Online Reputation Management For Dummies

Taking Advantage of Memes

A meme (rhymes with “theme”) is a specific kind of trending topic. It’s a catchy jingle, slogan, icon, or ad tagline that spreads from person to person within a culture. As with trending topics, relevant memes are also brilliant choices for when you have Madison Avenue eyes but a thrift-store marketing budget.

Some different memes:

Sometimes the most unexpected videos, such as the “Honey Badger” voice-over video, can become memes. That video spawned jokes, cartoons, and even a line of t-shirts saying “Honey badger don’t care.” For whatever reason, the video just hit a popular nerve. (You can check out this video, and its somewhat salty narration, at www.youtube.com/user/czg123#g/u .)

Advertising slogans can morph into memes. People sometimes turn corporate ads into “culture jams” that use the ad to mock the brand’s own controversial practices. In 2010, for instance, when Greenpeace activists wanted to criticize Nestle’s environmental practices, they uploaded fake ads and videos modeled on Nestle’s own advertisements.

Sometimes odd or goofy behavior can itself become an online meme, such as the 2011’s strange online craze for “planking” — that is, taking photographs ...