How to use Internet memes to market your brand

The Internet has gone visual. With the world moving at the speed of a tweet, getting your message out there can be tough—especially if you’re using only words.

Studies show that our brains are more efficient at processing images than words. Some 75 percent of Americans have used emoji to communicate to others. The virtual corkboard site Pinterest has 53 million unique monthly users. Even Facebook is leaning hard into the image game, as evidenced by its $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, which itself has 300 million users.

Images overlaid with text—often called Internet memes—are a popular way for brands to reach their audiences. Ride that popularity wave by creating your own marketing images for distribution. As your followers and fans share the images, your products, your logo and your brand will spread to people you might not have reached otherwise.

It’s the Age of the Image, and you can take advantage of it by mastering three steps:

1. Selecting the right images to use