The trends that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook show on their sidebars or search pages are a reflection of what is popular among the user base at a given time. The trend can be anything from a pop culture phenomenon to a political event or sports topic. Some trends last a day, others a week or longer. Regardless of how long a particular trend lasts, it is important for companies to take advantage of trends and the opportunity they provide to reach their target audience.

To get on the list of trends, a company must create content that is relevant to the current interest. This will help them get noticed by search engines and potential customers, especially if the company can add a unique twist or perspective on a topic. For example, a fashion brand could use trending hashtags and images to promote its latest clothing line.

Creating content that is a good fit for a given trend can be difficult. While many people might share a post that is about a celebrity’s new hairstyle or the results of a sporting event, it might not be as popular for a fashion brand to talk about this news. Instead, a fashion brand might choose to create a video that talks about the results of a recent fashion show or an up-and-coming designer.

A company can also create a blog on its website that highlights its expertise in a certain field. This will attract visitors and improve the credibility of the business. It is also a good idea to share relevant news stories with customers and the general public.

It is important to note that the Trends tab on social media is not a definitive guide of what will be popular. There is some human curation involved, but the vast majority of trends are chosen algorithmically. This means that the company’s algorithms look at who is searching for a given term, how often they search for it and where the searches are coming from. The algorithm also takes into consideration the geographic area of the searcher and excludes search terms that are not popular or have little to no searches at all. It also filters out searches that contain apostrophes or other special characters, as well as duplicate searches by the same user.

YouTube has its own version of a Trending page, which is based on the amount of views that videos receive. While the trends on this page are not as accurate as those on the main page, it can be a helpful way for content creators to gauge whether their content is being seen and shared by people. YouTube has not disclosed the exact algorithm that is used to determine which videos appear in the Trending tab, but it does state that it is based on views and engagement.

There are a number of free tools that businesses can use to find out what’s trending. For example, BuzzSumo has a tool that allows users to see what’s trending on any given subject. This can be helpful in generating ideas for content marketing campaigns. Other tools such as Ahrefs are more specific and provide more in-depth insights into search volume, trending topics and keywords that are gaining popularity.