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Using Memes in Marketing?

Marketing, social media, advertising

bbar97

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As most of you know, the marketing industry in the U.S. is a multi-billion dollar industry. Companies are always looking for new ways to market their products and services to new target demographics and expand their market share, which is why I believe the following concept is promising.

Some of you may be unaware, but for younger generations, memes are a close proxy for cultural trends. Something newsworthy happens in real life, and almost immediately memes are made about it. I believe this presents a very unique and lucrative opportunity for marketers to reach younger audiences, and from what I've seen it is way under-utilized. The only place i've seen memes used to advertise is Reddit. I'm sure it would depend on the individual, but for me humor is one of if not THE best way to get me interested in a product. If I see an advertisement in the form of a meme its also significantly less likely to annoy me, because the advertisement itself is much more likely to provide value to me in the form of entertainment.

I have an idea on how to implement and monetize this concept but I'm curious what others think about the concept itself, especially middle-aged business owners who would be a good demographic representative of the decision makers for this kind of advertising.

Any perspectives and feedback is much appreciated!
 
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bbar97

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Memes are used a lot on Facebook and Instagram. Nothing new.

Quick example:

View attachment 29522


It's absolutely a mistake to think it's for younger audiences only.

Ah, you're right, my brain just ommited facebook ads for some reason. So there is definitely validation for using memes to market. And yeah, it's definitely not only for younger generations, but the younger someone is, the more likely they are to like memes and be more in tune with the most current memes. Theres also the issue of needing to know what types of memes appeal to different demographics, like for example, the meme above I would say appeals generally to everyone, but likely skews to middle age folks slightly due to how long it's been around . Younger generations are typically early adopters of memes, and as time goes on a meme template will evolve and trickle down to platforms like facebook and twitter where meme templates enter the mainstream such as what happened with the above example. So, being in tune with trends is definitely important for any marketer who wants to use memes to advertise.
 

Smuggo

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There is somewhere thread about it. Guy improved likes on his Facebook page by meme posts, because people were laughing, sharing ect.
 
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SeanLewis

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based on my personal experience it works for engagement, but if it's sales that you want it's the wrong strategy.

Edit: It might work great for some niches and for others like the ones i've worked with it doesn't. Best way to find out is to try it.
 

bbar97

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based on my personal experience it works for engagement, but if it's sales that you want it's the wrong strategy.

Edit: It might work great for some niches and for others like the ones i've worked with it doesn't. Best way to find out is to try it.

Can I ask if those businesses are B2B or B2C?
 

francevalue

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Believe me, memes use emotions and emotions are good for marketing!
 
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EVMaso

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A few years ago I put a meme on a t-shirt, basically on a hunch, and have made 5 figures in passive income (literally passive, I did nothing but submit the shirt design) from that shirt's sales.

The drawback is that keeping up with memes is EXHAUSTING. You literally have to be on top everything trending to find the latest and hottest things, or else someone else gets there first and milks it hard, you can probably still grab a piece of the pie though. Also it's not as easy as putting a meme on a t-shirt or product and then listing it for sale. You have to be good at marketing or have a good channel for getting your product to your target audience (this was my edge). Memes also have a short shelf life, so don't expect any long term moneys from meme products (I got lucky with my shirt in that it stayed relevant for just about 3 years). Lastly, not everything will be a winner, and I do not have a formula for why some memes take off and some don't. I tried making a few more shirts with no success. Some people do have the formula and have systems in place to take advantage of that and are making millions.

For me the key is really knowing your niche and your audience so you get a good sense of what will really click with them. It's not as simple as doing some surface research and jumping into a niche and right away start making products for it.
 

bbar97

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A few years ago I put a meme on a t-shirt, basically on a hunch, and have made 5 figures in passive income (literally passive, I did nothing but submit the shirt design) from that shirt's sales.

