Meme Marketing Guide – Examples, Tips & How to Create Viral Memes

What are Memes?

Memes are funny or relatable pictures, videos, internet’s inside jokes or captions that people share online e.g. viral trends or hilarious movie promos. They spread faster because many people find them easy to understand and enjoy. People can change and add their own twist, making them a fun way to communicate on the internet.

What Is Meme Marketing

Meme marketing is a digital marketing trend of using memes to promote a brand in a way that feels natural and funny. It is about joining a conversation your audience already loves. It skips the “ad-like” style. Instead, meme marketing uses the same humour people love in group chats and social feeds. It is a smart combination of witty captions, trending images, and quick clips that make you laugh or tag a friend. One good meme can rack up millions of views without spending a dime.

Why Meme Marketing Works

• It speaks the culture’s language:
  Meme marketing thrives where your audience spends most of their online time — in group chats, TikTok feeds, and pop culture moments. When a brand uses that same slang and relatable humour, it feels like a friend talking to you rather than a company selling to you.

• Built for sharing:
  Shareable content is at the heart of meme marketing. A single funny meme can be reposted, remixed, and spread across social media, text threads, and forums, multiplying brand exposure without extra ad spend.

• Dodges the ad filter:
  People scroll past traditional ads quickly. Meme marketing gets past that instinct because it blends in with the viral content people want to see and share.

• Delivers big results on small budgets:
  One of the biggest benefits of meme marketing is cost-effectiveness. A clever caption and image can generate millions of impressions for the cost of a single post.

• Makes brands feel human:
  From Netflix’s viral posts to Deadpool’s playful marketing campaigns, meme marketing gives brands a personality. People engage more with brands that feel authentic and relatable than with online advertising.

Benefits of Meme Marketing

• Boosts Engagement:
  Memes grab instant attention and drive higher likes, shares, and comments compared to regular branded posts.
• Expands Organic Reach:
  People love sharing memes; therefore, your brand message spreads faster without relying on paid ads.

• Builds Strong Brand Value:
  Funny or relatable memes make your brand memorable long after people scroll past.

• Improves Social Media Presence:
  Meme-driven content keeps your pages active, relevant, and more in tune with trending topics.

• Low-Cost, High-Return Marketing:
  Creating a meme costs almost nothing but can generate huge visibility and even go viral.

• Encourages Community & Connection:
  When people tag friends or react to your memes, it builds engagement and strengthens your brand personality.

The Role of Meme Marketing in Digital Marketing

Meme marketing has quietly become one of the most effective ways to boost engagement and brand awareness in today’s digital space. Memes work because they’re short, funny, and made to be shared — perfect for the internet’s fast-scrolling audience. HubSpot’s latest study states that humorous content “delivers more ROI than any other type”. Another study by YPulse shows that 75% of 13- to 36-year-olds share memes.

For digital marketers, meme marketing campaigns offer a low-cost way to drive traffic, increase social shares, and stay relevant on platforms like Instagram and X (Twitter). Major brands like Netflix, Zomato, and Dunkin’ Donuts use memes to connect with audiences and start conversations. Simply, meme marketing should be an important part of your digital strategy to spread your brand awareness, boost traffic, and help with conversions.

How to Create a Winning Meme Marketing Campaign

Let’s see how you can begin with meme marketing –

• Start with Memes:
  Memes don’t magically appear; they start somewhere and snowball. Platforms like Reddit (especially communities such as r/memes, r/dankmemes, and r/wholesomememes) are great for spotting new formats before they go mainstream. On Twitter/X, keep an eye on trending hashtags or viral phrases for meme ideas. TikTok can be used for caption styles and visual formats. Instagram meme pages like @daquan or @memezar show which jokes and visuals are currently resonating with audiences. Together, these platforms help marketers create an effective meme. 
  
  Tip: If you’re a new brand, Reddit is gold. It’s where a ton of meme formats pop up before they spill onto Instagram and Facebook.

• Learn the Format:
  Every meme format follows its own set of unwritten rules that help brands use humour the right way. For instance, the Drake Meme works best for “this vs. that” comparisons, where one option is praised and the other rejected. The Woman Yelling at Cat meme fits exaggerated reactions or playful disagreements, while the Two-Panel GIF format perfectly captures “expectation vs. reality” moments. Brands that study and adapt these formats often achieve better engagement because they align with how audiences already interpret these memes.

