Background: City-specific meme pages on platforms like Instagram have evolved from humorous local content creators into influential cultural and commercial actors in Germany. These pages reflect local identity, foster online communities, and increasingly collaborate with brands. Despite their growing relevance in marketing, little academic research exists on how these pages professionalize and operate as businesses.

Purpose: This study investigates how city-specific meme pages in Germany evolve from informal, fun-oriented online communities into structured, professionalized businesses. It aims to uncover the key factors for their popularity as well as the professionalization process from the perspective of the page operators, contributing to the underexplored field of meme marketing.

Method: Using an interpretivist and inductive research approach, the study employed a qualitative multi-method design. Data was collected from nine city-specific meme pages through a systematic online collection of 1,220 Instagram posts as well as semi-structured interviews with the operators behind these pages. These methods enabled a triangulation of perspectives between posted content and creators’ insights.

Conclusion: The findings reveal that the popularity of city-specific meme pages is driven by an interplay of three core elements: content (user-generated and relevant), culture (local identity and culture through consumption), and community (engagement and co-creation). Institutional pressures—both social and economic—encourage meme creators to formalize their operations. Strategy, organization, and network are critical factors during the professionalization process, resulting in monetization options such as merchandise sales and brand collaborations. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for marketers, scholars, and creators aiming to understand or leverage hyperlocal digital communities.