Information in this blog post was obtained from blog.hubspot.com, blog.hootsuite.com and pantone.com.
When people talk about social media trends, what does that mean to you? Sure trends are trends for a reason, but they are also very important, and usually, content that contains some sort of current trend gets pushed out to a greater audience and increases engagement. The other important factor surrounding social media trends is jumping on the bandwagon and getting a head start on new features when they are introduced.
First and foremost, you do not have to keep up with every social media platform. Stick with the ones you know the most about, that you use more often, and where your audience is more heavily concentrated. To know where your audience, or potential customers, are located you will need to create a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a mock profile or representation of your customers or the people who would buy your product. The buyer persona encompasses the demographics, social activity, how-to and hobbies, careers, economic status, etc. Hootsuite gives a how-to to create a buyer persona and provides examples and a free template.
When it comes to trending topics, some platforms are easier than others. Twitter provides a 'what's happening' tab that also includes trending topics catered to you. However, this information updates often so it doesn't provide a broader picture of trending topics. Facebook does not necessarily have a section dedicated to trending topics and Instagram's explore page tends to be more catered to the content you interact with.
TikTok might be the best example of a reliable discover tab. Their unique algorithm weighs heavily on trends and pushes content onto the for you page using trending hashtags and sounds. Hubspot gives a guide on how to find and follow TikTok trends.
Third-party websites may be your best bet at finding topics. Some provide more detailed information and trending news topics, and others allow to search within industry categories. These sites like explodingtopics.com, feedly.com, buzzsumo.com, and Google Trends. Socialmediatoday.com is another great source for all news and updates regarding social media. Platforms are always trying to one-up each other and new features are being added regularly. Jumping on these new features relatively quickly puts you at the forefront of these trends. Hubspot provides information on new Instagram features, for example. Clarissa's blog post provides other examples of where to find trending topics and news.
It might even be useful to stay on top of design trends as well. Fashion and interior design dictate visual trends in all sorts of industries. These can easily be translated into social media and digital marketing, like Pantone's color of the year. Whatever the case, staying on top of social media trends can help put your foot in front of others. Trends are what garner attention, so implement them and elevate your content.
Resources
Bretous, M. (2022, March 7). TikTok Trends B2B and B2C Marketers Should Watch in 2022. Hubspot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tiktok-trends
Iskiev, M. (2022, April 19). The HubSpot Blog’s 2022 Instagram Marketing Trends Report. Hubspot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/instagram-marketing-report
McLachlan, S. (2021, November 9). How to Create a Buyer Persona (Free Buyer/Audience Persona Template). Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard. https://blog.hootsuite.com/buyer-persona/
P. (2022). Pantone Color of the Year 2022 / Introduction. Pantone. https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2022
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