How To Leverage Trends in Your Social Media Strategy
Trends play a vital role in the world of social media. From trending audio to memes to videos, trends are constantly going viral with businesses and creators diving in.
Jumping in on trends can be a great way to connect with your audience in a creative way, and expand your reach to new markets.
What is a Trend on Social Media
Social media trends are keywords, topics, hashtags, or images that quickly gain attention. Each platform often has different trending items, and there are some that cross platforms, too.
Why You Should Leverage Trends
While we first want to start off with saying, that trends aren't for everyone on social media. You should consider your overall brand personality, tone, and audience preference when it comes to including trends in your strategy because it varies from account to account.
With that being said, trends can help many brands jump into the conversation. This can be a fun way to put your spin on a trend and expand your reach. Trending audios for example, can be a great way to boost your reach beyond your current audience and into anyone searching the audio or new places within the algorithm.
Audiences also love familiarity with a twist, that is where trends can become successful. They know the trend, and they feel "in" on the inside joke, and that can help you creative higher interactiveness with your audience. Yet, putting your own industry spin, or twist as we just mentioned, on it can be where your brand can stand out on socials.
Why Trends Can't Be Your Entire Strategy
While we love trends, trends can't be your entire strategy. Relying solely on trends can make your content feel inauthentic or unoriginal. From a planning perspective, this can put a lot of tension on your content process because you're constantly tracking down the next trend. Use trends to add fun and pop-culture references to your strategy, but don't use them as the backbone of your social media strategy.
How to Incorporate Trends Effectively
Make it your own - put your own spin on it to make it relevant to your industry and to make it unique! You should always be adding to the trend, not copying it!
Make it on brand - Your branding guidelines shouldn't go out the window with trends. Find small ways to incorporate it or even the faces of your brand to ensure that people will continue to recognize your brand.
Be mindful of the trends you're using - some trends can stem from things that may be political or controversial. Always make sure that you know what the trend means before using it so that you ensure you are not putting your brand in a sticky situation. And, make sure it can apply to your brand and audience! It should be relevant and not just for fun!
We hope you find this run down of using trends in your marketing helpful! If you want to level up your marketing in 2025, trends can be a great way to tap into your brand's humorous side and liven up your marketing!
