Feb 10, 2012
How To: Creating Memes and Making Them Go Viral
One of the latest Internet phenomenons known as “memes” seems to be great for incorporating it into SEO and viral marketing campaigns.
The word “meme” comes from Richard Dawkings’ 1976 book “The Selfish Gene”, where it meant a unit of cultural knowledge passed between people. On the Internet, “meme” means a funny picture with smart (and not so smart) captions on it. Memes were popularized by LOLCats.
Memes are great for SEO and viral marketing because of two main reasons.
The first one is that memes are viral by themselves. You can see that by opening your Facebook news feed or entering a Skype conversation with your uncle.
The second is that they are easy to produce. Everything you need is a basic knowledge of Photoshop and a sense of humor. In most cases, even Photoshop isn’t needed (as there are free web-tools like Meme Generator and Quick Meme). And a sense of humor is very unique, so every meme gets its audience.
Creating your meme and making it viral is very long and difficult process. The best solution is to find a trending meme (via Know Your Meme – encyclopedia of internet memes or Reddit) and adopt it to suit your niche.
Just after creating a fine meme, spread it. You should use every social network you are registered at (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Google+, Reddit and so on) as well as to explore the new ones. Don’t forget about Skype, e-mail and blogs. The more web-sites you seed your meme, the more chances it’ll go viral and get you traffic, social engagement and backlinks.
Tips:
1. Know your niche. The better you understand the subject, the easier it would be to create really funny memes.
2. Study the statistics. Try to understand every humor aspect by browsing the most popular variations of a definite meme.
3. Try different drafts. Sometimes even the funniest joke can quickly become unfunny by changing the word order in its core and vice versa. Experiment! It’s just like poetry.
4. Ask your friend for a feedback. But always let yourself make the final verdict.
5. Have fun!
