SPECIAL SERIES == The MEME PLAYBOOK You Didn’t Know You Needed 💡 <== | BATHROOM Break #65 COLLAB: The Marketing Millennials + Do This, Not That

Summary

Special Series: The MEME PLAYBOOK You Didn’t Know You Needed | Bathroom Break #65

Release Date: July 21, 2025
Hosts: Jay Schwedelson (Do This, Not That Podcast) & Daniel Murray (Marketing Millennials)

In this collaborative episode of "Bathroom Break #65," Jay Schwedelson from the "Do This, Not That" podcast joins forces with Daniel Murray of "Marketing Millennials" to explore the dynamic world of memes in modern marketing. Titled "The MEME PLAYBOOK You Didn’t Know You Needed 💡," the episode delves into how memes can be leveraged as a powerful marketing tool, offering actionable insights and strategies for brands looking to enhance their digital presence.

Introduction: Setting the Tone

The episode opens with playful banter between Jay and Daniel, discussing light-hearted topics like condiments and personal food preferences. This casual start establishes an engaging and relatable atmosphere, making the listeners feel comfortable as the hosts transition into more serious marketing discussions.

• Jay: “Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break...” ([00:01])
• Daniel: “This collab is going to be super fun...” ([00:13])

Memes: The Language of the Internet

Daniel Murray kicks off the main discussion by asserting the integral role of memes in today's digital communication landscape.

• Daniel: “Memes are the language of the Internet.” ([02:33])

He explains that memes and video formats now dominate personal communications, such as direct messages on Instagram, overshadowing traditional content like ebooks and white papers. This shift underscores why brands must incorporate memes into their marketing strategies to stay relevant and engage effectively with their target audiences.

Aligning Memes with Brand Voice

Both hosts emphasize the importance of ensuring that meme content aligns with a brand’s identity and voice. Daniel highlights that not all brands need to adopt a humorous or playful tone, but there are ways to integrate memes that resonate without compromising the brand’s core values.

• Daniel: “If you’re not...don’t want to add any fun to your brand then, or any humor, then it’s fine. But I think there’s ways to do it that could work on both camps.” ([04:08])

He suggests customizing meme formats to fit the unique voice of the brand, such as using employee photos or creating original cartoon characters, thereby maintaining professionalism while still leveraging the engaging nature of memes.

Crafting Memes that Resonate

Creating effective memes requires a deep understanding of the audience’s pain points and preferences. Daniel shares his approach to developing memes that strike a chord with viewers.

• Daniel: “When I create a meme, I try to reverse engineer the comment section or the DM... I see if you have five or six pain points and one liners and hooks that you know are going to work and you just match them with different images, usually they will hit with an audience.” ([04:40])

By addressing specific challenges and emotions that the audience experiences, memes can elicit strong reactions such as humor, relatability, or thoughtfulness, thereby enhancing engagement and shareability.

Adapting Meme Formats: Video vs. Static

The conversation shifts to the evolving formats of memes, particularly the increasing prominence of video memes over static images.

• Jay: “Is that what everyone should be doing or we. Or is there another format?” ([05:53])
• Daniel: “If you can have swipe through of different like pain points, that’s a good format too.” ([05:53])

Daniel notes that video memes tend to perform better on platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, where video content is favored by algorithms and tends to reach a broader audience. However, static memes still hold value for their predictability in garnering likes and shares. The key takeaway is to align the meme format with the platform’s strengths and the brand’s capabilities.

Leveraging Trends and Existing Popularity

Instead of reinventing the wheel, Daniel recommends tapping into already popular meme formats and adapting them to fit the brand’s message.

• Daniel: “We look for images or videos of other memes that have... circulated massively, you know, millions of views... and then we recaption it.” ([07:03])

This strategy leverages the existing popularity and proven engagement of certain meme templates, ensuring that the content is more likely to resonate and perform well within the brand’s industry context.

Understanding Platform-Specific Algorithms

A critical aspect of meme marketing is understanding and navigating the algorithms of different social media platforms to maximize visibility and engagement.

• Daniel: “If you add watermarks to something, it’s going to get deducted in the feed... or if you repost the same meme... it’s going to get deducted.” ([07:46])

He advises brands to be mindful of specific platform rules, such as avoiding watermarks on Instagram or not reposting the same meme multiple times in a day. Such practices can lead to reduced visibility as algorithms may penalize content that doesn’t adhere to best practices.

