and create a digital culture at the same time. Digital culture reflects and influences everything in the physical world. Memes have become the language of digital culture. With meme marketing, a brand can stay relevant by using lingo that resonates with the target audience, whether they're B2C or B2B. Remember, your target audience is a human no matter what their demographic or profession is. Everyone appreciates a good laugh now and then.
Like I said, all that algorithmic learning of technology makes up large language models used by generative AI. It might seem ignorant to think memes won't show up in Gen AI's training data.
B2C marketers are most likely to benefit from meme marketing, for sure. They have been trend-setters that way. B2B marketers still have a long way to go. Those who think meme marketing isn't for B2B marketers because it's too risky, it's also risky for B2C marketers. Their stakes are just as high, if not higher.
So far, this podcast episode has used the word meme more than 60 times. This episode is part of a podcast channel that is one of many marketing podcast channels. It's all a meme, everything repeats itself.
Comments