Can 'meme marketing' take off?

The Internet has long been fueled by memes—concepts that catch fire and spread rapidly online. (Think LOLcats.) Twitter is frequently overtaken by them, as evidenced by the popularity of #followfriday. Can marketers get in on the action? Maybe, at least going by the encouraging start to a marketing campaign launched by celeb stalker site OMGICU. Its founder, Hugh Dornbush, and a few folks at social-media/PR shop Attention hatched a plan to publicize the site via a campaign to get 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan to join Twitter. Attention's Colin Nagy calls it "meme marketing." Launched yesterday, Twacy.org asks visitors to tweet on behalf of the quirky star. Thousands have done so. Twacy.org got 14,000 visitors yesterday, according to Nagy, and that's sure to increase today thanks to coverage from The Wall Street Journal and NBC. The site also includes a link to OMGICU.com, where users can indulge in sightings of Morgan and other celebrities. Yesterday, traffic spiked tenfold, Nagy said. While the numbers aren't overwhelming, they're nothing to sneeze at, either. UPDATE: Looks like Morgan has taken the bait and joined Twitter.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

October 8, 2009 in News and Analysis | Permalink