How Trendjacking Marketing Drives E-commerce Sales in 2025

In late 2023, Heinz captured the internet’s attention by launching a limited-edition “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” sauce within 24 hours of a Taylor Swift viral moment. The condiment—riffing on a meme about Swift eating chicken with ketchup and ranch—sold out instantly as fans scrambled to grab a piece of the trending joke. That agile move is a prime example of trendjacking marketing: jumping on a viral trend to amplify your brand’s visibility (and sales) in real time. In this post, we’ll explore how e-commerce brands, Amazon sellers, and DTC founders can harness trendjacking in 2025 to drive engagement and revenue. You’ll learn what trendjacking is, why it’s more important than ever in today’s social media landscape, and actionable strategies (with examples) to ride viral moments while staying authentic to your brand.

What is Trendjacking Marketing?

Trendjacking is when a brand inserts itself into a popular viral conversation—whether it’s a meme, a social media challenge, or a pop culture moment—to boost its visibility and relevance. In essence, it’s “hijacking” the momentum of a trend and steering some of the attention toward your own message or product. This concept evolved from the older PR tactic of newsjacking (hijacking news stories for publicity) and was popularized by stunts like Oreo’s famous “You can still dunk in the dark” tweet during the 2013 Super Bowl blackout. Today, trendjacking spans everything from brands tweeting witty takes on the latest meme to launching products inspired by viral fads (like Heinz’s sauce). Done well, it can make a brand feel timely, playful, and culturally plugged-in. But done poorly, trendjacking can backfire—coming off as forced, tone-deaf, or off-brand. The key is to join the conversation in a way that feels authentic and relevant to your audience. In the next sections, we’ll look at why trendjacking has become a must-have marketing skill in 2025 and how to execute it effectively for e-commerce success.

Why Trendjacking Matters for E-commerce in 2025

Viral trends aren’t just frivolous internet chatter—they’re the new marketplace of attention. Here’s the reality in 2025: social media is where trends happen. A whopping 90% of consumers rely on social platforms to keep up with trends and cultural moments. TikTok, Instagram, and even Twitter (now X) have essentially replaced TV and news for capturing what’s “hot” any given week. For brands, this means trendjacking is no longer a gimmick but a survival skill. If your e-commerce brand isn’t visible in the memes, hashtags, and trending videos your customers scroll through, you risk being invisible altogether.

Trendjacking matters especially for e-commerce and Amazon sellers because it drives real business outcomes when done right. Viral moments can translate into sales spikes and traffic windfalls. Think of the countless “TikTok made me buy it” products that sold out after trending online. Consumers are actively looking to discover new products through social content—78% of people in 2025 prefer learning about products via short videos (e.g. TikTok or Reels). When a trend aligns with your product, hopping on it can put your brand in front of millions of potential buyers in a very organic way.

Importantly, social media users are more receptive to brands on these platforms than ever. Nearly half of consumers say they interact with brands more now than they did six months ago. In other words, audiences want to engage with fun, timely content from brands, as long as it doesn’t feel like a traditional ad. Trendjacked content—when it feels like part of the cultural conversation—blurs the line between advertisement and entertainment. A witty tweet or a clever TikTok duet tied to a viral trend can spark thousands of shares, comments, and positive reactions, driving up brand engagement. In some cases, a single well-timed post can catapult a small business to overnight fame.

Finally, trendjacking is cost-effective marketing for e-commerce players. Instead of pouring a huge budget into polished ad campaigns, brands can leverage trending formats, memes, or challenges that inherently encourage sharing. A viral moment often comes with built-in audience interest—you’re piggybacking on momentum that’s already there. By tapping user-generated content (UGC) or working with micro influencers to create on-trend posts, even indie Amazon sellers can get massive reach without a massive spend. And with influencer marketing now mainstream (an estimated 86% of marketers use influencers in 2025), trendjacking often goes hand-in-hand with creators who can give your brand an authentic voice in the trend. In short, trendjacking marketing allows e-commerce brands to be where the attention is — converting cultural buzz into brand buzz, and ultimately into clicks and sales.

