From this point forward, please treat this post seriously. Due to the frivolous nature of memes, many of the sources and case studies presented in this post may appear ridiculous.
Eleven months ago, Reddit user sk8ingmomo posted in the thread r/Entrepreneur about his endeavor to make money out of memes. The specific meme he attempted to capitalize on was the "nut button meme," which features a hand swinging intensely at a blue button labeled as "nut." The meme was popular in 2016, and the user's business venture started in late 2017, which is an eon of a gap in internet time. Initially, he ordered 1,000 units of "nut buttons," which he designed, at a rate of $1,250 from a Chinese manufacturer on Alibaba. The business model was to take advantage of the branding that is already in place via all the meme-sharing and simply do SEO optimization on the website where they are selling the product. SEO optimization is the use of meta tags on a website in order to increase its likelihood of being seen in an Internet search. The website was hosted on a domain and designed on SquareSpace with a total cost of $10. The price of each button was set at $11.99. Some initial marketing was required to popularize the website, so the user bought a few Instagram posts at a $75-$150 per post rate and ads on Facebook for $10/day.
Eventually, the button sales averaged at 5 per day. The user invited his friends to collaborate with him at a $15/hr rate. Together they bought a label printer, 500 yellow bubble mailers, and started packing the buttons. They set up an Amazon storefront and an eBay page and spent a good amount on legal fees, trademarks, and IP protection to protect themselves from being undercut by competitors. By the end of November 2017, the buttons were completely sold out and they had to take seller-fulfilled orders before the arrival of another 5,000 buttons shipment on December 11. By the time 2018 hit, they increased the price from $11.99 to $14.99 and observed an increase in sales (likely just an arbitrary increase, but no decrease in sales observed). They have also expanded via Amazon EU into meme markets in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. In 2018, they made $150,000 in total revenue. The moderators of r/Entrepreneur have verified the legitimacy of this Reddit user's story and the fact that the business has made over $150,000 in 2018. The serious nature of the forum and its 629k userbase also adds on to its credibility. The user and his collaborators continue to make increasing profits now, and their website can be found here. (I hope this does not incentivize you to spend money carelessly on this product)
sk8ingmomo's success is an archetype of small businesses which profit from meme content. Memes are a category of media that fluctuates dramatically, often becoming deprecated in just a matter of days. sk8ingmomo was, fortunately, able to hit a jackpot with the nut button meme, and this is primarily due to the simplicity of his product. The simple blue button with a single word, "nut," on it can be applied in a variety of nonsensical scenarios that are so popular in the world of memes. For instance, it is a common reaction to any object that is aesthetically pleasing. sk8ingmomo was able to extend his business by featuring the phrase on common merchandise, including towels and shirts. The simplicity and lack of quality of these products are precisely the reasons why some of his customers purchase them. However, those who seek to exploit the potential of memes, but are unable to identify a single meme that would be their jackpot, resort to a different business model.
Memes are a category of media that is consumed via the Internet. This means that an existing meme can be easily transformed to fit certain relatable scenarios. Many social media accounts take advantage of easy access to boost their followers. To do so with the least cost, social media users transfer memes between platforms and even repost some memes without any modifications. The Internet is so vast that their consumers would hardly notice such an unethical business practice. 15-year-old Ben, who goes by the pseudonym "spicymp4," is one of such meme curators. He was interviewed by MarketWatch in August 2019, when he revealed that he owns eight Instagram meme accounts and are profiting from using them for advertisement. One of his accounts, @spicy.mp4, had more than 500,000 followers. He was earning $4,000 a month from featuring advertisements on these eight accounts before Instagram started banning popular meme accounts. Nonetheless, such practices are pervasive on Instagram and other popular social media platforms. The use of memes in conjunction with social media marketing has become a more and more recognized business practice. Forbes Council Member Aidan Cole published an article on Forbes on July 19, 2018, regarding effective meme marketing.
The marketing potential of memes is boundless and is likely going to last as long as Internet media persists. Critics of the business argue that the dramatic fluctuations in the popularity of each individual meme make the market unstable. This is true, but entrepreneurs like the ones mentioned previously are finding ways to capitalize on the entire meme market. Romanian entrepreneur Razvan Romanescu, for example, built an entire social media platform that centers around the sharing of memes. His venture, Memes.com, has made $50 million in revenue as of 2017 and continues to grow. The revenue has stabilized to little more than $6 million per quarter as of this year. With the power of money behind its every pixel, perhaps the images we find frivolous are not so frivolous at all. In the end, the question of where you can make the most money becomes the question of how you can best monetize the subculture which appeals to your hungriest consumers. The Meme Generation makes the memes, sees the memes, and feels the memes--and that's where their money goes. To the future entrepreneurs, make memes, not dreams.
Peace Out,
Kung-Meme
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