The drawback is that keeping up with memes is EXHAUSTING. You literally have to be on top everything trending to find the latest and hottest things, or else someone else gets there first and milks it hard, you can probably still grab a piece of the pie though. Also it's not as easy as putting a meme on a t-shirt or product and then listing it for sale. You have to be good at marketing or have a good channel for getting your product to your target audience (this was my edge). Memes also have a short shelf life, so don't expect any long term moneys from meme products (I got lucky with my shirt in that it stayed relevant for just about 3 years). Lastly, not everything will be a winner, and I do not have a formula for why some memes take off and some don't. I tried making a few more shirts with no success. Some people do have the formula and have systems in place to take advantage of that and are making millions.

For me the key is really knowing your niche and your audience so you get a good sense of what will really click with them. It's not as simple as doing some surface research and jumping into a niche and right away start making products for it.


Exactly, thats good to hear from someone else. My idea would be perfect for utilizing this concept, the difficulty now is just going to be whether or not I have the skills and willpower to execute it. Especially considering the extent of my coding knowledge is a little html and some lua.
 
D

Deleted74396

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Made over $50k with meme ads on Facebook and Tumblr, it's definitely a great way to reach a bunch of people for free who may be interested in your product.
 
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EVMaso

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Exactly, thats good to hear from someone else. My idea would be perfect for utilizing this concept, the difficulty now is just going to be whether or not I have the skills and willpower to execute it. Especially considering the extent of my coding knowledge is a little html and some lua.

You don't need coding knowledge to start selling meme products. There are lots of web platforms out there already purpose built to get your product into the faces of your audience.

If I was to start in the meme product business today I would focus instead on marketing (FB and IG marketing, but really market to wherever your audience hangs out) and design (getting a good sense of what is good design and what is not), and also practice some business skills (working with other designers, partnering with suppliers, etc.). And of course jumping headfirst into a niche and living that life to get a really good sense of what it's all about.
 
D

Deleted74396

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based on my personal experience it works for engagement, but if it's sales that you want it's the wrong strategy.

Edit: It might work great for some niches and for others like the ones i've worked with it doesn't. Best way to find out is to try it.

They work for sales if the meme is directly about a product. I made $5000 profit in a month selling these floats in 2018. Posted the photo with the caption "when it's payday and you start spending money on stuff you don't really need" and it went viral

29526
 

bbar97

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You don't need coding knowledge to start selling meme products. There are lots of web platforms out there already purpose built to get your product into the faces of your audience.

If I was to start in the meme product business today I would focus instead on marketing (FB and IG marketing, but really market to wherever your audience hangs out) and design (getting a good sense of what is good design and what is not), and also practice some business skills (working with other designers, partnering with suppliers, etc.). And of course jumping headfirst into a niche and living that life to get a really good sense of what it's all about.

Well actually my idea isn't to personally market meme products, but its closer to a platform that people could advertise on, so that's where the coding comes in.
 
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D

Deleted74396

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Well actually my idea isn't to personally market meme products, but its closer to a platform that people could advertise on, so that's where the coding comes in.

Make a platform where people can share memes/viral-esque content that can be used to sell products.

Allow creators/youtubers/instagrammers/FB page owners to see the product (you could even link to dropshipping services/hosting/etc. to make extra!) but to access the marketing material they've gotta pay.

You could also offer an unlimited subscription, as a FB marketer I would pay around $100-150/mo for that with 5-10 new products and 20-50 pieces of content a month even before you had a huge catalog.
 

bbar97

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Make a platform where people can share memes/viral-esque content that can be used to sell products.

Allow creators/youtubers/instagrammers/FB page owners to see the product (you could even link to dropshipping services/hosting/etc. to make extra!) but to access the marketing material they've gotta pay.

You could also offer an unlimited subscription, as a FB marketer I would pay around $100-150/mo for that with 5-10 new products and 20-50 pieces of content a month even before you had a huge catalog.

Well, looks like I'm off to learn what kind of coding language I need to learn to make this happen. If a coder sees this and is interested in potentially partnering on this send me a DM for more info.
 
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D

Deleted74396

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Well, looks like I'm off to learn what kind of coding language I need to learn to make this happen. If a coder sees this and is interested in potentially partnering on this send me a DM for more info.

You can do it! I would be happy to help out or give you some tips for reaching out to FB pages. The majority of large community/entertainment pages (100k+ likes) don't make any money, but are open to it.