5 Trendjacking Marketing Strategies for 2025 E-commerce Success

To successfully ride viral trends without crashing your brand reputation, you need a strategic approach. Below are five key strategies for e-commerce brands and Amazon sellers to trendjack viral moments effectively in 2025:

1. Social Listening – Spot Trends Early and Often

The earlier you catch a trend, the better your odds of owning the conversation rather than chasing it. Trendjacking starts with awareness. Set up social listening tools to monitor what’s bubbling up on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X, Reddit, and niche communities. In 2025, 62% of social marketers use social listening tools to spot trends in real time, using platforms like Sprout Social, Brandwatch, or even TikTok’s Creator Trending reports. Pay attention to trending hashtags, emerging memes, or viral videos in your industry or adjacent niches. For example, if you sell kitchen gadgets and a “#GirlDinner” trend (celebrating snack-plate dinners) is taking off, that’s a cue to join the fun with related content. Create a team habit of daily trend huddles or alerts – what’s spiking today? Quick trend detection is critical because timing is everything. Many cultural moments on TikTok or Twitter peak in mere days (or hours) before fading. By using social listening and even Google Trends, you can catch the wave just as it’s building. The goal is to be a first mover when possible, since the brands that succeed aren’t necessarily the absolute fastest but the ones who match the right trend with the right approach before it becomes old news.

Pro tip: Maintain a “trend calendar” of predictable events that spawn viral chatter – think the Super Bowl, award shows, Prime Day, or new season drops. While some trends are random, others are cyclical or seasonal (e.g. memes always explode during big sports games or pop culture premieres). Planning for these gives you a head start. But always pair trend monitoring with critical thinking: before you jump in, assess why a particular topic is trending. Is it light-hearted fun or something controversial? As we’ll cover next, not every trend is your brand’s opportunity.

2. Choose Trends Wisely – Align with Your Brand and Audience

Just because something is viral doesn’t mean your brand should hop on it. A crucial trendjacking skill is discernment. Ask: Does this trend align with our brand’s voice, values, and target audience? and Can we add value or a unique twist? Chasing every meme or hashtag can make a brand look desperate or off-brand. In fact, while 82% of social media managers report keeping up with trends, many acknowledge that not every trend is worth joining. A healthy dose of caution is wise. If a trend carries political or sensitive connotations, stepping in could backfire. And if it simply doesn’t resonate with your customers, it’ll fall flat or confuse them.

Stay authentic: the best trendjacks fit so naturally that they feel like an inside joke between you and your audience. For example, language app Duolingo earned millions of views on TikTok by letting its mascot owl participate in absurd viral skits, perfectly matching its quirky brand personality. In contrast, a buttoned-up finance brand trying the same thing would likely puzzle (or lose) its followers. Before participating in a trend, do a quick gut check or an internal brainstorm with diverse team members. Ensure you’re not misreading the cultural context. Also consider if the trend is positive and on-brand; skip ones that are mean-spirited or too far off your company’s values. Remember, trendjacking is about boosting your brand, not just getting eyeballs at any cost. It’s better to occasionally sit out a viral craze than to force yourself into one and appear inauthentic or opportunistic (audiences can tell). As one social media expert put it, restraint is often what separates trend-chasers from trend leaders.

Pro tip: Develop a simple internal checklist for trend relevance. For instance: (1) Does our core customer care about this trend? (2) Can we contribute something fun or useful to it? (3) Would our participation make sense in hindsight, aligned with our brand story? If any answer is “no,” you might pass. Brands that strategically pick their moments tend to build credibility, whereas those jumping on every bandwagon risk becoming noise.