• Pick a Relatable Truth:
  A meme only hits when your audience feels it instantly. The trick? Know what makes them laugh, sigh, or roll their eyes. Ask yourself — “What frustrates my customers?” or “What’s that one reaction everyone in my business has?” Say you run a café, your meme could be as simple as:

  “Me without coffee” — a grumpy raccoon barely functioning.
  “Me after coffee” — the same raccoon dancing in shades like it just got its life together.

• Make it Easy:
  Let’s make one meme using Imgflip. Go to Imgflip Meme Generator.

• In the search bar, type a format like “Distracted Boyfriend.”

• Click the template you want. Add your text, but keep it short and conversational.
  
  • Top: “Working on my to-do list”
  • Bottom: “Suddenly deciding to reorganize my desk”

• Adjust text size and placement so it’s readable at a glance. Download it and add a tiny logo in the corner, and you are done!

• Test before posting:
  Send it to someone who isn’t on your marketing team. If they laugh instantly, you’re good. If they just reply “haha” or “lol,” it’s probably not funny enough.
• Post where it belongs:
  Not every meme belongs everywhere. Avoid posting memes on LinkedIn unless it’s smart B2B humour. Funny or chaotic memes work best on TikTok, Reddit, and Twitter/X; relatable, lifestyle-based ones perform great on Instagram and Facebook; while niche or industry-specific jokes fit better on LinkedIn or targeted subreddits.

Picking the right platform can make the difference between going viral and getting ignored.

Best Platforms For Meme Marketing

9 Viral Meme Marketing Examples That Worked

Before you start crafting your own memes, it helps to see how other brands did it. From witty one-liners to perfectly timed pop culture references, brands have turned memes into a marketing success story. Examples below show how a simple joke, image, or format, when used smartly, can spark conversations, boost engagement, and even drive sales. Let’s check out some of the most viral meme marketing campaigns that won the internet’s sense of humour.

1. Deadpool Movie:

Deadpool pulled off one of the smartest meme marketing moves. One week, the poster looked like a Valentine’s rom-com. Another time, a giant billboard showed nothing but a skull, a poop emoji, and the letter “L.” The internet turned it into a viral meme overnight. The Deadpool digital marketing team used meme culture exactly the way fans do: quick, sarcastic, and a little absurd.

Source: Adweek

On Twitter, Deadpool stayed in character, making jokes that felt like they belonged in your group chat, not a press release. Moreover, it also took over many film covers on Walmart shelves, and fans loved this.

It was a meme marketing strategy, built to be shared. Every post felt native to social feeds, which meant fans spread it for free.

2. Bird Box:

When Bird Box dropped on Netflix in December 2018, it didn’t just attract viewers. It got the internet buzzing and became an instant meme. Fans turned tense scenes, like Malorie rowing blindfolded, into reaction images, GIFs, and jokes that spread like wildfire across Twitter and Instagram. These memes weren’t official posters or trailers. They were fan-made, funny, and instantly relatable.

Source: Knowyourmeme

This is why the Bird Box campaign became a textbook case of meme marketing. The audience created the buzz for them, turning scenes into viral content. 

3. Domino’s GIFEELINGS Campaign:

Source: billyjazz

Domino’s wanted to stay top-of-mind with millennials who were getting harder to reach through traditional ads. They created GIFFEELINGS – a series of funny, relatable pizza-themed GIFs uploaded to GIPHY. It worked like memes, quick-visual jokes people could drop into group chats, tweets, and Instagram stories to express their love with pizza.

One GIF even hit over 100 million views, becoming one of the most-shared on GIPHY and ranking among the top GIFs on Google.

Source: GIPHY

Domino’s didn’t shout “buy pizza.” Instead, they slipped into everyday digital conversations. By giving people meme-like tools they wanted to use, the brand became part of their humour and social language.

4. Starbucks Name Fail:

Ever since Barista started writing names on Starbucks cups back in 2005, customers have been walking away with drinks labelled something wildly off. By 2010, people were snapping photos of these fails and posting them online. Tumblr blogs popped up. Reddit threads blew up. Twitter got in on the joke.

Source: Knowyourmeme

Because it’s funny and weirdly relatable. Everyone’s had their name messed up somewhere, and Starbucks’ cups became the perfect visual punchline. Starbucks didn’t have to spend a dime. Customers created the content, and the meme marketing on the internet did the rest.

5. Political McFeast Meme:

McDonald’s accidentally found itself in the middle of meme culture again in November 2024. A photo dropped online of Trump, Elon Musk, Don Jr., and RFK Jr. squished around a table in a private jet, digging into Big Macs and fries. The picture came from Margo Martin (Trump’s comms chief), captioned: “POV: walking by the cool kids table.” People went nuts.

