Meme marketing: How can marketers drive better engagement using viral memes?

Abstract

Scholars and industry stakeholders have exhibited an interest in identifying the underlying dimensions of viral memes. However, the recipe for creating a viral meme remains obscure. This study makes a phenomenological contribution by examining viral memes, exploring the antecedents (i.e., content‐related factors, customer‐related factors, and media‐related factors), consequences, and moderating factors using a mixed‐method approach. The study presents a holistic framework for creating viral memes based on the perceptions of customers and industry stakeholders. Four quantitative studies (i.e., a lab experiment, an online quasi‐experiment, an event study, and a brand recall study) validate the theoretical model identified in the qualitative study. The research underlines the potential of viral memes in marketing communications as they enhance brand recall and brand engagement. The study found that viral memes are topical and highly relatable and are thus well received by the target groups, which increases customer engagement and brand recall. Marketers can adopt the findings of this study to design content for memes that consumers find relevant, iconic, humorous, and spreadable. Furthermore, marketers can use customer‐related factors suggested in the theoretical framework for enhancing escapism, social gratification, and content gratification for their target customers which in turn shall organically increase their reach within their target segments and enhance brand performance in terms of brand recall and brand engagement.

Let me take a #selfie #variety: How consumer selfie affects variety seeking

“…Third, this research also adds to the growing body of literature on user‐generated content (UGC). Although prior research has investigated the UGC formats such as blog content (Mainolfi et al, 2022) and viral memes (Malodia et al 2022), little is known about consumer selfie, another type of UGC, and its impact on the selfie‐taker's product choice. By demonstrating that consumer selfies can significantly affect the content creator's product choices, this work advances our understanding of the role of UGC in shaping consumer decisions and behaviors.…”

Advertising to Gen-Z college students with memes? A focus group study

“…This study represents a valuable step toward understanding relevant consumer perceptions of an emergent approach to digital advertising. Academic research in this domain remains scarce in the face of an uptick in memetic advertising (Malodia et al , 2022), leaving many conceptual, theoretical and practical stones unturned. It is hoped that this exploratory focus group study inspires further research examining memetic advertising from both consumer and brand perspectives.…”

“…Other brands have since become aware of the potential for memes to increase visibility, bolster consumer experiences and engagement and help build long-term consumer relationships (Tiffany, 2021). However, despite the progressive adoption of memes as advertisements, the strategy has been the focus of relatively little scholarly research (Malodia et al , 2022; Razzaq et al , 2023). This exploratory study attempts to address gaps in the literature by soliciting opinions and perspectives on memetic advertising from a demographic that is highly engaged with memes in the digital marketplace: university students born in the early years of Generation Z (Gen-Z).…”

Laughing at Politicians to Make Justice: The Moral Component of Humor in Appraising Politicians

“…There are, however, research based on which memes could be expected to impact politicians’ evaluation. For example, it has been observed in marketing that memes are highly relatable and more effective than serious messages and that they positively impact customer engagement and brand recall (Malodia et al, 2022; Yang, 2022). However, studies specifically involving political memes show different results.…”