3. Act Fast and Be Agile with Content

When you’ve identified a promising trend that does fit your brand, speed of execution is critical. In trendjacking, time is your enemy—wait even a day too long and the internet’s attention has moved on. Aim to move from idea to published content in hours, not days. This requires operational agility on your part: streamline your approval workflows, have your design or video team on stand-by, and empower your social media managers to make quick judgment calls. Some brands create “rapid response” kits with pre-approved brand assets, memes templates, or adaptable ad copy so they’re not starting from scratch when a trend pops up. The goal is to shorten the gap between trend spotting and posting without sacrificing quality or brand voice.

Consider using AI and automation to help you move faster as well. In 2025, 73% of marketers regularly use AI tools in planning and executing trend-driven content. For example, AI can help generate a quick image, caption variants, or video subtitles to ride a meme format, saving precious time. (Always have a human review AI outputs for tone, of course.) If you work with influencers or content creators, build reactive content into their briefs. Give creators the freedom to pivot and produce an extra TikTok if they see something trending that fits your campaign, without waiting for lengthy approvals. Influencer Marketing Hub notes that brands succeeding on TikTok often let creators take the lead on trends and plan “unplanned” content slots for timely posts. By baking in that flexibility, you won’t miss golden opportunities due to red tape.

Pro tip: If you’re an Amazon seller or small business without a big creative team, you can still be agile. Lean on your community – for instance, if a trend arises, ask in your customer Facebook Group or email list for user-generated content related to it. Customers might create on-trend photos or videos featuring your product (UGC) that you can quickly share. This not only saves time creating content, it also comes across as more authentic. Many e-commerce brands also keep a content library of evergreen snippets (product images, lifestyle shots, logos, etc.) that can be meme-ified or overlaid with trending captions at a moment’s notice. Preparation meets opportunity!

4. Leverage Micro-Influencers and UGC Creators

In 2025, successful trendjacking is often a team sport—played with your brand’s fans and creators, not solo. Micro-influencers (creators with roughly 5k–100k followers) and dedicated UGC creators can be your secret weapon for riding trends in an authentic way. Why? These smaller-scale influencers are usually deeply in touch with the latest platform trends and cultural nuances, often more so than big celebrities. They have tight-knit audiences and high engagement rates, which means when they participate in a trend and feature your product, people pay attention. In fact, brands are finding more success working with armies of micros and “everyday” content creators than with a few mega-influencers. 92% of consumers trust a micro-influencer’s recommendation over a typical ad and 82% are likely to buy a product a micro-influencer endorses. Those trust levels are gold for trendjacking—followers will happily hop on a viral hashtag or challenge if their favorite relatable creator does it with your product.

So how do you leverage this? Cultivate a roster of micro-influencers in your niche and give them creative freedom to include your brand in trending content. For example, if a dance challenge or funny meme is blowing up on TikTok, an influencer can incorporate your product in a clever, subtle way (maybe sipping your protein shake mid-dance or using your gadget as a prop). Because the content comes from a creator’s own channel and aligns with a trend their followers already love, it feels natural and user-driven rather than an ad. Also encourage your real customers to create content. User-generated content (UGC) like unboxing videos, TikTok reviews, or Instagram reels can all ride trends – often customers will do this spontaneously if they see your brand engaging with a meme. You can spark more UGC by running a quick contest or challenge (e.g. “Show us your [your brand] version of this meme and tag us”). Stack Influence, a micro-influencer marketing platform, has observed that many DTC brands and Amazon sellers use product seeding campaigns to turn happy customers into content creators at scale – sending free samples in exchange for authentic posts and feedback. This strategy is perfect for trendjacking: by getting your product into the hands of enthusiastic micro-influencers or loyal customers, you increase the odds that when a relevant trend pops up, someone will create content linking that trend to your product.

Pro tip: When working with influencers on trend content, brief them to stay on-brand while being playful. The most effective collaborations give creators guidelines on brand messaging but also leeway to be spontaneous. For instance, provide a couple of key product benefits or themes they can highlight no matter what trend format they do. Influencers can then inject those points cleverly into a trending skit or challenge. This way your brand’s core message isn’t lost in the fun. Also, keep an eye out for rising UGC creators (people with no huge following but great content style) who make content that suits your brand. Often, you can commission UGC creators to produce a batch of on-trend videos for a modest fee, which you can then post on your own channels. It’s an easy way to get authentic trending content without having to produce everything in-house.

