What Do You Meme? Three Filters for Social Trends
This week’s EO Report is a guest column from Kelly Jefferson Minty, COO at Clarity Channels Communications.
We both love them and love to roll our eyes at them. Trends and memes. Brands that do them well rack up followers and engagement. Brands who don’t make you cringe, lose trust, and scroll on by – or worse, get a headline.
Should you be doing memes on your brand account? Here are three filters to run through when making your decision.
1) Does your brand share critically important information that could have an impact on someone’s health, safety, or well-being? A few examples include medical, mental health, financial, or legal topics.
If so, it doesn’t mean you can’t do them. But, if your message could be buried or misinterpreted because of humor, it’s best to stay away. Example: The IRS has been experimenting with memes. There are a lot of cats. And here’s the thing - the humor doesn’t work. Their information is too technical, their audience is too broad, and the stakes are too high to muddy the waters.
Who does it well? The Minnesota Department of Transportation. If you’re in tune with Internet culture, you know a sassy pygmy hippo named Moo Deng is taking social media by storm at the moment.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation excels at using memes and trends to share important safety information in a way that captures attention but doesn’t overshadow their message.
They recently posted a Moo Deng meme reminding people to check the road status hotline before hitting the road - it's performing better than most of their standard content. It works because:
It’s trending content.
Moo Deng is known for her little temper tantrums. It aligns to the feeling of being delayed on the road and feeling frustrated with yourself for not checking fist.
It is important information, but not time-sensitive or an emergency issue - it’s just a nice reminder of a resource that captures your attention more than a graphic might.
2) Does the meme/trend align with your brand? Listen. Nobody likes hearing from someone trying to worm their way into an inside joke, so if it feels forced, it’s okay to skip the trend (don’t worry, there will be others). Jumping on a trend for the sake of jumping on a trend is a recipe for disaster. But when the stars align, a trending meme can be a big engagement boost.
Who did it well? This summer, a clip from a 2000’s Disney Channel movie, “Camp Rock,” was making the rounds on the internet. The joke? Millennials were reflecting on the scene as adults and realizing how ridiculous it was (a fact that we didn’t notice as preteens).
The Oklahoma Wildlife Department (a 5/5 star account all around) found the perfect way to connect it to their work as nature ambassadors, racking up over 1 million views on TikTok.
3) Can you move fast? Trends move quickly! Remember when everything was “demure and cutesy” just a couple of weeks ago? The cultural zeitgeist has already moved on and brands still using the phrase are looking stale.
Do you have the approval processes in place to jump on trends quickly (and safely)? Is your social media manager empowered to move when the opportunity is right? These are important factors to consider.
The ultimate case study on moving quickly dates back all the way to 2013. We’re watching a unprecedented power outage at the Super Bowl.
While we’re all scrolling social media waiting for the game to come back on, within minutes, Oreo has a response ready to go: an image with the phrase “You can still dunk in the dark.”
It was the first time a brand had so quickly taken advantage of a universal cultural moment. And it hit.
It was fast. It was topical. It was on-brand. It was perfect. They were rewarded as one of the main headlines of the night.
Interested in contributing? Have a communications/public relations question you want a deep dive on? Reach out to Erin at erin@claritychannels.com.