The Growing Trend of Internet Memes in Marketing and Business
In order to make Internet Memes popular among Internet users, one should be creative enough to come up with new and interesting ones. The best way to use these jokes or popularly used Memes is to poke fun at the things that are commonly discussed on the Internet. However, when using the Memes, one should not be disrespectful to the other person because the other person might hurt his feelings by responding to the Internet Meme. There are many instances where an Internet user was asked not to remove a Meme because it was offensive to some people. Such people are called "trolls" by other users of the social media sites.
There are many common characteristics of all the different kinds of Internet Memes. These common characteristics include: they are jokes or popular Humors which are posted by some users in the social media sites for amusement; they are visual content, i.e., they are pictures, video, and audio files; they are sometimes viral, i.e., they are distributed without the person posting the Internet Meme being aware of it; they are sometimes collectable and/or traded among Internet users; and they are sometimes politically motivated. Internet Memes also include code that allows computers to track Internet traffic and can be used to track Internet activity.
There are many Internet users who use the common characteristics of Internet Memes to make others laugh or to bring up a common topic. For example, consider the following definition of the word "meme." "A trend, ideas, style, or practice of sharing media that typically appeals to a specific group of people (such as teenagers) through the use of various informal methods (such as discussion boards) within Internet communities or online websites." By closely examining this definition, it is clear that the use of Memes in the context of social media is limited to the types of content that appeal to the target audience or those who participate in the online discussions on the Internet. This clearly eliminates the use of Memes in political campaigns.
The use of internet memes has become especially popular with younger generations who typically participate in online discussions about popular topics. One reason for this is that these younger people do not typically read the traditional media, which is why many people refer to internet memes as "image macros." Image macros are commonly referred to as Memes because users edit an image to include a series of text, usually embedded in a picture or graphic, which is then circulated through the means of a web browser or personal web page.
The popularity of image macros has made them one of the most popular forms of viral marketing strategies on the internet. Many companies have recognized the value in creating and distributing these types of content to their target audiences. However, for businesses who are unfamiliar with how to create Virals, it can be difficult to create effective Virals for business use. Fortunately, there are several companies that offer tools and techniques to help users create their own effective and unique viral campaigns. Some of these companies include:
Businesses often utilize Virals because they provide immediate and long-term benefits. Because posting a single Meme on a public forum can result in significant exposure for a business, businesses often choose to spread their advertising message via an image macro or sticker. This strategy can be particularly effective if a business's brand or product has a high perceived value for consumers. Many people tend to evaluate the importance of different brands and products based on their perceived value. For this reason, companies who choose to use Virals as part of their marketing strategy stand to benefit from increased brand and product awareness. By marketing their brands through Virals, businesses can increase consumer awareness for their products and brands while simultaneously driving volumes of traffic to their websites.
Although internet memes are not generally considered to be a marketing strategy in and of themselves, the ease of embedding them onto a website or into a social media feed increases the chances that a user will share the Meme with others. It is important, therefore, to become adept at the techniques of crafting internet Memes in order to capitalize on this inherent value of the online Meme concept. Viral marketing has been around for several years and companies who recognize the value in amplifying the presence of their brands through cultural information will find great success by integrating internet memes into their marketing campaigns. Viral marketing is just another tool in the fight against free advertising and in achieving internet marketing success.