It makes sense that as a social media marketer, you’d want to include some form of popular culture into your social media strategy. When brands jump on trends, it’s called real-time marketing. We’re going to show you how to identify a viral trend that would be good for your business to jump on and how to do so effectively. How to identify viral trends on social media 1. How to know when your business should jump on a social media trend 1. Review your business goals and make sure any real-time marketing strategy will align with those. A good example is when local businesses capitalized on the Pokémon GO fad. If your competitors are on a trend, it might make sense for you to be too. A little research would have come in handy for a butcher who wanted to commemorate singer Prince with a plate of purple sausages. If it so happens that your brand isn’t suited for real-time marketing, learn more about what right-time marketing can do for your social media strategy.
Viral trends are a combination of things—they’re fun, entertaining, and reflective of what people are interested in. It makes sense that as a social media marketer, you’d want to include some form of popular culture into your social media strategy.
When brands jump on trends, it’s called real-time marketing. While the potential payoff can be huge, the risk is also high.
We’re going to show you how to identify a viral trend that would be good for your business to jump on and how to do so effectively.
How to identify viral trends on social media
1. Monitor hashtags and keywords
Twitter has a Trends section that lists hashtags and keywords that are being widely used in a specific region or globally. In parallel, Facebook’s Trending section features the top articles on trending topics, as well as how many people are “talking about this.”
For the most part, hashtags were invented for users to keep tabs on topics and conversations floating around social media. They make it easier for people to find out more about a subject or news event, or to join in on an existing discussion.
Hootsuite lets you search and monitor hashtags, keywords, and discussions across all your social media streams from one place. The dashboard also makes it easy to engage with users that are posting in a specific area.
2. Learn from industry leaders
Think of digital media giants like BuzzFeed—experts at capitalizing on trends fast.
You should also pay attention to online communities like Reddit—the “front page of the internet”—as so many trends start there.
3. Know when a trend is no longer a trend
Similar to a fashion trend in real life, an online trend has a best-before date. In the digital world where there is so much content and things move so quickly—trends come and go.
Catchphrases, memes, images, videos—all of it spreads rapidly across the internet, and inevitably people will tire of it.
It’s hard to tell exactly when a trend will reach its saturation point, but a good indicator is when more brands than people are involved.
Good indicators of a dying trend are when the creators are brought onto a talk show to discuss it, when the trend is covered in the news, and when it begins to trickle into other mainstream media.
How to know when your business should jump on a social media trend
1. Go back to your business objectives
In any kind of social media marketing strategy, you should establish your business goals and objectives before doing anything….
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