5. Tailor Content to Each Platform (TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X)

A viral trend can manifest differently on each social platform—so your execution should fit the medium. Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach when trendjacking across channels. TikTok is the epicenter of many viral challenges and sounds, favoring raw, humorous short videos. Instagram trends might revolve around visual styles or Reels, often a bit more polished or aesthetic. Twitter (now X) trends can be hashtag games or witty one-liners. To maximize impact, adapt your tone and format to each platform’s culture. For example, if there’s a popular TikTok meme format, you might film a lo-fi, behind-the-scenes style clip for TikTok. But on Instagram, you could post a high-quality image or Reel riffing on the same meme concept in a more brand-curated way. On Twitter, you might just deliver a sharp 140-character quip with the trending hashtag.

Being native to the platform significantly boosts engagement. Social media analysts note that Wendy’s, for instance, succeeds by using snarky, meme-worthy one-liners on Twitter, while keeping a more inspirational, lifestyle tone on Instagram. The core trend or joke can be the same, but it’s packaged in the language that each audience expects. Similarly, an Amazon seller might use a trending audio clip for a product demo on TikTok, but on Facebook they might share a funny GIF related to the trend in their customer group. Meet your audience where they are. If you know your customers hang out more on, say, Instagram and Pinterest, focus your trend content there and lean into those platform’s features (perhaps an Instagram Story poll tied to a trend).

Also consider where a particular trend “lives.” A dance challenge is inherently TikTok/Reels material. A witty hashtag might be more Twitter-centric. A DIY hashtag (say a #beforeandafter glow-up trend) could do well on Instagram or YouTube Shorts. By channeling your efforts into the right platform for the trend, you’ll get more leverage. The bottom line: the spirit of the trend should remain consistent (so your messaging is unified), but the execution should feel native to each social network.

Pro tip: Keep an eye on emerging platforms too. In 2025, TikTok is huge, but don’t forget newcomers (like Threads or niche community apps) where trends can spark in smaller circles. If your e-commerce brand targets Gen Z, you might find a trend on a platform like Discord or a Twitch stream that’s worth adapting to mainstream channels. Being an early adopter on a platform with a trend can set you apart. Just ensure the platform aligns with your target audience. It’s better to be excellent at trendjacking on two or three key platforms than stretched thin on six.

Trendjacking Best Practices vs. Pitfalls

To wrap up the strategy section, here’s a quick comparison table to guide your trendjacking efforts. These are the do’s and don’ts of riding viral waves as an e-commerce brand:

By following the best practices above and avoiding common pitfalls, you’ll increase your chances of trendjacking successfully—earning your brand plenty of social media love and even new customers, rather than eye-rolls from the crowd.

Conclusion to Trendjacking Marketing

In the fast-paced digital world of 2025, trendjacking marketing has evolved from a quirky social media trick into a powerful growth strategy for e-commerce brands. When you skillfully insert your brand into viral moments, you tap into the cultural zeitgeist that your customers are already glued to. The payoff isn’t just a temporary spike in likes—it’s sustained brand relevance, followers who feel more connected to your story, and yes, measurable sales increases. We’ve seen how savvy companies from global names like Heinz to humble Amazon marketplace sellers can ride trends to capture new audiences and boost ROI. The key is to do it thoughtfully: choose the right moments, act quickly, and stay true to your brand’s voice.

As an e-commerce entrepreneur or marketer, you shouldn’t fear trendjacking—you should prepare for it. Set up your “listening posts,” streamline your content engine, and have your micro-influencer allies on speed dial. Each viral hashtag or meme is an opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality and creativity to the world. By embracing trendjacking marketing in 2025, you position your brand at the heart of online conversations rather than watching from the sidelines. In a landscape where 90% of people look to social media for what’s new, those brands who consistently and authentically join the conversation will win the attention game.