How to Tap Into Trends for Social Media Marketing

Trending is the term used to describe topics that are popular on social media at a given moment. These trends reflect a community’s interests, discussions, and collective attention at a particular time. They may relate to current news, viral content, cultural and other events, holidays, or even online campaigns and challenges. Trends are displayed on the homepage or within the Explore tab of each platform. They can also be influenced by a user’s location or personalization settings.

When it comes to social media marketing, tapping into trends is a goldmine for visibility and engagement. The key is to create trend-inspired content that aligns with your brand’s voice, principles, and target audience. This is especially important when discussing controversial or sensitive issues. For example, posting insensitive content about a tragedy or accident can be counterproductive and injure your reputation. This is particularly true for businesses that are highly visible on social media.

Creating trend-inspired content is a great way to get noticed by your audience, but there are some things you should keep in mind before attempting it. YouTube has a specific set of guidelines for trending videos that must follow to be featured on the platform’s trending list. In addition, YouTube’s algorithm takes into account the user base, location, and other factors when selecting videos for its trending lists.

If your video fits the criteria, but you aren’t seeing it appear in the trending list, it might be a matter of timing. The algorithm for YouTube’s trending list updates every 15 minutes, so the video’s position in the list might change throughout the day. Likewise, your location and interests influence what trending videos you see on TikTok’s “For You” page.

Another factor that affects a video’s chance of appearing on the Trending list is how long it has been on the platform. A video that has recently been uploaded is less likely to be selected because it hasn’t had a chance to gain a lot of views. Similarly, a video that has been on the platform for an extended period of time is more likely to be selected because it has accrued more views than a newer upload.

Creators who are often targeted by critics for their content sometimes take slights like not being included in the Trending section personally. PewDiePie, YouTube’s most-followed creator, has publicly complained about the platform’s algorithm several times in the past. In a recent video, he noted that his channel’s Trending videos are often dominated by clips of other popular channels. However, YouTube executives have said that a high view count is not the only factor that determines whether or not a video is selected as a trend. In fact, they have promised to focus more on the quality of Trending videos in the future. They have also said that they are careful not to select clickbait, sensationalist or misleading content.