The young delight in everything new...and then think they know it all. We oldies delight in finding newer and newer words and concepts and realize we shall never know it all.
Writers are constantly bombarded with new must-have technology to turn them into instant best sellers. I just received a marketing offer for a software meme generator. Yes, I had a vague idea what a meme was. After all the word was first coined in 1976 and hit the dictionaries from 2000 onward.
The definition of the original meaning from the Oxford dictionary is: an element of a culture or system of behaviour (English spelling) passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.
Now of course in marketing terms it refers to images, videos,quotations, humorous or inspirational, that are copied and spread rapidly across the Internet.
Marketing with Memes
I'm always looking for ideas to market my non-existent book. The meme idea is great--we all love and share these iconic images on social networking sites but let's be honest, here. How likely is the normal book cover to go viral? And if it does, are Internet users just going to share the picture rather than reading the book?
Would a better idea be to re-caption an existing meme to build on a viral message already circulating?
Use a search engine to choose one of the many meme creator sites on the web.
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| from memegenerator.net |
Try it out here.
These give you many cute starter images to caption and often allow you to create your own characters. That done, how do you capture audience imagination?
Marketing with Themes
It's the funnies that seem to top the viral charts. If you can encapsulate your theme into a few words that resonate with readers, and fit it to your cover or appropriate picture, then you may have a meme.
If you have a great quotation that fits your book, then you may have a meme.
But you can create them from your photographs or stock images and caption with something like PowerPoint or Paint.
Marketing with memes is a great idea but experiment before jumping on bandwagons and buying extra software.
Anne Duguid is a senior content editor with MuseItUp Publishing and her New Year's Resolution is to pass on helpful writing,editing and publishing tips at Slow and Steady Writers far more regularly than she managed in 2012.