Within an hour, RFK Jr.,  the guy who’s been trashing “seed oils” for years, was photoshopped with the Grand Theft Auto “BUSTED” graphic. 

Others joked it was like “making the new gang member do drugs to prove he’s not a cop.” Reddit tossed in, “His body. His choice.” It snowballed from there.

McDonald’s didn’t comment. Didn’t need to. Their fries and red boxes were in every single frame. Viral meme marketing without lifting a finger.

6. Evil Duolingo Owl:

If you’ve ever downloaded Duolingo to “finally learn Spanish” and then forgotten about it, you’ve probably known the green owl – Duo. In 2017, a Tumblr user posted a photoshopped image of Duo holding a gun with the caption: “me: neglects my Duolingo app.”  It racked up over 150,000 notes. Soon, Duo was starring in countless memes where he threatened users for missing lessons, all in good fun, of course.

Source: Knowyourmeme

The “Evil Owl” meme started with the community, which made it authentic. If your audience builds a joke around you, don’t shut it down just because it’s a little weird. Sometimes, playing along turns you into a cultural icon.

7. Spotify Wrapped – Annually Memes:

Spotify Wrapped somehow became a social media holiday. It started in 2016 as a little “year in review” feature, but it quickly became something bigger. It was built to be shown off. Each card was perfectly sized for Instagram stories, the colors were impossible to scroll past, and the captions walked the line between clever and slightly self-roasting (“You listened to lo-fi beats for 47,000 minutes?”).

People shared it partly because they were proud, partly because they were curious about what others listened to, and partly because everyone else was doing it. Once December hit, Wrapped was everywhere.

Wrapped wasn’t just a recap; it was a conversation starter, and a giant wave of FOMO rolled into one. If your product created interesting personal data, think about how to turn it into something fun and easy to share.

8. Squid Games Meme:

When Squid Game landed on Netflix in September 2021, it didn’t just rack up views; it spilled into every corner of the internet. The giant, dead-eyed Red Light, Green Light doll became an instant TikTok star, the dalgona candy challenge had people stabbing honeycomb with needles, and screenshots of Seong Gi-hun’s awkward ID photo started popping up as reaction memes.

Fans built their own Squid Game levels in Roblox and GTA, turning the series into a full-blown participatory event. The show gave people simple, recognizable visuals with a dark twist, easy for anyone, anywhere, to remix. If you create something instantly recognizable and emotionally charged, the internet will spread it for you.

9. Viral Jet2 Holidays Meme Marketing:

You know when a song worms into your brain and refuses to leave? Yeah, Jet2 did that. Their sunny holiday ad — beaches, blue skies, Jess Glynne singing Hold My Hand, was supposed to make you book flights. Then TikTok got hold of it. And suddenly… that feel-good soundtrack was slapped over videos of delayed flights, soggy fish and chips, and people looking miserable at the airport.

The fun was in the clash, with a tropical tune and very un-tropical vibes. Here’s the twist: Jet2 didn’t hide. They leaned in with a meme marketing moment, created their cheeky clips, and even threw a #Jet2Challenge at the internet, offering a free holiday up for grabs. 

Final Thoughts:

Your first meme marketing campaign doesn’t need to go viral overnight — it just needs to start a conversation. Memes aren’t just for laughs — they’re one of the quickest ways to connect with your audience. Start small, test a few formats, and keep your humour in line with your brand’s tone. The right meme at the right time can turn casual scrollers into loyal fans.

FAQs

Q1. What if my meme backfires?

A1. In this case, acknowledge, delete, and move on. 

Q2. Do memes need localisation?

A2. Yes, localised memes speak your audience’s language, the more “local” it feels, the faster people connect with it.

Q3. How often should you drop memes?

A3. You can always post when it fits the moment, there is no fix number.

Q4. Do meme marketing campaigns boost sales?  

A4. They can, Memes are great for getting attention and engagement, especially if you have a good product or offer.

Q5. Why do some memes are viral overnight?

A5. Because of timing and relatability; if your meme is right on time, it can spread fast.

Q6. Are fan-made memes worth reposting?

A6. Yes, they’re authentic and show your community loves your brand.

Q7. Can memes be reused?

A7. Yes, if it’s still relevant. 

Q8. How do you know if your meme’s a hit or a flop?

A8. Watch the reactions, if people tag friends or drop emojis.