A language of their own, memes have taken the internet by storm, dominated pop culture and invaded the way we speak reality.
Whether it’s a witty catchphrase or an easy-to-share image, there’s a meme for every occasion — which means memes are one of the fastest ways to go viral on social media.
And this potential can be monetized with several profitable business models, and today we will show you how to make money with memes and 8 great ideas for running your own meme business.
From small-scale freelance creation to starting a meme marketing agency, you can make a decent income with a little creativity.
Here are 8 interesting ways to make money with memes.
1. Meme merchandise
Because meme culture is so huge, it’s pretty easy to make money through custom merchandise. If you have a funny meme, there’s bound to be someone who wants to see it printed on a t-shirt.
From hoodies to phone cases, selling personalized artwork is easy. Websites like Redbubble, Teespring, Amazon, and Zazzle will manage your inventory and print your meme art on a variety of stickers, mugs, apparel, and more.
You could even run a dropshipping business specializing in meme products.
Creators who prefer a more hands-on approach can sell through Etsy or a business website. Though you’ll have to handle the manufacturing and shipping yourself, you can avoid high fees and make more money from your artwork.
2. Social Media Monetization
Growing an organic following on social media isn’t easy, but all social media platforms promote and value the same thing: shareable content.
Memes are one of the most shareable posts because they have funny or relatable captions that make people want to click “follow.”
Share your own memes or meme compilations (with credits) to grow your following and soon you’ll be able to monetize your account through collaborations.
Companies pay popular meme creators to incorporate their brand into memes and other sponsored posts.
Looking for more ways to monetize your social media presence? Check out these posts:
3. Freelance Content Creation
Creating a trending meme requires artistic flair, a good sense of humor, and a deep knowledge of internet culture. In other words, it’s not something anyone can do.
Many companies will pay you a lot of money just to create memes for their social media accounts.
You can promote your services through freelance job boards, your business website, or a business Instagram account where you share your past work.
Fiverr is an easy way to try out freelance creative work. It’s cheap but a good starting point. Read more about freelancing on Fiverr and alternatives here.
4. Compilation memes
One of the best things about monetizing the creation of memes is their longevity: while meme trends are indeed fleeting, the power of nostalgia is immense.
Compilation meme accounts are all over Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, celebrating both current and past memes. Meme pages can get thousands, and sometimes millions, of views on their compilation videos.
The insight speaks for itself, and with great insight comes the opportunity to profit.
Create a social media account with a full-length meme compilation, whether it’s your own original meme or a collection of the most popular memes on the internet. From there, you can make money through sponsored content, video ads, affiliate marketing, and more.
Want to go a step further? Create a YouTube channel that breaks meme culture by reviewing and discussing trending memes. This is a great way to use non-original content and make money through fair use.
5. Digital sales
You can make money by selling digital downloads of your original memes through your business website or third-party sites like Etsy, allowing meme and craft enthusiasts to use your artwork in their custom creations.
Digital products are big in the crafting world, giving crafters instant access to scrapbooking, card making and Cricut materials.
You can also license your most popular meme creations and sell the usage rights to advertisers, media, etc.
6. Subscription Model
Once creators have built up a loyal following, they often turn to crowdfunding to support their artistic projects.
Subscription platforms like Patreon allow fans to access exclusive content by paying a monthly subscription fee.
7. Personalized memes
One of the most creative ways to make money with memes is to offer personalized memes as unique gift solutions. You can offer digital downloads or custom merchandise featuring your creations, transporting shoppers into the world of their favorite memes.
Market this business as a unique gift perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, and even roast parties.
8. Meme Advertising
Starting a meme marketing agency may seem daunting, but with the right resources, you can start a home-based business that specializes in designing memes.
This is a great goal for someone with solid experience in social media marketing and creating memes. With this business model, you can provide custom memes to brands looking to “trend” on social media.
Meme ads are built to generate shares, which means more and more companies are willing to capitalize on the possibility of going viral.
This model may also include consulting and strategy as additional revenue streams.
How to Create a Trending Meme
Now you know how to make money from memes, but there’s a lot of work to do before you can start monetizing.
There are certain methods that can help you create trending, widely shared memes and build your portfolio. Here’s how:
- Know the history of memes: We can always learn from the past, so use websites like Know Your Meme to learn about trends that paved the way.
- Stay up to date: The best way to stay on top of internet trends is to be active on social media. TikTok is the perfect platform for this, as most trends start here before making their way to Instagram and then Facebook.
- Universalization: Relatable content is shareable content.
- Consider the following format: While image memes continue to generate a ton of shares, short-form videos are quickly becoming the most popular format. Consider what works best for your own social media accounts.
- Run it now: Heidi Klum dressed up as an earthworm for Halloween? Earthworm memes should be out in a day. Think of pop culture memes as breaking news. You’ll be rewarded for being quick.
- To sum it up briefly: To grab and keep attention, your text needs to be concise and impactful.
- Share Widely: Don’t limit your master meme to one account – share it on all social media platforms and see where it gets the most attention.
- monitor: Insights are key: pay attention to how your audience responds to your meme and what you can change to get more shares in the future.
The best tools for making memes
The first step to making money from memes is to start designing them, and creating memes has never been easier thanks to digital tools and applications that streamline the process.
Here are the best programs for making memes:
- Canva: This user-friendly site allows you to create custom memes using a free meme generator. It includes custom layouts, royalty-free illustrations, stock images, and more to help you create your own.
- Meme Generator: This app is one of the most popular ways to create quick, shareable memes with popular meme images built right into the application.
- TikTok: TikTok’s in-app video editing feature lets you create custom memes without ever leaving the page.
- Cap Cut: CapCut’s custom templates make it easy to create viral video meme content.
- Photoshop: Although there is a learning curve, Photoshop gives you the most freedom in creating memes.
Ethical meme creation
Since we’re talking about pop culture and trending media, you might be wondering, “How do memes relate to copyright law?”
You certainly can’t monetize someone’s photo by putting a speech bubble over it, as that would risk copyright infringement.
Original works including films, plays, books, music, photographs, and even portraits of celebrities are all protected by copyright law.
Memes and Fair Use
Fair use allows lawful uses of copyrighted material under certain circumstances. Fair use protects the following uses:
- comment
- Report
- education
- Criticism
- scholarship
- the study
To qualify as fair use, you must use a small portion of copyrighted content, and the content must be transformed and used for non-commercial purposes, making it difficult to monetize.
The easiest way to make money with memes is to use original or royalty-free images, which allows you to avoid copyright issues and allows you to trademark your work if necessary.
Conclusion: 8 ways to make money with memes
More than just a joke, there are a growing number of creative entrepreneurs who are able to make a significant income from creating memes.
These business models allow you to turn a fun hobby into your favorite side hustle or an epic business venture.
Memes are a unique art form that is deeply rooted in the way we interact with the world, so why not take advantage of this unique idea?
