How are meme-making apps disrupting the social media industry?

Introduction

Any new happening or event takes place, and you have thousands of memes made on that in a few minutes. Memes have been here for a long time. We get so many memes daily, which are passed on from one person to another in the community. They are quite relatable with the current scenario and make us laugh out loud. They have been around for more than 40 years but have gained much popularity in the recent past. Richard Dawkins first introduced the concept in his 1976 book The Selfish Gane. Memes are an idea, behavior, or theme that shows the current cultural system and are passed on from one person to another within the community. You might have laughed so often when a video or an image gets virally related to the present scenario and events taking place around the world.

Some reports suggest that such is the popularity of memes that it has replaced the most searched word on the internet -Jesus. With the increasing popularity of social media and the internet, memes making has taken over. Our news feed is filled with thousands of memes when we open Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram every morning. There is something to make you laugh almost every morning. Memes have become popular not only with Gen Z but also with most millennials. Although memes have been taken to lighten the mood, they have become an excellent marketing tool for marketers because of the funny and realistic approach they carry behind them. With the popularity of memes among people, the brands have also realized its importance and used it to their advantage.

Why are the marketers and brands vouching over the memes?

Everyone is well aware of the immense popularity and use of social media these days. On average, a person spends 100 minutes per day on social media. This shows the strong influence of social media on an individual’s life.

Memes are like jokes and commentary passed on from one person to another, and we spend hours watching them. Memes have become the language of social media. While we are busy seeing one meme after another, it feels irritating when you come across those brand advertisements you only wish to skip. And that is where the marketers and brands have realized the importance of memes and have found ways to incorporate memes into their advertisements. They are careful with the content that they are publishing on the internet. Brands have changed their way of promoting and included more humorous internet conversations that the youngsters can relate to. They are creating content so that it is as per the taste of the people on social media.

How are memes working as a tool for influencer marketing?

Memes can be used for marketing but with utmost care. It should be understood whether the meme is suiting their brand image and identity of the influencer.  It depends on what the brand wants to endorse. Memes are usually funny and humorous, but if the brand gives it a serious touch, memes’ whole idea and concept will be nullified. So, it is necessary to understand and use it in the right place. If a brand wants to adopt a more casual approach towards its marketing and can incorporate pun and humor, then memes can be a great idea.

Options for marketers and brands to use memes as a marketing tool

Brands usually have two options when they enter into the world of meme marketing. One is to use the existing meme or create a new meme from scratch.

1. Utilizing the existing memes- while there are memes that go viral quickly and stay there for months and become trending. These trending memes can be used and applied to a brand or product to increase its popularity. These memes will relate to people quickly. But the brand needs to be careful with its selection of the meme as their message could be outdated and may not convey the desired message.
2. Creating a new meme- to give it a more original and personalized look, some brands go in from creating new memes. This requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Once the meme is created, it can do wonders if it resonates with the audience.

Guidelines for meme marketing

For using the memes successfully, the brands and influencers should follow some guidelines and tips that must be followed. Let’s find out some of them.

1. Try hiring people who have good knowledge of meme-making and social media. Ones who are popular on social media with significant followings and know how to relate with the audience. It should be natural and seem cool, not forced.
2. Memes are mostly funny and hilarious. Therefore, the brands should not shy away from showing their funny side and incorporate memes with a strong message with fun.
3. The memes are created to target a specific segment of the audience. So, if they can understand and relate to the meme, then that is enough. Don’t worry about whether everybody will understand or not. There might be a set of audience who will not resonate with the idea, so the brands have to be comfortable.
4. To increase your potential audience and reach, give relevant hashtags, keep the audience engaged with different activities, keep giveaways, and ask people to follow those accounts and tag other friends.
5. Another thing is to be prompt about the meme changing culture. It changes with a blink of the eye. So, the brand should always keep themselves updated and informed about the latest events and happenings and take advantage of them at the right time.

Some meme-making app making the rounds

Now you must be thinking about how people are so creative and bring thousands of memes every other day. Sure, these people are creative but what helps them is the meme-making apps. The meme-making apps have flooded the market, and to stand out from the crowd in the meme market, the meme should be unique and engaging. For this, one needs to make a careful selection of the meme-making app that has the feature of engaging with the audience. Let’s have a look at some of the top meme-making apps.

1. 9GAG– this is a video meme creation app that is convenient to use and loads super quickly. Users can create and share memes on different social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram. It is available both on iOS and android. If 9GAG selects the meme, the user can get instant fame. A cherry on the cake.
2. Memedroid is one of the oldest meme apps containing all the old and viral memes. It is like a library that is full of old and new memes. It has new memes that are ready for re-purpose. Creators can use their images to create memes in their languages. It is the largest community of Gifs and meme lovers.
3. Meme creator is one of the most popular memes apps with a user base of 5 million. Users have a variety of options to choose from different backgrounds for making memes. They can also see the already created memes and share them as well if they like them.
4. Whale– it is a new meme app launched recently by Facebook. The users have the option of using the existing images or click on images and creating image memes. They can include emoji, text, filters, and effects to make the meme more appealing. The best part is it is free to use with in-app subscriptions and purchases.
5. Mematic– for the i-phone users specifically, mematic has a sound library of templates that the creators can use. They can choose from among a variety of templates or can create their own image memes.
6. Tik-Tok– the thing of the past, now banned in India. Tik-Tok was also a great video-creation app that helped people create memes easily.

The popularity of memes made social media use them for its advantage

1. As discussed above, after Tik-Tok got banned this year, Instagram came up with its new feature of reels instantly and gained popularity overnight. It became a new place for the creators to create video and image memes. It replaced Tik-Tok that easily.
2. Though Instagram ringed in this approach later, Facebook launched its meme-making app whale last year to reach the younger audiences. It realized the gaining popularity of memes and such content that it came up with its app.

Conclusion

Meme marketing has taken over in recent years. It has become a topical way of harnessing the power of social media. Since memes are no more just for fun or entertainment, they have also become a great marketing tool. Using a cultural approach to the market is the right idea. In meme-making, it should be kept in mind that to promote and market the product, one does not overpower the product and leave behind the meme aspect, leading to the failure of the product. The purpose of a meme is to keep the audience engaged and entertained. If not used properly, it would defeat the objective itself. So, memes should be created to fulfill their goal and become a useful tool for marketers.