Best Practices for Meme Marketing

Jay and Daniel distill several best practices for brands looking to incorporate memes into their marketing strategies:

1. Customization: Tailor meme content to reflect the brand’s voice and message.
2. Platform Alignment: Use video memes on platforms that favor them (e.g., Instagram Reels, LinkedIn) and static memes where appropriate.
3. Trend Utilization: Adapt popular meme formats to fit the industry and brand context.
4. Algorithm Awareness: Stay informed about platform-specific rules to avoid penalties and maximize reach.
5. Continuous Testing: Regularly experiment with different meme styles and formats to determine what resonates best with the audience.

• Daniel: “If you had a meme that crushed it six months ago and you want to do it again... you take the image, resize it a little bit different, and then post it.” ([08:56])

This approach ensures that previously successful memes can be revitalized without violating platform guidelines, thereby maintaining engagement over time.

Light-Hearted Interlude: Condiments and Food Preferences

Throughout the episode, Jay and Daniel weave in light-hearted conversations about condiments and favorite foods, adding a personable and entertaining layer to the discussion. This segment serves to humanize the hosts and keep the conversation engaging.

• Jay: “I’m a big mayo guy. Mayo on a burger. Mayo on anything.” ([01:34])
• Daniel: “I love Taco Bell.” ([09:37])

Closing Remarks: Encouraging Engagement and Follow-Up

As the episode wraps up, both hosts encourage listeners to engage with their content on social media and stay connected for future insights.

• Jay: “Check out my podcast, Do This, Not That, for marketers. Each week, we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try.” ([10:40])
• Daniel: “Go follow the Marketing Millennials podcast, but also tune into this series... We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out...” ([10:50])

Key Takeaways

1. Memes as Essential Marketing Tools: Memes are now a fundamental aspect of digital communication and should be integrated into marketing strategies.
2. Brand Alignment: Ensure that meme content aligns with the brand’s voice and values to maintain authenticity and effectiveness.
3. Format Versatility: Utilize both video and static memes based on platform preferences and brand capabilities.
4. Trend Adaptation: Leverage existing popular meme formats and tailor them to fit the brand’s specific industry and audience.
5. Algorithm Savvy: Understand and adhere to platform-specific rules to maximize content visibility and engagement.
6. Ongoing Experimentation: Continuously test and refine meme strategies to stay relevant and maintain audience interest.

Notable Quotes

• Daniel Murray: “Memes are the language of the Internet.” ([02:33])
• Daniel Murray: “When I create a meme, I try to reverse engineer the comment section or the DM...” ([04:40])
• Daniel Murray: “We look for images or videos of other memes that have... circulated massively... and then we recaption it.” ([07:03])

Conclusion

This episode of "Bathroom Break #65" provides a comprehensive exploration of how memes can be effectively utilized in marketing. Through engaging dialogue and practical advice, Jay Schwedelson and Daniel Murray offer valuable insights for brands seeking to enhance their digital presence and connect deeply with their audiences. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just beginning to explore meme marketing, this episode serves as a crucial guide to mastering the art of memes in the modern marketing landscape.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to a new special series called the Bathroom break. That extra 10 minutes you either have to listen to marking tips or use the bathroom or both. But I don't recommend both. But that's your choice.

[B]

This collab is going to be super fun. We have Daniel Murray from the Marketing Millennials and me, Jay Schwedelson from the do this not that podcast and subjectline.com each episode in the series, we are going to go over quick tips about different marketing topics. And if you want to be in the bathroom, fine. Just don't tell us about it. Thanks for checking it out.

[A]

We are back with another Bathroom Break. I'm here with the Jay Schweizen of Do this not that Podcast, the number one podcast. So go check it out. I am Daniel Murray. I want to start off this podcast because I. I've been thinking about this, and I don't know what. Where you say, like, on condiments, like, are you a condiments guy? A sauce? Like, what do you have, like, any condiments that you love or hate?

