Memes are trending, memes are funny. Memes can be viral if you do it right. So why not try making some memes for your small business marketing plan?
1) Do I have the skills to make good memes myself?
Meme-making has become an art form in itself so if all you can come up with is a picture of your company logo with words superimposed, don’t bother calling it a meme because there’s many others who can do that much better than you. And even if the ideas are better than average, unless you have good design skills and Photoshop abilities, once again – leave this part to someone else.
2) Who am I targeting by creating memes?
If your target market is youths or millennials, not to worry. But if your target market is those who are older than 30, you have some work to do because memes may be a big hit with the younger generation but they will drive away your more mature and serious customers.
3) Do I understand and want to use memes for my marketing plan?
Memes from Meme Scout, can be used as an extension of existing marketing campaigns – example: You’ve got a social media page that posts about business tips and advice. You could create a series of memes like “How thinking like a millennial can make you better at work.” But before creating such campaign-specific memes, ask yourself this question: “Will I still find these funny even after people no longer associate them with my own business?” Because what you find hilarious today may not be funny when it’s not associated with your brand.
4) What will I do when someone else posts a better meme than mine?
That’s the nature of memes – many people are competing for those one-liners that can spark conversations and drive traffic to their own site or social media page. So if you’re banking on memes to help increase online visibility, you need to know that even if your first batch is good, there are other marketers out there who can probably create something funnier or more attention-grabbing than yours.
5) How much time do I have free to make memes?
If what you really want is an easy way out of doing actual marketing work like finding leads and making sales, well now you have it – create memes instead of doing those things. But if you want to do actual marketing work as well as creating memes, then you should know that creating a good meme is time-consuming. Even if people would argue that they’re not because all you really need to do is type out words on your computer, the truth is that there’s much more going into a good meme than just clipping pictures or taking screenshots from other sources and superimposing words over them.
6) Will I be happy with the result even if the reaction from my target market isn’t what I have hoped for?
If your marketing plan includes using memes, realize that making one successful meme can take hours – so if your marketing plan also includes making a lot of mediocre memes that you know may not be very effective in bringing in leads and sales, and then just scrap the whole thing.
7) How will I measure my ROI on creating and using memes?
If you’re going to spend money hiring someone else to create these ads for you or if you’re going to spend hours working on some crappy ones yourself, at least make sure they pay off otherwise look for another way how to increase online visibility without having to waste time and money.
8) Do I know what “meme economy” means?
It’s like the stock market – there are constantly fluctuating values attached to certain types of images as well what those images mean. Some are considered valuable during certain times but not during other times. So before you invest your money and time into anything, make sure to do some research first.
9) What’s my brand’s tone of voice?
If your tone is more serious or if you’re trying to convey a message that people will find useful, then it would be best for you not to use memes at all. But if the goal is simply to make people laugh, you can create simple memes like “You vs The Boss.”
10) Does what I want to convey through memes fit with this year’s trends?
Trends may change every year – so whatever meme strategy you’ve chosen for yourself this year, don’t bank it too much because chances are that it might already be out of style next year. For example, some references that were popular in 2016 are no longer relevant this 2017 so if you’re banking on the fact that people will still find them funny anyway, you could be mistaken. It’s best to choose something timeless instead.
Conclusion:
The biggest mistake marketers make in trying to use memes for marketing is making the same kind of meme that everyone else is using. They just create a meme that they think their audience will like and then they post it on all of their social media platforms and blogs in hopes that people will share it and retweet it, but they’re completely ignoring the fact that there are other marketers who probably created better memes than them and who will also be posting those memes as well.
