The term trending is a way of describing the collective attention and interests of a social media audience at a specific moment in time. This can be a result of various factors, including current events, popular news stories, viral content, holidays, or online challenges and contests. Trending topics can be localized to a specific community or location, or they can reach a global audience. Trending topics are often the result of a flurry of discussion or activity, so the popularity of a particular topic can change rapidly as more people join in on the conversation.

Using trends to find relevant topics for marketing purposes can help brands, influencers, or bloggers to generate engagement and visibility on their platforms. However, it is important to evaluate each trending topic for relevancy to your target audience, and only use those that are appropriate for your marketing goals.

The majority of social media platforms allow users to explore what is currently trending. This feature is generally found on the home page or in a dedicated section within the platform’s search bar. Some social media platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram, even offer a personalized trending section based on the user’s own personal preferences and location.

Trending topics can be a useful way to identify opportunities for new and creative content. However, it is important to remember that a trending topic will only remain relevant for a short period of time, as audiences’ interests and curiosity are constantly evolving. The most successful campaigns take advantage of a trending topic while it is still relevant and generates interest, before the topic quickly loses momentum.

There are many free and paid tools available to identify the most popular trending topics. One of the most well-known is Google Trends, which identifies and provides detailed data on a wide variety of topics and categories, such as entertainment, politics, technology, and health. It allows users to filter data by region, date range, and search type (web vs. YouTube).

Several third-party apps exist to provide users with an up-to-the-minute list of the top trends on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other popular social media platforms. These apps also offer more granular data on trending topics, as well as analytical features to help users understand what drives the popularity of certain topics.

Using a trending topic to drive engagement on your own social channels can be a great way to grow your audience and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. However, be sure to only use trends that are authentic and relate to your ideal audience, so you don’t run the risk of alienating your followers. To learn more about how to better use and understand the data provided by these tools, visit our article on How to Interpret Google Trends Data.