[B]

Well, it's. Funny question. Funny bring that up when. So I used to live in New York when I moved down to Florida. Like, I was. I was 15 years old. So one of the first things I did was I went to McDonald's. I was hungry and I got a burger and I almost threw up. Because in Florida, they put mustard and ketchup on your burger just automatically. But in New York, they only do ketchup. And I thought that was actually the most disgusting thing I've ever encountered in my life. Are you a mustard and ketchup on a burger? Because you are. We're stopping the podcast immediately.

[A]

I am a. I. I'll add one thing. I don't know if you. I'm a big mayo guy. Mayo on a burger. Mayo on anything.

[B]

Not real mayo. Now, you use fake mayo, right? Like avocado mayo or whatever.

[A]

Mayo. But mustard. I'm not a. I'm not a big mustard.

[B]

Not a hot dog.

[A]

A hot dog sign. Yeah.

[B]

I haven't had a hot dog in, like, a while.

[A]

And I'm not a big, like, Gray Poupon guy. I know, like, a lot of people. Like, who.

[B]

Who do you know that likes Gray Poupon? Who even says that? Hey, Daniel. What's up? I like Gray Poupon. No one's ever said that. Oh, my God. What are we talking about? Well, I know we are going to talk about. We're going to talk about memes. We just lost half the audience. Like, I'm not listening to an episode about memes. But let me tell you why we are. Whether you're a business brand and you're a boring, conservative industry, we can't use memes. Wrong. Consumer brand absolutely should be using memes. Memes are critical now to have in your toolkit. I am talking to the king of memes right now. Daniel has built a gigantic media business and he's fueled it a lot with memes. I'm talking to the right guy. So, Daniel, what is your take on memes?

[A]

Firstly, I'll say this. It is the language of the Internet. If you look at your DMs on Instagram right now or what your friends have sent you, it's not ebooks, it's not white papers, it's not long posts. It's usually a meme or a some sort of video format that someone's sending you. So, like, part of the Internet is that memes get shared with people. And if you want to spread the word, memes is a good way to do it. So, big fan of memes. Do I think everybody should do it? I think it all starts with, like, what's your brand? What's your voice? Like, how you, how you feel the brand? If you're not, like, don't want to add any fun to your brand then, or any humor, then it's fine. But I think there's ways to do it that could work on both camps. One way I've seen and I've worked with clients to do this is that, like, if you're scared of like, copyright or you're scared about using like, trending, like imagery is you could take like, trending images and put like, your employees in there. You can put pictures of like, pictures of off the Internet of it that are not copyrighted. You can have, you can make your own cartoon character for this. So, like, you can make memes in a format that, that work for you. Also that people sleep on me. Memes are really good, great ad format for businesses because they get seen in the feed, people recognize it. So it's a really good way to like, say things. And one thing I'll also say why memes are really great is it shows you understand your audience. Like, if you like, if you can take a, a pain point and connected with an image, it's just a way to show like, you understand your audience at a deeper level and you want people to say, that's so me. So when I create a meme, I try to reverse engineer the comment section or the dm. So what I mean by that is like, what do I want them to say at the comment section? Like I do they want. Do I want them to say this is hilarious. Do I want to say, that's so me. Like, do I want to say, like I feel this. Do I want to them to say, like, how are you getting in my mind? Like this is like you want to like when you're creating a meme, have some sort of reaction. So I try to switch up like what reaction I want. But the way I know, I know you asked this before, like the way I know things are going to work is like I see if you have five or six pain points and one liners and hooks that you know are going to work and you just match them with different images, usually they will, they will hit with an audience.

[B]

Yeah. And I think it's so important for whatever your brand is, business or consumer, that you have to mix up your formats. You can't just go, okay, we have this carousel did really well. Non meme, obviously carousel. Let's keep posting that carousel format because that's when it becomes wallpaper. And so it's not like, oh, this is off brand. We can't use memes. That's ridiculous. Memes to Daniel's point are the language of the Internet. So I'm curious about something though. What has been changes to memes? I see you post a lot of video memes now and not just static image memes. Is that, is that what everyone should be doing or we. Or is there another format?

