Trendjacking With Design: Tap Into Viral Moments Without Going Off-Brand
Social media moves fast. One moment it’s a viral dance challenge, the next it’s a trending meme or a cultural event dominating every feed.
For brands and designers, this fast-paced environment creates a unique opportunity: trendjacking.
Done right, trendjacking lets your brand join the conversation, reach new audiences, and stay culturally relevant. But it’s also easy to miss the mark or feel off-brand.
That’s where design comes in. With the right visual marketing strategy, you can tap into trending moments while staying true to your tone, style, and audience.
In this post, we’ll explore what trendjacking is, how major brands have used it successfully, and how to create on-brand social media designs that ride the wave without going off course.
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What Is Trendjacking?
Trendjacking is when a brand jumps on a popular cultural moment, like a meme, viral challenge, news event, or social media trend, to gain visibility and engage with audiences in real time. It’s all about relevance and timing.
In design, this might mean adapting a trending meme format with your brand colors, creating a quick illustration related to a viral topic, or reworking your messaging to match the tone of a popular moment.
The key is to move fast, but not thoughtlessly. The goal is to align with the moment while staying authentic to your brand’s personality and values.
Why Trendjacking Works
People engage with trends because they feel current, relatable, and part of a bigger cultural conversation.
When brands jump in at the right time, and with the right tone, it can feel like they “get it,” building trust and connection with their audience.
“Since Q4 2021, there’s been a 71% increase in people using TikTok to follow or find information about brands and products.” – GWI
Here’s why trendjacking is effective:
- It increases engagement by joining topics people are already talking about
- It boosts visibility through shares, tags, and algorithmic reach
- It shows your brand is active, aware, and in touch with culture
- It can bring humor and personality to your content in a natural way
But the speed of trends means there’s a narrow window for impact. Wait too long, and it can feel forced or outdated.
Examples of Trendjacking: Brands Doing It Right
Netflix
Netflix is known for its playful, quick-response social media game.
Whether it’s referencing trending TikTok sounds or dropping a meme about a viral series, they manage to stay topical while promoting their content.
DuoLingo
DuoLingo’s social media team is a masterclass in trendjacking.
From hopping on TikTok dances to parodying viral formats with the brand’s green owl mascot, their content feels timely and weirdly lovable—without ever losing their tone.
Wendy’s
Wendy’s Twitter is famous for its snarky tone and quick comebacks.
They’ve leveraged meme formats, pop culture references, and internet lingo to keep their brand top-of-mind with younger audiences.
Ryanair
Ryanair’s irreverent use of trending audio clips and meme-style edits on TikTok has given the brand a whole new layer of engagement.
Their budget-travel personality fits perfectly with the internet’s love for humor and irony.
Each of these brands understands how to balance being current without abandoning their identity. The message changes, but the brand voice stays consistent.
How to Trendjack with Design Without Going Off-Brand
Jumping into trending conversations is a great way to stay visible, but without a thoughtful approach, it’s easy to create content that feels disconnected from your brand.
Choose Trends That Fit Your Voice
Not every trend is right for every brand, and that’s okay. Look for opportunities that naturally align with your tone, audience, and industry.
For example, if your brand is known for humor and wit, lighthearted memes and social commentary might be a good fit.
But if you have a more serious or elegant brand voice, a softer, more refined take on a trend might feel more appropriate.
It’s less about joining every trend and more about choosing the right ones that reflect how your brand shows up in the world.
Move Fast, But Stay Strategic
Timing is everything in trendjacking, but it shouldn’t mean rushing out content without a plan.
Set up systems that let you respond quickly, such as having pre-approved design templates, a content sign-off workflow, and a short list of who’s responsible for what.
This way, you can create high-quality content on a short timeline without compromising your brand’s integrity.
A 24-hour window is ideal for most trends, but it’s better to post nothing than to post something rushed and off-brand.
Use Your Brand Elements
Even if you’re riffing off a meme or viral visual, make sure your version clearly reflects your brand.
