Memes — those playful, satirical photographs with clever,
sometimes biting captions under them — have long been used on the internet to
ridicule the latest celebrity gaffe or highlight a political misstep. However,
a surging number of disgruntled consumers are now using memes to target
companies to complain about broken products, poor customer service and other
negative experiences.
“The brand becomes a
temporary punching bag for many, many people,” said Jay Baer, the founder and
president of Convince & Convert, a digital marketing advisory firm.
Samsung, the technology giant, faced a raft of memes last
year when reports surfaced that the batteries in its Galaxy Note 7 phones were
catching fire. One meme showed a bomb-defusing expert in full military gear
getting ready to plug in his Samsung phone, with the caption “How to safely
charge your Galaxy Note 7.”
There wasn’t much the company could do to stop the memes as
phones continued to catch fire over many months, and the company ultimately
pulled the device altogether.
“What are you going to say? ‘Yep, they catch on fire. Almost
all of them do. Sorry,’” Mr. Baer said. “There’s just no good way to put that.”
Last month, Samsung pushed the reset button when it unveiled
its new Samsung Galaxy S8 phone and virtual reality headset — and
simultaneously released a #DoWhatYouCant video, which became a hit online. The
video features an ostrich that dreams of flying, thanks to the Samsung VR
headset and phone. The
video had more than 1.3 million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours.
“They’ve packaged a
brilliant ad with an inspirational message,” said Monica G. Sakala, the founder
of SOMA Strategies, a digital agency based in Washington. “They’re successfully
changing the story away from the fire memes and disaster of the last phone.”
In general, experts recommend that companies try to address
disgruntled customers directly — and the sooner, the better. They suggest that
companies use “social listening” software to monitor mentions of their brands —
not just on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but also on message boards, like
Reddit and Tumblr, and other internet forums. If a meme shows up on a forum,
it’s easy to contact the person directly before it goes viral.
“When you reach out on a one-to-one level, it’s amazing how
frequently you can resolve that situation positively,” Mr. Pachter said. “But
if you let it go, it just breeds like a virus.”
You can also watch the video by clicking on the Play Button
Article edited from The New York Times