[A]

No, I think like you said a second ago, I think it's changing up the format. I think and it depends what platform you're on too, like Instagram, like if you're trying to get net new follower growth or seen by net new followers, video memes are very good at like getting served to because a lot of people are watching reels versus scrolling feed and seeing static. I think Instagram and LinkedIn are very like really reward carousel. So like if you can have swipe through of different like pain points, that's a good format too. I think I always say it's like what. When you're doing something like this, what is your capabilities of like doing it? If you, if you're really good at doing video stuff, like do video. If you're really good at static stuff, do static. But yeah, for some, like I've been testing out on video because platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram reward video memes. But I also put in on static memes. Static memes seem to get more predictable likes and shares where video memes have more potential to be seen and go viral than a static.

[B]

And if you are out there and you're like, well, I don't know how to figure out what's going to do well or not do well, or you think that you have come up with the world's greatest new template that nobody's seen, that's going to do well, that ain't it. I'll tell you what I do. What we do is we look for images or videos of other memes that have. In other industries, totally random, nothing to do with marketing, what I do for a living and that have circulated massively, you know, millions of views, millions, whatever. And then we recaption it because we know that that image hit or that video hit. It's just a matter of now spinning it. For the industry that we're in, it's the easiest thing because people are people. And if people reacted to the image for one reason, they're going to react to the image again, as long as it's for your industry.

[A]

And when you spin it for your industry, algorithms are smart now that it's going to serve your audience. So if you put your audience, let's say marketers or IT professionals or whatever, it's going to, it will, like, especially in Instagram, it will serve it to the people who care about those things. Because the goal of these platforms are to get people to stay on the platform. Like when people say to me, like, why is this not performing? Or that not performing, it usually is like the idea didn't hit or like the hook didn't hit or the content wasn't that good. It's really like the algorithm is not going to push something that is not working. Like, that's why you got to understand the rules of the game. Like, for example, in Instagram, if you add watermarks to something, it's going to get deducted in the feed and that could be a reason you got deducted. Or if you on LinkedIn, like, if you post, if you take it down and post and you put it back up, it's going to get downgraded in the feed. I don't know if they haven't told me that, but it's seen it multiple times. Like if you repost the same meme in the same day or same post in the same day, it's going to get deducted. So you just got to know the rules in the game when doing these things. It's.

[B]

Well, yeah, I would say one other random rule that I would always think about is, let's say you had a meme that crushed it, you know, six months ago, a year ago, and you want to do it again, which is a great idea. You want to resize that image. You don't want to take the image, download it, repost it again, because they won't like that. You take the image, resize it a little bit different, make it a little bit different, and then post it, and then it should take off. All right, back to the original question about condiments and stuff. So, like, if you hit Taco Bell, which I feel like you probably crushed Taco Bell at least weekly. Are you like, I haven't been there in 10 years. Do you get, like, all the sauce you get, like, I'll tell you.

[A]

I'll tell you something. Actually, Ari's the biggest taco web fan, and I'm the biggest not taco.

[B]

I love Taco Bell.

[A]

I like Taco Bell breakfast.

[B]

I've never had that.

[A]

It's really good. But I grew up in San Diego, so, like, Mexican food was like, you could choose by, like, the local burrito shop or Taco Bell. Like, we're going local burrito shops.

[B]

Look at you, all bougie.

[A]

So I know it actually probably came out cheaper than talk about that. But, yeah, I'm not a Taco Bell fan, but other places, I like, like, Chick Fil? A sauce. I kind of gonna add Chick Fil?

[B]

A sauce now. You crush it. Now Taco Bell's not gonna sponsor this podcast. You still. What a fail. All right, but this podcast wasn't failed. Listen, if you share this on your Instagram story and you tag at J. Schweddelson, which is my horribly long name, or you tag at the marketing Millennials, we will then reshare it to our story, and then we'll just. Everyone will just be sharing stories. Be amazing. How exciting will that be? We appreciate you. We'll see you at the next one. Later. Daniel, come on, man. I got to get back to work. Get out of there. All right, while he's still in there. This is Jay. Check out my podcast, do this, not that, for marketers. Each week, we share really quick tips on stuff that can improve your marketing and hope you give it a try. Oh, here's Daniel. He's finally out.

[A]

Back from my bathroom break. This is Daniel. Go follow the Marking Millennials podcast, but also tune into this series. It's once a week, the bathroom break. We talk about marketing tips that we just spew out, and it could be anything from email, subject line to any marketing tips in the world. We'll talk about it. Just give us a shout on LinkedIn and tell us what you want to hear. Peace out.

[B]

Later.