Meme marketing has moved from a joke to a serious tactic, and digital marketers are hopping on the trend. In some cases, a well-timed meme earns a brand more engagement than any polished campaign graphic.
That shouldn’t surprise anyone. Visual, shareable content is now one of the main ways people communicate online. Younger audiences in particular swap memes with friends every day, often several times a day.
The audience is there, too. Pew Research Center found that half of US adults (50%) used Instagram and 37% used TikTok in its 2025 survey. Closer to home, DataReportal counted 26.7 million active social media user identities in South Africa in January 2025, about 41.5% of the population.
So the question on most marketers’ minds is simple: “How can I create memes that people actually share?” If your content includes the five elements below, your chances of going viral improve a great deal.
What meme marketing is (and why it works)
A meme is an image, video or short piece of text that people copy, adapt and pass on. Meme marketing simply means a brand joins that conversation with content its audience recognises and wants to share.
It works for three reasons. First, memes are cheap to make. Second, they feel native to social feeds, so people don’t scroll past them the way they skip ads. Third, every share puts your brand in front of someone new at no extra cost.
That said, memes are a tool, not a strategy. They work best when they sit inside a clear plan for who you’re trying to reach and what you want them to do next.
5 strategies for meme marketing that works
1. Post for your target audience
You don’t always need to treat meme creation as a formal campaign. Often, the best memes arise naturally and are just waiting to be developed. Any media moment can become a popular meme, even news that seems mundane. A US president falling off a bicycle, for example, turned into hundreds of harmless, humorous takes.
Still, you need a clear idea of who the content is for. It’s impossible to predict whether a meme will go viral, because that depends on the whims of other people. For this reason, focus on content your niche will feel an emotional connection to. That’s the best predictor of success.
A good example is the dating app OkCupid, which has used relatable memes about dating life on its social channels to drive engagement. The humour works because it speaks directly to its users’ experience. If you’re unsure what your audience cares about, these value proposition examples can help you sharpen the message first.
2. Think creatively
The best memes take recognisable content, such as a still from a film or a picture from a big news event, and add a fresh twist. That twist is what makes people react.
In the US, memes about politics and inflation stay popular because these topics are always in the news. In South Africa, load-shedding, taxi rides and the Springboks have produced endless local humour for the same reason. These topics are “meme-able” because there are so many ways to find the funny side of situations that aren’t funny at all.
A flexible mind is your best meme-making tool. The formats that last usually come from a fresh angle on a film, a news story or a cultural moment. Netflix, for instance, runs a comedy-focused account called “Netflix Is A Joke” that shares clips and meme-style posts, which helps the brand reach new audiences.
3. A genuine sense of humour
The universal love of memes comes from a simple fact: people love to laugh. Many use memes to connect with friends, or even strangers, over something light. In fact, a good meme is a small escape from a stressful day.
Effective memes combine what’s trending online with simple, funny text. Humour is subjective, so you won’t always get it right. Nevertheless, memes don’t work without it. You need to embrace a little absurdity and be willing to laugh at yourself or your industry.
AI tools can now suggest captions and generate meme images from a few words. They can help with speed. However, a human with a feel for your audience should always make the final call on tone.
Is your marketing bringing in the right customers, or just likes? Take the free Business Health Check. It takes about 3 minutes, covers 10 questions and shows how your sales and marketing scores compare with the rest of your business.
4. A relatable feeling
Memes have become an important communication tool because they are relatable. The right meme conveys a great deal of meaning in one simple image. Yes, people use memes for comic relief. But they also use them to express feelings, especially when they can’t find the right words.
In other words, a viral meme is a relatable one. People look for themselves in a meme. They want to recognise the feeling it captures.
Gucci showed how far a luxury brand could take this. It was one of the first fashion houses to work with Instagram meme-makers, inviting them to create memes that promoted a new watch collection.
5. Realistic expectations
You don’t need a big budget, complicated editing software or obscure pop-culture references to make a viral meme. However, you do need to accept that creating viral content is always a gamble.
A meme stays popular until it doesn’t. Popularity usually rises and falls sharply. One format trends everywhere until something new appears, and then the old one looks dated almost overnight.
The spirit of a meme is to spark a feeling in a relatable, often humorous way. Not everything will be an instant hit, and nothing lasts forever. So judge meme marketing over a series of posts, not a single one.
Meme marketing risks to manage
Humour can backfire. Before you post, run every meme through a quick check:
- Copyright: many meme templates use film stills or photos that someone owns. Where possible, create your own images or use licensed ones.
- Tone: avoid jokes about tragedy, race, religion or anything that punches down. What feels edgy in a WhatsApp group can look very different on a brand account.
- Advertising rules: in South Africa, the Advertising Regulatory Board administers the Code of Advertising Practice, which covers misleading claims, substantiation and offence. A meme that makes a product claim still counts as advertising.
- Timing: a meme that is two weeks late looks out of touch. If you can’t move quickly, skip the trend.
Also agree who can approve a post. A simple rule, such as “one person signs off before anything goes live”, avoids most embarrassing mistakes.
How to measure whether memes are working
Likes feel good, but they don’t pay salaries. Track a few numbers that link to the business instead:
- Shares and saves, which show that people found the post worth passing on.
- Follower growth from your target audience rather than from anyone at all.
- Clicks to your website or enquiries that mention your social content.
- Repeat engagement from existing customers, which supports customer retention.
Review these monthly. If memes grow reach but never lead to enquiries, adjust the call to action or the audience. For more ways to turn attention into sales, see these 25 ways to attract more clients.
Where will meme culture go from here?
Memes have quietly become part of daily life. In many ways, they now carry more meaning than emojis because they can express more nuanced feelings. Politicians, business leaders and celebrities all share memes and appear in them.
Anyone can create a meme about anything, and some people earn a living from meme accounts. The challenge is how platform algorithms work. Reach often depends on factors like follower count and account history.
If your brand account is new, your content may not be recommended to many people at first. As a result, growing the account can become the main task rather than making good content. Short-video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts can help here, because they surface content based on how people respond to it.
In the future, expect memes to become even more woven into how people communicate. For now, the potential for brands that use them well is large.
Frequently asked questions
Is meme marketing suitable for B2B businesses?
Yes, if the humour fits your buyers. B2B audiences are still people, and memes about shared frustrations such as month-end, admin or difficult clients can perform well on LinkedIn and Instagram. Keep the tone professional, avoid offence and make sure every meme connects back to a problem your business actually solves.
Can I use any meme template for my brand?
Not safely. Many popular templates use copyrighted film stills or photos, and commercial use carries more risk than personal sharing. Where you can, create original images, use licensed stock or ask the rights holder. When in doubt, recreate the format with your own photos or illustrations instead of copying the original.
How often should a brand post memes?
There’s no fixed rule. Most brands do well mixing memes with educational and product content rather than posting memes alone. Start with one or two a week, track shares and enquiries, and adjust. Posting only when a meme genuinely fits your audience beats forcing one every day.
Your next step: make your marketing count
Meme marketing can build reach quickly and cheaply. Even so, it only pays off when it supports a clear marketing plan with measurable goals.
To see how your sales and marketing compare with the rest of your business, take the free Business Health Check. If you’d like help turning the results into a practical plan, book a 30-minute call with Yushini. And when you’re ready to track marketing goals alongside the rest of your strategy, explore Edvysor for SMEs.
Last updated: 24 September 2026
