I’m fascinated by memes.
They have so much power.
But why?
And what exactly is a meme?
My research suggests Richard Dawkins first coined the term, and it had nothing to with what we know as memes.
The definition is two parts.
- an idea, behaviour, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture
- an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media
Memes are so powerful it’s believed they influence election outcomes.
One thing is for sure they spread.
The reason they spread is because is they express something we can relate to.
A human truth, in funny form.
A point of view, in funny form.
A belief we share with others.
I’ve spent the last week honing my meme skills to skewer Facebook’s decision to get rid of fact checkers.
It’s been an interesting exercise.
My number one lesson is you have to find a human truth that many people also believe.
Then express in a way that is amusing.
Do that well and it may go viral.
The implication for marketing is this.
Your marketing doesn’t always have to be super serious.
You can have fun.
In fact your customers value entertainment over anything.
People are unable to just be.
We get bored and do something, anything, to avoid boredom.
It’s not really a good thing.
But in marketing we work with the world the way it is, not the way we’d prefer it to be.
So maybe memes should be part of your marketing effort.
If you need help with that let me know.
Of course the only way to finish today is with another meme.
