Friday, August 11, 2017

What you may not know about memes and how they relate to digital marketing




I have been hunting memes for years now without knowing what they actually were and I am here to share with you one my of my most interesting Google searches in the last few months.

If you asked me "What is the definition of  meme?" two months ago, I would have said,

"A recognizable photo that has a universal meaning with a witty header and footer."

I was wrong...a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square...the pictures with a witty header/footer are definitely memes, however, memes aren't exclusive to this medium.  The definition, as seen in above image, in way more general than I could have ever imagined.  It made me rethink the whole idea of memes and specifically, how valuable they are or can be to digital marketers.

Thinking beyond memes represented with pictures, it is safe to say that a living, walking, breathing human being can absolutely be a meme as well, as long as their behaviors are mimicked and passed from person to person.  An example of a behavioral, non-digital meme is 'dabbing'.  If you don't know what it is, see below picture as you have probably interacted with several 'dabbing' goons without even knowing it.  Instead of explaining what it is, here's an example of a 'dabber'.
To be honest, like most memes, I don't know who really started the whole dab meme (and frankly, I don't really care).  Most, if not all millennials know exactly what dabbing is because their awesome friend, family member, classmate, or stranger on the streets participates in the act liberally.

With this newfound understanding of memes, I naturally tried to relate it back to digital marketing and whether or not there is value in marketing in a 'memely' fashion.  The fact that I don't know where most memes originate, or really care to know for that matter, tells me that it may not be the best way to increase brand awareness.  On the other hand, you could be like the NFL and watermark a gif of grandma dabbing.  I absolutely see more pros than I do cons, the main pro being how rapidly a meme can spread an infect everyone.

The internet is the ultimate platform for a meme, and I would put money on the fact that advertisers are really pushing to invent the next popular meme.




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