To Meme or Not to Meme?

At this point we all know the rule of thumb about a business having a presence in social media, A brand needs to show personality.

I absolutely agree with that, but I’ve been thinking:

Where do you draw a line between giving a business a personality and just being too silly*?

The question came up today when I shared a post from HubSpot called Memejacking: The Complete Guideto Creating Memes for Marketing. I am a big fan of all things meme **, theyare almost always good for a giggle. After reading the post I was raring to start planning a meme for Thill Logistics when this conversation was had:

And plotting I did.

Memes are quick to make, easy to share and already viral. Why would a business not jump in and use them for everything? The fact is,  as great as they are, memes are not right for every business or situation. Depending on the type of company you run and the social community you are a part of – memes can be an amazing addition to your social media program. For Thill, I would normally not think memejacking would work, but seeing this is a post about memes – it is only fitting. Every business is different and you have to be the judge for yourself. For example tech companies like HubSpot and Mashable are the perfect place to show off memes. Or would you rather your brand or product become a meme of its own like Old Spice or Dos-Equis?

How can you make memes work for you? How would you use memes as a part of your social media program?

Have you already? Please share!

*In “Carrie’s World” there is not such a thing as “too silly”, I really have no shame – but this is business brands we are talking about here – not personal brands.

**See also: Adorable kittens