Content Creators and Influencers often talk – and post – about the struggles to find inspiration for posts. If you’re busy running a business, hiring people, training on skills, dealing with weather extremes and inflation take up enough of your time, it’s OK if you stare at a keyboard with mouth agape going, WHAT EXACTLY AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITE ABOUT??
I present – trends. When a topic is trending, not only does that mean that people are talking about a subject, but they are also looking for new input on the subject. Trends can provide you a great source of content inspiration. At the time of writing this blog, the Colorado Avalanche – a hockey team – are trending. A hair salon might make a post about hair color in the team’s colors, a garden center could do a flower bed with their logo, or a shop could just talk about an “avalanche” of savings.
A note for people who are bosses: there is no such thing as PLANNING to “go viral”. Your social team cannot brew up a potion to “break the internet.” Truly, no one is keeping this magic from you, a tweet, post, or video becomes a sensation organically, and only organically. The thing to note about using trends for your content is not that it will guarantee you’ll go viral but it will help you increase your organic reach for people who actually want to know what you do!
There are two key ways you can respond to trends, and one less effective way only to be used if you’re bored. After researching trends of the day, or week, you could repurpose old content with the slant of the trend. Make an old training video a new blog post, make a quote from an old blog a new tweet, or use an album of photos from Facebook to create a new reel.
If you are going to repurpose content, make sure you have a database of your content available to you. It should include the link to the content, the theme of the post, when it was last shared, and a short synopsis. This will allow you to quickly repurpose your content for a trending topic in only 10 minutes. Don’t have a database? This is a great project for a (paid) intern or a quality consultant (cough.)
Of course, you can create completely original content. The best way to prepare for this is through skill development. Take writing classes, practice your dances, and edit different photos every day.
Then, if you somehow find yourself with oodles of time and all your laundry caught up, you can write lists of content ideas like a creative writing exercise, imagining trends that might come up one day. Like I said, less effective.
So what IS trending right now? There are a multitude of online tools you can use to do regular research into what topics have had their popularity documented.
First, the tools that the platforms themselves offer.
- Trending Hashtags on Twitter: https://twitter.com/explore/tabs/trending?lang=en
- Trending Videos on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/discover/whats-trending-right-now?lang=en
- Trending Search Topics on Google: https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US
Then, there are websites dedicated to trends on other platforms:
- Reddit Trend tracking: https://frontpagemetrics.com
- Youtube trend watch: https://staging.tubebuddy.com
EXPERT LEVEL TIP: Even if you’re not on Reddit or YouTube, a massive trend there might crossover to Twitter or IG, and by taking note and being an early adopter, you might find yourself influencing the start of the new conversation.
Finally, there are websites that look at more comprehensive trends. Some of my favorites are:
- https://trendwatchers.co
- https://buzzsumo.com/
- https://contentstudio.io/
I know this is a LOT of info, so remember my old standby – you don’t have to do EVERYTHING. Do what is right for you! You can set an alarm for keywords or areas of expertise you want to be known for – like bridal or fishing. You can also create a list of keywords you will have your support staff be on the lookout for. There are major food brands where this is still their approach – they have teams online around the clock, searching for usage and engaging immediately.
And despite my snark earlier about the fruitlessness of trying to prepare for everything and anything, you can prepare for SOMETHINGS. There are some trends you just know are coming. Major holidays, major sporting events, educational conferences and charitable fundraisers are all on an annual calendar. Talk like a Pirate Day and #throwbackthursday are both lingering trends matey.
Hopefully, you’re engaged with your audience, so you’ve noticed trends of your own. Are all your customers asking the same question? Have a dozen of your friends shared the same video? Have you done a poll in your stories? Did you see a movie you loved? Have you checked your own analytics?
That’s right, I used the big A word. What are your most popular posts and products? Let this inform your strategy before you do trend research. And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you to check your analytics after each trend. Anytime you jump on the bandwagon, check your google or website analytics so you can know how effective this tactic is for you.
Trends come with a warning. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Sometimes you should say nothing. I don’t want you to jump on every trending topic. One, if it’s not the right fit for your business, you might lose followers. For example, if you had a small local gift shop, and you jumped on all the travel trends, your audience might think you’ve lost touch with your #livelocal roots, and find a different shop to follow and interact with. Two, and the more critical in today’s American culture, you might end up trending for the wrong reason. Remember the example at the beginning of this post, about the Colorado avalanche? Imagine if you jumped on a trending topic too soon, made a cavalier post about making a goal, or a hat trick, only to find out there had actually been a literal avalanche in the Rockies. No deletion, no cleared cache, no apology message, can make up for the bad impression a poor post would make. On the internet today, you cannot un-ring bells.
Wishing you all the best of luck on your trendy journey. Be authentic and be successful, and remember, if you need a cohort of business owners, leaders, and a marketing expert to bounce ideas off of, especially trending concepts, join the Social Media Savvy Club today: https://w2smarketing.com/savvyclub
