A seemingly innocuous trend — more particularly, a meme based on an ordinary subject — suddenly has gotten loads of traction. People have adopted the tactic of infusing their tweetstorms with a certain amount of self-involved verbiage. Some have capitalized the term in a zany way.
From “yassify” to “yassification” to “Yassification” memes, how does one incorporate the catchphrase into their posts? What about spamming people’s feeds with a seemingly catchy phrase?
Here’s a quick roundup of the basics on how to incorporate the yassification trend into your day to day. And you don’t even have to search for it on Twitter. You can tell your followers to make a yassify meme with the bottom of their posts.
What is yassification?
A term that comes out of a 2016 court case involving Nike, “yassification” can be defined as the act of actively challenging someone to be “better” or to improve.
Though we have linked to the Nike at the moment because of a company conspiracy that does not exist, the whole concept definitely has some merit. The Nike certainly isn’t the only company to release products with vague, user-defined, coach-mandated phrases like, “the skies the limit!”
A recent (cough, cough) competition to win the new running shoes at Reebok used the classic Nike slogan as its tagline.
But in its spirit, much of the Yassification motif transcends sport, commerce, politics and seemingly any other niche market, pop culture topic or social justice movement.
Here are a couple examples: “You can thank my now ex/jester for the Yassification of me,” or “I make the difference in peoples lives.”
So does it hurt your ad business?
Probably not. Remember, the trigger pulls don’t have to be bad jokes. A parody of Kristen Wiig’s character in the movie “Bridesmaids” offered a rather apt (if mostly unoriginal) Yassification in this two-line bit on Inc.com.
How does it work?
In a neat way. There are myriad ways to capture yassification on Twitter and Instagram with one simple tweet. Here are some suggestions:
1. Post to the #Yassify hashtag.
This allows you to use that keyword when you tweet.
2. Ask followers to make a #Yassify meme.
A less overt way of bringing the concept to life is to put the phrase in a hash tag.
3. Write about a big project.
What if you’re behind a project that your company or government agency is participating in? (Like with Coachella.) Use the hashtag #YassifyCoachella.
4. Draw a basic meme.
This one, also from Inc., is a great reminder for all of us that drawing a weird picture in front of a camera isn’t cheating.
5. Make a joke about it.
You know how if someone shouts a rude word and it’s played in a song you like, or if someone says a rude word that gets made into a meme, and the thing you just listened to also plays in a song? You’re being cheated on. Yassify is a way to make sure that doesn’t happen with this meme. Check out this music video that’s got nothing to do with hip-hop.
More T’s/sns: Use the #yassify Twitter handle to get freebies. It’s got more followers. Also, take a peek at this Washington Post story on how the word has swagelanded.
Happy yassifying everyone!