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Replication Rate in Viral Social Media Marketing
The Meme as Cultural Evolution
Memes aren’t just a quick image and bit of text you send to your significant other for a laugh during a coffee break at work. Instead, they are an indication of how individuals feel towards the current state of society. Think of the last few memes you either saw or sent.
Did they connect somehow to either a current cultural, political, or religious event or happening? Most likely, they all did. Did they have an opinion, even if satirical or comical, towards that topic? Of course, it did, as that is the whole point.
Memes are an evolutionary marker for culture, as explained by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, because of
1) their ability to boil down paragraphs of commentary into a picture and a few words; and
2) their replication rate or ability to be mass spread instantly. Thus, memes inform in powerful and viral ways, making them both influential and hard to control.
A recent article in Scientific Reports published in 2021, entitled Entropy and Complexity Unveil The Landscape Of Memes Evolution, stated that “as cultural signs, memes are strictly connected to the broader cultural system in which they are embedded.”
What is the difference between shared content and viral content?
Anyone can create content specific to their target audience, make it user-friendly with pictures and approachable text, but these simple “viral” steps don’t inherently make anything viral. Instead, it may allow the content to be easily shared amongst a small demographic but not viral, meaning not with a high replication rate outside your target audience and with the broader world.
Your State of Mind
For anything to be shared, the audience needs to be ready and willing to accept the content. You can’t bombard your target demographic with images that they don’t want to see, even if they are relevant.
Further, for the content to be shared, it can’t be questioned. It needs to be inherently believable. You need three basic things:
1) a relevant image;
2) some small replication rate due to having a large audience; and
3) no critical thinking.
A Meme’s Emotional Content
What separates the strong from the weak is the meme’s emotional content. This might seem odd, but it makes sense when you think of why you naturally want to share content.
But it isn’t just emotional content; instead, high-arousal emotions from our reptilian brain create viral memes. These include awe, anger, anxiety, fear, joy, lust, and surprise.
Wildfire Versus the Wagon Wheel
How content becomes viral is just as important to understand as to why content becomes viral. If you can adequately predict how content spreads through an audience, you can potentially use it to your advantage for brand or campaign purposes. Alternatively, you could use it to fight against the negative viral press.
By far, the most common advice from digital marketing experts on viral content is to “just share it.” Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t acknowledge the importance of tracing out a viral path. Following a viral post back to Patient Zero can revolutionize the utility of an audience.
The Wildfire: Wildfires spread consistently across all surfaces with easily accessible fuel. Generally, there are no large explosions or massive events.
Memes can mimic wildfires by quietly spreading from friend to friend or person-to-person. A central gossiper doesn’t send out chain emails. Instead, they become legends over time.
The Wagon Wheel: The wagon wheel model utilizes speed over consistency. A wagon wheel has a central hub with access to a more extensive
area via spokes spreading in multiple directions. Memes can mimic wagon wheels when an influencer popularizes them with a strong following or high respect or famous person via their large audience.
Either way, you have a person in a position of authority or trust disseminating the memo instantaneously to millions of people.
Why Viral Direction Matters
The significant replication rate of meme popularity seems all well and good, but it can have just as much negative impact. The problem with allowing memes to generate about a brand is that the tone and direction of popular opinion are often uncontrollable.
Instead of fighting the wildfire, you need to let it burn out and pass. Afterward, you can start to rebuild an online reputation in the appropriate direction. Unfortunately, this could mean months of extra effort reconnecting with your target demographic and re-earning their trust in your brand.