How do you know what’s trending and how can your business pivot to keep up?

At my company, A.D. Media Group we are analytically driven in each move we take for our business and for our clients. Everything we decide on is done with the approach of each specific genre, audience, and platform and how they performed in mind. We also analyze what is currently happening in the market. How does our team find out what’s trending and how do we align that to remain authentic with our brand messaging?

Southern Junkiez Set

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

It’s not just fashion trends, it’s platform trends. Understanding the nuances of each platform and how that aligns with your brand is crucial. Identifying what social outlets your target audience uses will help guide you on your approach for each specific platform. For example, if your target audience is Gen Y or Gen Z, then TikTok and Instagram would be the platforms to focus on to reach your target audience. However, if you are a traditional business or more B2B sales then LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google My Business would be where you want to focus your efforts on.

Southern Junkiez Set | Southern Junkiez Valentine’s Day Set

Keywords

Now that you have established which platforms you need to promote your content on, how do we optimize within that particular platform? This is where analytics, keywords, and understanding the platform all come together. In order to generate the most success, evaluate your analytics and the trending keywords to see where it aligns with your content and brand. To find out which keywords are trending on that particular platform, we love utilizing Google Trends to help us see what people are searching for and what products and services align with that. Additionally, certain platforms will release their top trending searches or products via their newsletter or in the Resources section of their website.

Let’s take the search Valentine’s Day for example to explore through Google Trends. Not only does Google show a graph mapping out the number of searches for that particular term and the timeframe, but also pulls adjacent topics and ideas and shows the breakdown based on certain regions of the U.S. as well. For example, based on our search for Valentine’s Day, we’re able to see that Valentines Day Shoes 2023, Valentine’s Day Box ideas, Valentine’s Day Phone Wallpaper, and Valentine’s Day wreaths are all on the consumers mind. How does this help your business? Search for the service or product you’re offering and see what the other keywords and searches bring us as this can all be used to generate an effective marketing strategy and help you generate content ideas.

Use Your Analytics

Without guidance and direction that is backed by analytics and data, we’re using the post-and-pray method and hoping something comes out of it. Not only does that fundamentally go against everything I advise, but it also sets you up to be in a hamster wheel cycle of complete chaos with no end in sight. In order to generate an effective marketing strategy that results in SALES, we have to dive deep into what the analytics are telling us. With that being said, we also have to be open to adapting based on what the analytics are showing us. Every platform has their own way to track analytics that are specific to that particular platform. These analytics should be used to filter through hashtags, audios, content trends, and more to better advise you to reach your target audience. At AD Media Group, we use analytics from the top sellers on each platform down to the nitty-gritty details like optimal posting times. These small details add up to established a holistic and effective strategy.

Invest In Social Planning Tools

Now that we have established what platforms you need to focus on, we know what keywords we need to use, now we need a way to put all of this content and strategy into motion! How do we do that? At AD Media Group, we LOVE using PlannThat in order to schedule out all of our content and for our clients as well. The beauty of PlannThat is that it can be used for multiple different platforms so you are only spending time inputting once and the application carries it out for you. Other social media management tools like Hootsuite and Zoho Social are other popular options as well.

Keep an Eye on Your Competition

Is there a content creator or business that you are just OBSESSED with? Their content resonates, they’re resourceful, and utilizing the tips lined out in this blogpost…what’s not to love?! Be sure to keep tabs on brands that fall in line with yours so you’re able to keep your pulse on the competition and remain ahead of the game. Additionally, be sure to subscribe to their newsletters as well so you’re remaining up to date.

Southern Junkiez Set | Southern Junkiez Valentine’s Day Set

CONSUMER TRENDS

Big Retail marketers are moving up their sales each year. Valentine’s Day items going up on shelves before Christmas wraps up isn’t uncommon, if anything, it’s the norm. With this in mind, Big Retail sets a lot of the trends for consumers because they dictate what products are available and at what time. A general rule of thumb is as soon as your local Target and Walmart are starting to put up seasonal items, you need to start generating the content that aligns pretty quick to capitalize on the trend. Did you know that half of Americans get their Christmas shopping done in OCTOBER (Tigue, 2023)?! As crazy as that sounds, it rings true to the direction marketing and sales are leaning, which is E A R L Y.

Be the Trend

At the end of the day, YOU are establishing the trend on your own terms. As it’s always important to know what’s trending, what’s more important is that you are remaining true to your brand. Leaning too trendy will show through, so be strategic as you incorporate trends into your content and marketing strategy. I hope this gave some more insight on how to find out what’s trending and actionable steps to take to make sure your strategy isn’t missing the mark. As always, we want you to be looked at as a resource in this industry and I love sharing every bit of knowledge to aid in making that possible! For other helpful tips and business advice, be sure to check out some of my favorites here:

• The Importance of Identifying Your Core Four
• Creating Content that Converts
• The Art of Monetizing Your Business

CAPTURE. BRAND. ENGAGE.

All the opinions are that of my own. All Images are the copyright property of Audrie Dollins Media Group LLC. Some links are monetized where I may get a small portion of sales. Thank you for continuing to support my dream career.

References

Tighe, D. (2023, January 12). Holiday shopping planned timeline united states 2022. Statista. Retrieved February 8, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/243495/period-when-us-consumers-began-shopping-for-the-holiday-season/#:~:text=Black%20Friday&text=Ever%20since%20the%20start%20of,a%20bustling%20holiday%20shopping%20season.