Generally, trending means that a topic, hashtag, or keyword is more popular and getting more visibility than usual on a social media platform. You can see what’s trending by visiting a platform’s trends page or using its search feature.

Social media platforms determine what’s trending by analyzing search patterns and other metrics, including user interactions with content. Trending topics are often related to current events, news stories, or pop culture. They may also be political or controversial.

The goal of trending is to connect with the most relevant audience members, which can increase a brand’s awareness, engagement, and conversions. As a result, many brands use trends to drive social media marketing campaigns. However, jumping on a trend without careful consideration can have negative consequences. For example, a satirical campaign mocking a public figure could backfire by alienating the person being targeted.

To make sure you’re leveraging trends effectively, first identify what types of content your audiences respond to best. Then, develop templates and response frameworks that enable you to react faster when suitable trends emerge. This allows you to join the conversation authentically and creates a sense of relevancy with your audience.

Google Trends is a great tool to help you find what people are talking about, and it’s updated nearly in real time. The platform analyzes the popularity of a term or phrase across various geographic regions and languages. It also shows a graph of the term’s relative strength over time, which is useful for assessing whether a topic is declining or rising in popularity.

YouTube’s algorithm for trending videos is complex, but broadly speaking, videos that are wide-appeal or interesting to a broad audience tend to do well on the platform’s trending pages. That could include funny pet videos, amazing stunts, or a music video by a famous artist. Videos that are relevant and timely can also do well, such as reactions to major awards shows or breakdowns of important news stories.

A sudden spike in views and engagement can propel a video to the trending list, so it’s worth checking the number of views that your content has received before you submit it to Trending. Similarly, it’s important to monitor the average viewing time of your videos so you can compare it with the timeframe in which you want to generate trending results.

When you’re ready to submit a video for trending, use a hashtag that you can easily remember. This will make it easier for your audience to post it with confidence, and ensure the hashtag is unique enough that Facebook and Twitter recognize it as a trend rather than a spammy one-off. It’s also helpful to provide direction on how you’d like your audience to engage with your content, such as a specific call to action, in order to avoid confusion and disappointment when the hashtag doesn’t immediately start trending.