Learn how to Do Meme Advertising, Based on Memelord Jason Levin

When most individuals see memes pop up, they don’t assume a lot about them.

“Oh it’s only a silly meme web page,” you would possibly say. “What’s there to consider? What’s the massive deal?” However what if I advised you a few of these “silly meme pages” are making tens of millions?

And what if I advised you it wasn’t simply meme pages, however a few of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups and the world’s most iconic luxurious manufacturers are utilizing memes to make tens of millions, too? Would you begin enthusiastic about how one can use memes in your advertising too? After all you’ll!

Meme advertising leverages the ability of humor to get consideration on the web, however humor-based advertising isn’t a brand new factor. It’s been performed for a whole bunch of years since newspaper advertisements within the 1700s for magical hair progress potions.

Meme advertising is simply the most recent internet-native model of it. And it’s been utilized by the most important manufacturers on this planet — from Duolingo to Porsche, Sony, and extra.

As Gen Z and Gen Alpha take maintain and turn into the subsequent class of founders, CEOs, and CMOs, I imagine this development will solely proceed to develop.

Right here’s why you need to implement it in your advertising technique ASAP.

Memes are the best leverage advertising on earth.

Leverage is all about reaching greater outcomes with much less work.

Meme advertising isn’t some magical get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a lever to drag like anything. And I believe it’s one of many strongest on the market.

Give it some thought. Memes are:

1. Free to make
2. Quick to make
3. A straightforward strategy to go viral

What may very well be increased leverage than that?

After I realized this, I grew to become obsessive about understanding the methods to meme advertising.

I interviewed each memelord, meme marketer, and meme web page operator I might discover: a memelord who bought a content material company for $1M+, a progress hacker at a fintech startup value $100M+ whose important progress tactic has been advertisements on meme pages to develop it, and a startup founder who drove $3M+ in SaaS gross sales from viral memes and bought his firm for $100M+.

Then, I wrote all about it in my ebook Memes Make Thousands and thousands.

However I didn’t simply write concerning the ways.

I put the ways into motion to show they labored. I tweet memes like a madman and get tens of millions of views each month.

I went viral and bought 26M+ views for a video of me studying meme-y books on the New York Subway. I even went viral in Paris and bought become a meme!

All this consideration has resulted in a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} per yr as a advertising advisor serving to startups go viral (and blow up the web).

So, how does meme advertising work?

Step 1. Be taught the business and traits.

If you happen to tried paying me $100k to make memes about hockey, I couldn’t do it.

I do know nothing about hockey (besides that Canadians are weirdly good at it for some cause). However I could make memes about startups and enterprise capital all day.

I stay and breathe startups. I hearken to All-In and My First Million. I’m going to the tech events. I learn the books. I work with startups all day on a regular basis, and lots of of my mates are founders/VCs.

I’m on the timeline interacting with individuals on this world all day. I’m deep on this world. And I could make viral memes evening and day.

The takeaway: You’ll be able to solely make memes about industries you’re deep in.

You can also make memes about any business from hockey to gardening to healthcare to startups. The principle factor is it is advisable to know the zeitgeist and what’s occurring.

As a result of the meme world is so fast-paced, I really began a every day publication with new viral memes to assist individuals work out the meme zeitgeist.

Step 2. Know the issues.

Good memes come from issues your business faces.

If you happen to have a look at the very best meme pages throughout finance, tech, no matter, the very best memes are usually about issues you’re dealing with.

If you happen to’re in accounting, you meme about Excel. If you happen to’re in startups, you meme about VCs taking the summers off to occasion in France.

If you happen to’re making memes in your model, turn into hyper-focused on what issues your customers face. If you happen to’re engaged on software program for writers, you higher know what issues writers face (e.g., author’s block, not sufficient caffeine, and so on.).

Step 3. Know who you can’t offend.

That is one thing tremendous underrated that almost all social media managers don’t take into consideration.

It’s really okay to offend some individuals. I don’t imply utilizing offensive language like insults or charged phrases — that’s by no means okay.

However it’s okay to poke enjoyable at a job group like accountants or YouTubers. You simply need to be considerate and selective about who you’re offending and who you don’t wish to ever offend or poke enjoyable at.

For instance, at one startup I work with, the product is all about serving to founders, so we by no means attempt to offend founders. As a substitute, we choose on VCs (they’re simple targets).

At one other startup, the shopper was engineers, so we by no means tried to choose on engineers. As a substitute, we picked on product managers (once more, one other simple goal).

Step 4. Embrace the cringe.

Is making a living cringe?

I don’t assume so.

In any case, I’ve proved that memes make tens of millions.

Memes are a robust advertising tactic utilized by everybody from solo creators to public firms like Netflix. Cease worrying about being cringe, and give attention to being humorous and making a living.

Cringe is the brand new cool. Change into a cringe arbitrageur. If you’re prepared to be cringe and do issues others are afraid of, you may get a lot extra consideration on the web.

Step 5. Grasp the instruments.

The instruments and software program are literally the least necessary half.

Velocity is a very powerful factor.

Sure, you should utilize paid software program like Photoshop, however you possibly can simply as simply use free software program like Imgflip or Canva. Actually simply use no matter is the quickest.

My recommendation? Don’t overthink the instruments.

This isn’t a graphic design job — that is meme advertising. Don’t fear about excessive constancy, simply give attention to being humorous. As a result of keep in mind, within the consideration financial system, being humorous makes tens of millions.

The Takeaway

“Humor is said to power. To have a humorousness is to be robust: to maintain one‘s humorousness is to shrug off misfortunes, and to lose one’s humorousness is to be wounded by them. And so the mark — or no less than the prerogative — of power is to not take oneself too severely.

The assured will typically, like swallows, appear to be making enjoyable of the entire course of barely, as Hitchcock does in his movies or Bruegel in his work — or Shakespeare, for that matter.” – Paul Graham, Style

Or as I wrote in my ebook, “By no means underestimate the jester as a result of he could also be a king in disguise.”

From the 22-year-old NYC goofball posting finance bro memes to the venture-backed startups making memes about Silicon Valley to public firms leveraging meme advertising — they’re all proof that playing around on the web may also help you make critical cash.