What is a meme?

The original meaning of the word meme (pronounced ‘meem’) comes from the Greek word
for ‘something which is imitated’ and historically refers to genetic or cultural
heritage. In the internet world, however, the word has evolved to refer to an image
or video, often with a sarcastic or funny caption. Some of the most popular early
memes featured a typical character such as the Grumpy Cat and Success Kid.

Memes as a cultural gauge

Throughout the relatively short history of the internet, we have seen huge shifts
in how people consume, create and share content online. From the rudimentary text
blocks of the first HTML pages to the dynamic, colourful and media-rich feeds of
today, people have come to expect more from the internet than just being a database
of information.

The modern user wants to be entertained, engaged, and guided – instantly. When we
see a piece of content, we decide within a matter of seconds whether or not we want
to continue reading, watching or sharing. This means, in many ways, that the
internet meme is a perfect representation of what the social media experience has
evolved into: A quick message, a visual cue and a button for instantly passing it
on to your network.

The business use of memes

As with most trends, there will always be an opportunity to harness the power of
popular culture for business purposes. And for digital marketers, memes have become
an attractive tool for engaging an online audience.

So, what is it that makes memes particularly useful? Well, memes are really just
another flavour of visual online content. But the following statistic makes the
concept very interesting:

We remember only 10% of the information we hear. However, if we see a relevant

image coupled with the same message, we retain 65% of the information three days
later.

In other words, it’s good marketing practice to use the existing behaviour of the
human brain!

How memes are used by businesses

These are some of the most common ways of riding the meme wave:

Meme-jacking
Some brands have used existing meme characters that relate to their products or
services to get quick engagement on their social channels. This is easy to do,
thanks to a number of free meme generators online, where no photo attribution is
required.While easy, cheap, and engaging, this tactic does have some pitfalls.
There is a risk that the humour is lost on some members of the audience –
particularly if the typical client base is mixed in terms of age and cultural
background. Also, the viral aspect of the particular imagery means it can become
dated and uninteresting very quickly.
Quote images
Another way to capitalise on the ‘shareability’ of meme content is building your
own newsfeed imagery – with custom backgrounds and quotes or brand statements. This
type of meme can be great for building brand visibility as it encourages sharing
from one user to the next.One company that has embraced the quote meme format very
successfully is Virgin, using Richard Branson as the figurehead. The eye-catching
pictures and inspirational quotes make for perfect sharing material. By publishing
and spreading images like these, a business can efficiently expand its reach and
popularity.
Micro videos
It’s been proven again and again: The internet audience loves video. In 2017, it
was estimated that video content represented 74% of all internet traffic. While we
are now more easily mesmerised by moving images compared to traditional text, our
attention span is also getting shorter. This calls for bitesize, snappy video
content that captures us quickly and gets straight to the point.

Many businesses have started using micro videos in their advertising, designed to
immediately grab the attention of the viewer as they scroll through a busy media
feed. Apple’s recent iPhone advert is an example of how one feature can play the
lead role in a very eye-catching brand message – in less than one minute.

Using memes in your business

In summary, the meme plays an interesting part in how buyers and sellers are
behaving online, and can be a useful tool for sharing content. However, it’s
crucial to focus on the brand message before deciding on any of these or similar
tactics. A strong, meaningful message and clear strategy should always come first!

What Are Internet Memes and Where Did They Come From?

An internet meme can be almost any idea or concept expressed in some form of
content on the web, which is why it can be so completely difficult to drill down to
a real definition. It can be a photo, a video, a person, an animal, a fictional
character, an event, a song, a belief, an action, a GIF, a symbol, a word or
anything else.
For anyone who might be new to social media, image sharing, and overall Internet
culture, memes can be confusing and even downright ridiculous to try and
understand. While it's often just best to enjoy them for what they are and the
humorous messages behind them without trying to analyze how in the world they
became so popular, it's still worth understanding the basic nature of memes.
When one of these things is broad enough to be considered extremely relatable
between most people and has a humorous effect to it (like sarcasm or exaggeration),
it often gets shared all over the Internet. Mass sharing gives it its internet meme
status.

Notable Memes Across the Internet

Advice Animals are a common meme theme, which are images of animals that express
reactions via short text captions. The weird horse dance performed in Psy’s Gangnam
Style music video that went viral back in 2012 is even considered an Internet meme.
When something appeals to a very large number of people and spreads very fast
across the internet — sometimes even being altered through additional photos,
videos, phrases or whatever — it’s usually safe to say that that thing or idea is
indeed an internet meme. To put it in the simplest of words, you can consider an
Internet Meme to just be something that goes insanely viral.

Where Do Internet Memes Come From?

Every Internet meme has its own unique story. The best ones literally burst out of
nowhere, only to mysteriously show up and take over your Twitter feed, Facebook
feed, Tumblr Dashboard or any other social networking site you may be using within
days of initial recognition by its first hundred of thousands of sharers.
There’s one particular website, however, that is highly recommended to check out if
you’re interested in finding out the origin and history behind a particular meme.
Part of the Cheezburger Network, Know Your Meme specializes in tracking down
Internet memes and the entire viral stories behind them — sometimes right down to
the creator, artist or photographer of a meme.
You can use the search bar on Know Your Meme to search for any particular meme of
your choice. A complete page of information, related memes, viral spread and even a
timeline for search interest will be displayed.
For example, here’s Know Your Meme’s page for the Gangnam Style meme. It’s a pretty
lengthy page, but it does a very good job at telling the entire story behind its
virality.
Since new memes pop up every day out of nowhere, you may notice that not every
meme’s page on the site is fully complete. In fact, it may not even by on the site
yet.

Where Can I Find Internet Memes?

If you want to know which memes are starting to trend as soon as they do, you
better be active on social media. You’re not going to find them by checking your
email or reading your local news website.
Being on Facebook and Twitter is a good start, but they can be a little slow at
exposing the newest Internet memes. Instead, you're probably better off with going
where many of the best memes are born:
4chan: There’s been a lot of criticism that the users of 4chan are rather
unpleasant to interact with, but if you want internet memes, this image-based
community is where many of them are created.
Reddit: Like 4chan, Reddit is another social network that represents the birthplace
of many memes. Perhaps unlike 4chan, the Reddit community is very pleasant to
interact with and helpful when necessary. A pretty big chunk of internet users
prefers visiting Reddit rather than 4chan.
Tumblr: A lot of stuff that first shows up on 4chan and Reddit eventually make
their way to Tumblr — a blogging platform that tends to be heavy on imagery and
GIFs. It’s the perfect environment for memes, and even though most memes may be
seen on Reddit first, they tend to take over Tumblr almost immediately after
they’re discovered.
As an added bonus, you may also want to start taking YouTube more seriously by
subscribing to popular channels — especially those that cover newsworthy topics
related to internet entertainment.