How to Make a Meme (+Free Template)

It’s unlikely that anyone with internet access has avoided seeing a meme. They’re everywhere! You can find them on social media, in blog posts, and on dedicated image sites like GIPHY.

Guess what — they aren’t just for funny tweets. You can use them in your workplace communications, too! But how did internet memes come to exist? What exactly are they? And how in the world do you even make or use one at work?

Don’t worry —  we’ve got your back! Read on to learn all about these internet phenomena and how to make your own memes.

What is a meme?

Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, first coined the term meme in his 1976 book ‘The Selfish Gene.’ He noted that they are a way for people to pass along social memories and cultural ideas to one another. Fittingly, meme is short for the Greek word mimeme, meaning “imitated thing.”

Most image memes are captioned photos intended to be funny, often as a way to publicly ridicule human behavior. Memes spread virally through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, where people notice and share them with others. 

If you’re creating a meme for a social media account, you might even want to add a watermark to mark to make sure your sense of humor gets the credit it deserves!

Public relations, advertising, and marketing professionals have embraced memes as a form of viral marketing. They’re hilarious, easy to create, and packaged perfectly for earning shares on social media channels. In an era where 350 million images are posted on Facebook every day, compelling and humorous images or videos could be your best shot at standing out and earning engagement.

So, you want to know how to make your own meme… Whether you’re creating one for work or for fun, we’re here to help. TechSmith’s Snagit is a great tool for creating a meme in just a few steps — it’s practically your own custom meme maker! 

How to make a meme

Step 1: Come up with your meme idea

Usually, when you go to make a meme, you’ll have an idea in mind. But if not, think of something funny.

Step 2: Choose your images 

Are you going to put your own caption on an existing image, or do you want to caption your own? 

You can save an image from the web, take a screenshot, or choose a meme template. Once you’ve got your image, you’re ready to go. You can always upload multiple images if needed for the format you want.

Step 3: Open your images in Snagit

Open Snagit and click Create, then choose Image from Template. Select the Meme option, and drag your image into the placeholder.

Step 4: Edit and add text

Now you’ll want to edit your image, but remember that the imagery for most memes is kept relatively simple, so you’ll probably only really need to crop your photo and add some text. 

Memes typically use white, bold capital letters with a strong black outline. Snagit’s Quick Styles are perfect for this, and you can easily create and move text boxes anywhere on the canvas. 

Play around with text size and placement to get the image exactly how you want.

Step 5: Save and upload

Save and upload your final image directly to your email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. to share with coworkers or friends.

Now that you know how to create a meme, it’s your turn! If you don’t already have Snagit, then be sure to download the free trial. Then, create your own memes and share them with friends, send them to coworkers, or use them to market your product.

But make no mistake, Snagit is more than just a meme maker — it comes with a wide range of tools that you can use to do things like remove backgrounds from pictures or extract text from an image — you can even turn screenshots into short videos! 

How to Make a Meme FAQs