The ROI of laughter: How memes drive marketing results

If you ask me, in the current ‘constant-trend-evolving’ digital landscape, brands are legit using every possible method to ensure a 24/7 connection with their audience. The moment someone mentions ‘meme marketing’, the first thought that strikes one is ‘quirky’, fun and most importantly, ‘highly relatable’ “yeh toh viral hoga bro” content. Memes, over the years, have one hundred percent the crazy potential to make it through the cluttered digital space and create an impact on the viewers. But the long asked question in advertising: ‘Does this humorous and witty image oriented content, drive real business results? Well, the answer is: Undoubtedly, YES! After multiple tried and tested formulas, all I would say is, it takes a well-planned and executed strategic approach! That is the key to achieve path-breaking success to your brand’s meme marketing initiative.

For brands taking this route and looking to unlock the full-potential of a viral meme marketing campaign, I’ve listed below some of the top factors which brands must take into consideration:

Unleashing the power of memes for marketing success

Unlike Akshay Kumar’s infamous Hera Pheri meme, aaj mein “zor zor se bol ke logo ko scheme bataunga”. Thanks to the digital realm, the world is now connected with each other like never before. Exchanging content in/with different formats, such as, shareable videos (reels/shorts), informative pieces (tweets/threads), and quirky static posts fosters a sense of camaraderie, eg., snap streaks, sharing funny reels etc. today are surprisingly a sign of healthy friendship. These sentimental connections, if strategically used and latched on by brands, can translate to an unwavering brand loyalty. Meme marketing can actually lead to an enhanced brand engagement and long-term brand recall by lightening the audience's mood, spreading smiles and fostering a positive image.

Delivering ROI through memes

How I wish ROIs were a ‘21 din mein paisa double’ scheme, but I can definitely say memes do have a great potential for virality. Unlike its initial years where it was just for fun, memes today are an essential marketing tool and are designed with the intent to be shared and made viral. Captivating visuals and witty content gets shared widely at lightning speed across social media platforms, garnering massive reach and engagement organically at an exponential rate, all while saving significant marketing costs!

By connecting a fictional situation with real life situations, memes enable brands to build human connections, harbouring a sense of authenticity and trust while making the brand relatable and approachable. Hence, I can indeed say that memes are quite an effective way to create a brand persona. Digital trends keep changing rapidly in real-time. Hence, ensuring speed and responsiveness is highly essential when opting for meme marketing. It allows brands to stay on the top of trending conversations and emphasise their awareness of pop-culture, positioning them as relevant and well-versed, which resonates well with the generation raised on the internet, also known as GenZ!

Quirky content is a mighty weapon for driving engagements. Memes spark conversations, encourage people to share and comment, which delivers valuable user-generated content. Memes open a two-way dialogue that solidifies the relationship between brands and consumers, fostering a robust community.

Here’s how to make it happen!

Execution is easy yet tactical. A thorough understanding of the target audience is crucial for ensuring marketing success. Weaving meme content that considers demographics, psychographics, culture beliefs and values is vital. Staying atop of the current events and participating in those conversations using the latest formats, garners organic brand engagement. Always remember: Never force memes. Saare memes hamesha viral nahi hote, Laxman! Memes must appear effortless, natural and organic to leverage your brand voice and reflect your brand personality. Focus on quality for both content & visuals! Use large, bold text to scream your message.

A step forward towards laughter - Evaluating success

Return on investment (ROI) is undoubtedly the most important metric to measure the success of any marketing initiative. Although, when it comes to meme marketing, it’s way beyond that. Meme marketing increases brand awareness through shares, mentions, followers and organic website traffic. A higher rate of engagement and sentiment analysis using social listening tools indicate how well your content resonated with the audiences and how the users perceived your brand after coming across your memes.

And a happily ever after - Success stories

Brands today are now opting for meme marketing strategies to build viewer engagement at reduced costs while also increasing their reach and visibility. Both B2C and B2B brands are including memes into their marketing plans. Some successful and well-known examples of meme marketing include brands like Amul, Netflix, Swiggy, Zomato, Tinder India, Durex, Disney+ Hotstar, and many more! What these brands have in common is their impeccable use of timing and entertainment value, which we all see in their wholesome memes. So, dekh raha hai Binod, kaise mazak karte karte aaj kal me-me marketing ho rahi hai!

Mehul Gupta is the Co-Founder & CEO of SoCheers. Views expressed are personal.