If you make it easy for them to do, use popular, trendy or unique products, and can get content that performs well, you'd have a KILLER service. Paired with the fact you can target FB page owners in ads, you should definitely be able to get at least a hundred customers with good marketing.

$10k recurring revenue is pretty nice, and at that point you could hire someone to create content full time and really amp things up :)
 

bbar97

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You can do it! I would be happy to help out or give you some tips for reaching out to FB pages. The majority of large community/entertainment pages (100k+ likes) don't make any money, but are open to it.

If you make it easy for them to do, use popular, trendy or unique products, and can get content that performs well, you'd have a KILLER service. Paired with the fact you can target FB page owners in ads, you should definitely be able to get at least a hundred customers with good marketing.

$10k recurring revenue is pretty nice, and at that point you could hire someone to create content full time and really amp things up :)

Thanks for the encouragement, I'll keep that offer in mind! I've got a long way to go before any kind of recurring revenue though. Lots of work ahead.
 

ecommercewolf

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I think memes to sell products are awesome! A lot of people use social media primarily for humor and memes... so by using them you're tapping into a market & gives you the POTENTIAL for a sale.
 
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The-J

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Careful with IP when it comes to memes. I see a local startup using the Fry Futurama meme in their ads. They spend a lot of money a month on FB. I could see them getting smacked with a C+D letter, maybe not a lawsuit but you never know who you're dealing with when it comes to these IP owners.
 

EVMaso

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Careful with IP when it comes to memes. I see a local startup using the Fry Futurama meme in their ads. They spend a lot of money a month on FB. I could see them getting smacked with a C+D letter, maybe not a lawsuit but you never know who you're dealing with when it comes to these IP owners.

If you hang out in a space long enough, you start to get a sense of what companies will allow and what they won't, and which companies to absolutely not mess with at all. A good way to test this is to go to a local fan convention and see what vendors are hawking, those that have been around long enough know where the line is and how to toe it.

So I used to be in the what I call the "geek" space: Comics, Video Games, Anime, Cartoons, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I know, broad, but there's niches within this space that I targeted. This was online as well as in physical locations (think conventions, not brick and mortar stores). Some companies are very lenient with their IPs when it comes to fan products, and I know many people who have made lots of cash on the backs of that. Other companies seem like they have teams of people just constantly scouting and ready to slap that C&D letter on someone's forehead.

Example: Nintendo. There are so many people hawking all kinds of things featuring Pokemon on them. I have this theory that it's related to Japanese companies and the general Japanese culture regarding "fan works", but I don't know for sure. Another example: Disney. Don't touch the Disney Princesses! I watched a successful competitor get absolutely murdered because of that. Unless you think you can fight Disney's lawyers, just do what the C&D letter says.

Generally though if a company feels you are infringing their stuff, they'll just have the stuff taken down. So if you're running FB ads for the offending content, they will contact FB to have those ads taken down (FB might further penalize you, but that's from FB not the company). If you're running your own site, they will contact you directly and you just take it down and don't do that again. You won't get sued unless you ignore them.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
 
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Xeon

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Check out Slim Jim's Instagram account that uses memes that are so on-brand and lit as F*ck: Slim Jim (@slimjim) • Instagram photos and videos

Whoever does all those memes is a F*cking genius. I'm still trying hard to figure how I could do something like this for my brand lol Look at their comments section.

Another one is Wendy's Instagram account (yup, the fast food Wendy's).
 
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bbar97

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Check out Slim Jim's Instagram account that uses memes that are so on-brand and lit as F*ck: Slim Jim (@slimjim) • Instagram photos and videos

Whoever does all those memes is a F*cking genius. I'm still trying hard to figure how I could do something like this for my brand lol Look at their comments section.

Another one is Wendy's Instagram account (yup, the fast food Wendy's).
Slim Jim's Instagram account is entirely memes. Enjoy.


Yeah In my opinion this is pretty much the pinnacle of marketing. If you can get people talking about your product on their own and with a positive connotation, you've done your job well.
 

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