Memes have become all the rage!  If you haven’t seen a meme in your Facebook stream, you probably haven’t been paying attention.  They are cute (sometimes), witty (often) and they really (usually) get your attention.

First of all, what are memes?

From an etymological standpoint a meme is derived from the Greek word mimema which means “something imitated”.  According to Urban Dictionary, the word meme is a noun that can mean “an internet information generator, especially of random or contentless information“.  Hmmmm…

So, let’s talk about how you can use memes.

It’s pretty easy to generate your own meme.  There are plenty of websites out there that allow you to create your own meme for free.  Three that come to mind are Meme Maker, Meme Generator and Quick Meme.  My personal favorite happens to be Meme Maker…I used it to create the featured image for today’s post and it was very user friendly.

If your intent is to create a meme for your business website or Facebook Page or any other social media platform, make sure to keep the meme relevant and appropriate.  Like everything that we post to our websites and to social media, be mindful of what you are putting out there to represent the business that you have worked so hard to grow!

My favorite application for memes is to lighten things up a bit.  Often on our business websites we get too serious for too long.  An occasional injection of humor helps you and your visitors to escape from the “same old, same old” mindset.

Give memes a try.  Not everyone likes to use them.  Not everyone sees their relevance.  And that’s fine.  Memes are meant to be fun.  And, in keeping with that thinking, here is an infographic on the history of memes designed by Ellie Koning for your entertainment.

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