It’s a Meme, Meme World (Or Is It?)

Grumpy Cat, Condescending Wonka, and Ryan Gosling – these are a few of my favorite memes.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad …

I look up a few of my favorite memes, and then I don’t feel so bad.

Are Memes Valuable?

There are different schools of thought when it comes to memes. Personally, I really like them. They entertain me, make me laugh. Professionally we use them sparingly. Though we seek to entertain our audiences, we put more emphasis on value.

But do they bring value?

Do memes make people remember your brand, products, and services? Or do they just make people remember the meme; remembering vaguely that your brand published something funny?

Personally, like puzzles, games and other entertainment-based tactics, I feel they’re more used to the benefit of the admin. I think these tactics are a ploy to boost engagement metrics. And while engagement metrics look good on paper, they don’t necessarily put money in the bank.

Memes In The Middle

I do believe that used every now and again, as they’re related to the brand, memes can be an excellent way to entertain your audience AND get the benefits of engagement.

For instance, once and a while we’ll post memes on the B Squared Media Facebook Page for a good laugh – like the one below.

The memes we use always have something brand-related as a topic because one of our goals is to remain top of mind when it comes to social media, and to grab a larger piece of the market share.

If we shared Ryan Gosling memes about the ‘Golden Girls’, I’m not sure we’d do anything other than entice a laugh. Which is great … but isn’t what we’d consider a “win-win.”

The Dark Side Of Memes

There are a few other reasons why memes may not be all they’re cracked up to be.

Though memes can be highly viral on Facebook, they are often shared so much that if you’re the last person to share them, your reach will be very small. This is due to the EdgeRank variable called Time Decay or Recency.

Since this variable likes “fresh” and “original” news, it’s actually better to create your own memes, which you can do on meme generating sites like QuickMeme or Meme Generator.

Another snafu you can land yourself in is the plagiarism pot. The popular Cheezburger has these terms listed on their website in regards to memes:

“You agree to not use, copy, reproduce, transmit, broadcast,
sell, license, download, or otherwise exploit any of the Content other
than as expressly permitted herein, including any use, copying,
or distribution of User Submissions of third parties obtained through
the Websites for any commercial purposes.”

And as Alisa from Scalable Social found in her research on memes, it’s best to make your own rather than suffer the repercussions of potential plagiarism or copyright infringement.

So? What’s your stance? Do you use memes with caution or make them your main attraction? I’d love for you to weigh in with your own thoughts below!

See you in the social sphere!

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Brooke B. Sellas

Brooke B. Sellas is the in-the-trenches Founder & CEO of @HelloBSquared, an award-winning social media, advertising, and social media customer care agency. She's also the author of Conversations That Connect -- a book all about social listening and social media customer care. Brooke's marketing mantra is “Think Conversation, Not Campaign” so be sure to give her a shout on the socials!

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