This doesn’t mean forcing your logo into every corner, but rather using familiar colors, typefaces, icons, or illustration styles that subtly reinforce who you are.
You want your followers to instantly recognize your brand, even in a feed full of similar trendjacked content.
Keep It Simple
Many trends thrive on simplicity—think one-liners, split images, or reaction memes.
Try not to overcomplicate your design with too much copy or overly polished layouts. Quick, clean visuals often feel more natural in the fast-moving world of social content.
That said, simple doesn’t mean sloppy. Aim for clarity and balance: your design should support the message, not overshadow it.
Know When to Sit It Out
It can be tempting to jump on every trend, but the smartest brands know when to stay silent.
If a trend touches on sensitive topics, feels too polarizing, or just doesn’t fit your tone, it’s better to pass.
Forced or tone-deaf trendjacking can backfire quickly, leading to confusion, criticism, or long-term brand damage.
Trust your instincts, and if you’re unsure, ask your team: “Does this really feel like us?”
10 Tips for Designing Social Content for Trendjacking
Design plays a huge role in trendjacking. Even if the idea is clever, it won’t land unless it looks fast, scroll-stopping, and true to your brand.
Follow these 10 practical tips to help you create trend-driven social content that stands out while staying consistent with your identity.
1. Build a Set of Editable Templates
Create a library of quick-edit templates in tools like Canva or Figma. Include flexible layouts for memes, quotes, reaction images, and tweet-style posts.
This makes it easy to respond to trends in real time without starting from scratch.
2. Keep Your Brand Elements Consistent
Use your brand’s colors, typography, and logo placement, even in meme-style content.
This helps tie trendjacked posts back to your visual identity so they feel like “you,” not just another voice in the crowd.
3. Prioritize Readability
Trends move fast, and your audience should be able to get the joke or message at a glance.
Use bold fonts, high-contrast colors, and clean spacing to make your content easy to read, even at a glance on a small phone screen.
4. Use the Format That Fits the Trend
Some trends work best as static images, others as vertical videos, Instagram carousels, or tweet screenshots.
Match your design format to the trend to keep it feeling authentic and in sync with how people are engaging with that content.
5. Don’t Over-Design
Not everything needs polish. Sometimes, a slightly “scrappy” design, one that mimics the look of casual user-generated content, feels more native to the platform and gets better engagement.
Let the tone of the trend guide your level of polish.
6. Be Timely, But Give Yourself a Workflow
Designing under pressure doesn’t mean designing without process.
Set up a quick-turn workflow between your social team, copywriters, and designers so you can move quickly while maintaining quality and accuracy.
7. Use Real Screenshots (When Appropriate)
For trends based on viral tweets, comment threads, or pop culture moments, using real screenshots or mimicking the native format can add authenticity and boost shareability.
Just make sure everything you include is appropriate and brand-safe.
8. Add a Creative Twist
Instead of repeating a trend exactly as it’s being done, add your brand’s spin.
That could be using your mascot, referencing your product, or flipping the narrative in a clever way. The most successful trendjacks feel fresh, not recycled.
9. Test Before You Post
Preview your design on a mobile screen. Check text size, image clarity, and layout across platforms to make sure it looks good everywhere.
A design that’s perfect on desktop might not land on Instagram Stories or TikTok.
10. Archive and Analyze Your Hits
Keep track of your top-performing trendjacking posts. What worked about the layout, the tone, or the timing?
Save these as reference templates and use the learnings to improve the next time a trend pops up.
Conclusion
Trendjacking can be a powerful way to stay relevant, reach new audiences, and inject fun into your content.
But it’s not about copying what everyone else is doing, it’s about adapting cultural moments in a way that fits your brand’s voice and values.
With a clear design strategy, a flexible workflow, and a sharp sense of timing, you can use trendjacking to turn fleeting internet moments into smart, engaging content that actually resonates.
And when done right? It might just be the thing that makes your next post go viral.