How to Grow Your Podcast with Meme Marketing

Jason “The Memelord” Levin is the author of Memes Make Millions, founder of meme marketing software Memelord Technologies, and author of the most unhinged viral marketing blog on the planet. You can find him going viral posting memes and marketing hacks on X @iamjasonlevin or LinkedIn here

It’s Miami, October 2024. 

I’m at Peter Thiel’s conference in Miami sitting outside at the pool with 2 founders Jordi Hayes and John Coogan. We’re laughing, catching up, talking about what we’re working on, and they casually mention they’re working on a podcast called Technology Brothers. 

I say “What? You guys have a podcast?”

They smile and say, “Yeah it’s the most profitable podcast in the world.” 

We go our separate ways. I forget about it for a bit, distracted by an email or whatever. When I get a quick sec, I look up the pod on Spotify to give it a listen. But there’s only 1 episode. Wait, what are these goons up to????

Jordi Hayes was the founder of Party Round, one of the hottest fintech startups in Silicon Valley in 2021 which he sold for an 8-figure exit. John Coogan is the founder of Lucy Nicotine, an exec in residence at Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, and runs a YouTube channel covering tech with 300,000+ subscribers. Both are marketing geniuses. Some of the best in Silicon Valley without a doubt. So what the hell were they talking about this podcast with 1 episode? I knew whatever it was that these guys were up to, I knew it’d be big. 

When we get back from the conference, I notice something weird on the timeline.

Quote tweets as distribution

Slowly, I notice they start posting podcast clips from a Technology Brothers X account with barely any followers. But these are not your average podcast clips. 

John and Jordi are both wearing suits in a beautiful studio that may or may not be a billionaire’s private bunker. There’s an American flag in the background. The camera quality is beautiful. But here’s the real kicker. In each clip, they’re discussing printed-out tweets. Like literal tweets printed out. And for each of the tweets they discuss, they quote-tweet the tweet with the clip of them talking. 

It’s a genius distribution mechanism. 

Not only is it weird and unique, but by quote-tweeting the original tweets, they gain the attraction of whoever the original poster was. The original poster either retweets it or at least drops a comment saying “WTF!”.  

All they’re really doing is discussing some of the hottest tweets on the timeline, but because they’re both hilarious, it turns into great content. Plus the real genius here is that it gives them so many more shots on goal to go viral and grow rather just posting 1 long clip. Everyday they’re posting 5-7 of these quick little clips as quote-tweets. Some get 5 likes, some get 500. With so much quantity, the pod quickly starts growing. 

People start noticing. 

They take no shame in mentioning they’re the most profitable podcast in the world. They talk about the fintech platform Ramp non-stop (which is one of the fastest-growing most profitable startups of all time and John’s VC fund invested in them). Hell, they even made a song about Ramp! Oh yeah and they have no problem admitting they’re funded by corporations and not independent journalism; in fact, they openly tease independent journalists like Taylor Lorenz. And every time they hit another 1,000 followers they break out a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne and celebrate on the timeline. And when they finally hard-launch the podcast, they film a helicopter sequence pretending to be in Succession.

And the reason why it all works so well is because they lean into the funniness of it. They know how ridiculous it all is being in suits talking about printed tweets. They make fun of the fact every podcaster claims to be independent but takes corporate sponsorship. They joke about how podcasting is an elite sport, a slight dig at the AG1 sponsorship health guru podcasters we all know and love. All in all, the Technology Brothers don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re just trolling and making memes and having fun.

And here’s where my work comes in. 

Meme marketing for podcast growth

See, I’m the founder of Memelord Technologies, a meme marketing software used by 100s of brands like Coinbase, beehiiv, Morning Brew, and more. 

When I first launched my software, Jordi sent me a message saying it was a genius idea. See, he and John are both absolute memelords, posting funny tech memes, witty hot takes, and ridiculous shitposts. Like me, they understand that in a world of boring AI writing everywhere, it’s humor that stands out and goes viral!!! 

So when I saw my friends blowing up, obviously I had to jump in on the fun.
I turned John into a reusable PNG sticker on Memelord Technologies so anyone could make memes of the Technology Brother himself. And obviously I posted a dank meme of him too too. Then me and my users started firing off dank make memes about the Technology Brothers and some of the topics of conversation.

Memes are a massive win-win for both the podcast and the listeners. If you run a podcast, you should 100% be encouraging your users to make memes about you.

Let me explain why. 

By listeners posting memes, the Technology Brothers podcast gets more popular and ubiquitous (basically their faces are everywhere). And by John and Jordi rewarding listeners with retweets, comments, and likes, listeners are more encouraged to post memes because their audience grows. It’s the perfect cycle of growth and positive-sum games.

Ok, but does meme marketing only work on X?

John and Jordi are both technology brothers focused on growing on X, but both of these strategies would work on other platforms. 

On LinkedIn, you can easily do the same approach. Perhaps you’re covering business news. Or maybe you’re making fun of the craziest people on LinkedIn. On Instagram, maybe you’re just posting remixes or even videos tagging the original person. On YouTube, this strategy is as old as time—it’s literally just reaction videos. 

And memes, yes they work beautifully on every platforms. Memelord Technologies has customers successfully going viral and making more internet moolah on Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, TikTok, and of course X. 

If your goal is ubiquity and internet fame with your podcast, then embrace meme marketing ASAP. Turn your face into a PNG and put it on all the newest viral memes like me!