Why do brands use memes in their marketing?

Brands use memes because they generate significantly higher organic sharing than standard branded posts, since humour and relatability drive people to share content with friends in a way a straightforward promotional post rarely does, giving the brand extra reach beyond its own follower base without additional ad spend. This sharing behaviour is rooted in how memes function socially: sharing a funny, relatable meme is itself a form of social currency, signalling shared humour or cultural awareness to one’s own network, which is a distinctly different motivation from sharing a product advertisement.

Memes also help brands appear more approachable and culturally current, since successfully participating in meme culture signals that a brand understands and is genuinely part of the online conversation its audience is having, rather than simply broadcasting at that audience from the outside.

Because meme content typically costs very little to produce compared with a polished video ad or photoshoot, it also offers a relatively low-cost way to test topical, high-frequency content, making it attractive for brands wanting to maintain an active, responsive social presence without the production overhead of more traditional content formats.