15 January 2017 Brands, Please Stop Hijacking Memes

Kittens (or memes) aren’t a social media strategy.

Our Global Chief Strategy Officer says “Everything communicates.”

Not just your communications. Your product, your customer service, your price point. The perception of a brand is informed through experience, not just ads.

Your social media strategy communicates too. Obviously the content itself, but so too does the way you approach the channel, where you invest your time and money. Everything communicates.

And these days social isn’t a single line item on the bottom of a media plan. Bigger budgets every year support the channel which is long over due – too many brands over invest in production relative to distribution.

As the channel matures, so too must our approach. Unfortunately brands still think the answer is memes – attempts to ‘hijack the conversion’ with reactive content. Now, armed with a media budget, they have reach.

In two days I’ve seen half a dozen attempts by local brands to jump on the salt bae and jacketgate memes (don’t worry, I had to look them up as well). And there’s more every day.

Please, stop doing it. Far more often than not:

1. It’s too niche or early for people to have context (so much wastage)
2. It’s off brand (and it’s not distinctive if everyone is doing it)
3. It’s off strategy (if you even have one)
4. You don’t own the image/video rights or talent usage (ask your legal team)
5. It’s lame (especially when you PR it in trade press)

No doubt it’s more engaging than the shitty content you put out every other day. But if you wanted to be popular, you’d just post photos of kittens.

Just because it’s getting lots of likes doesn’t mean it’s working.