3 Questions to Ask Before You Jump on a Social Media Trend
The YOU Factor Edit:
THE ALGORITHM CAN’T REPLICATE WHAT ONLY YOU CAN BRING
How to tastefully incorporate social media trends into your content:
There's a social media trend going around right now with a few hundred thousand videos attached to it. Maybe you've seen it. Maybe you've already felt that little pull of "should we be doing that too?"
Here's what we tell our clients when that feeling hits.
Not every trend is your trend.
We've managed social for 130+ businesses across more than 25+ industries, and one of the fastest ways to make an account look cheap is to chase every trend that rolls across the feed.
When you post trend after trend after trend, people stop seeing a business they can trust and start seeing an account that's trying too hard to be seen. Those are two very different impressions to leave.
The accounts that grow, the ones that turn followers into paying clients, are selective. They pick the trends that fit, they sit out the ones that don't, and they never look like they're scrambling to keep up.
Now, trends do work. A thoughtfully selected one can boost your reach, get you in front of thousands of new people, and put your business in front of someone who's been looking for exactly what you offer. Which is why being selective matters so much. The trends you say no to are what protect the ones you say yes to.
So before you hit record on the next one, run it through these three questions.
Save this email, or forward it to whoever runs your social. Pull it back up the next time a trend blows up and half your industry is suddenly doing the same thing.
1. Does this connect to what we do?
If you have to bend over backwards to tie a trend back to your offer, your audience can feel it. The best trend content takes something people already recognize and makes it unmistakably about your business, your industry, your expertise. A trend about something totally unrelated might rack up views, but views from people who will never buy from you don't do much for your bottom line.
2. Would this make us look like the go-to in our industry, or would it make us look like everyone else?
Picture your dream client landing on this post. Does it make them think "these are the people I want to work with," or does it make you blend into every other account chasing the same trend? Trends should add to your credibility, not take away from it. If something feels a little off-brand to you, it will feel that way to your audience too. And when a trend does fit, put your own spin on it. The businesses that win with trends don't copy the exact thing everyone else is doing and say the exact thing everyone else is saying. They take the format and make it theirs, so it still sounds like you and looks like you the second someone lands on it.
3. Who is this going to put me in front of?
Before you post, think about who this trend pulls in. Are those people anywhere close to your ideal client? Sometimes the answer is a clear yes and you should go for it. And sometimes you'll realize the trend would flood your account with people who are only there for the entertainment, and you'll happily let it pass.
This is why running every trend through a filter matters so much. The goal for your account is more conversions overall, not just more eyes on it. When you bring in a wave of people who are never going to buy from you, you dilute your account. Your content starts reaching the wrong audience, and the people who could become clients get harder to reach. A smaller, well-matched audience will always do more for your business than a big one that was never going to buy in the first place.
When a trend clears all three, run with it and have fun with it. That's when trends do their best work, and that's when they pull in the right eyes instead of just any eyes.
When a trend doesn't clear them, letting it go is sometimes the most strategic thing you can do. Sitting one out on purpose is what keeps your account looking intentional while everyone else looks like they're following the crowd.
And on keeping things tasteful: we recommend creating trend-based post about once a week. That's enough to get the reach and stay current without turning your account into a feed of whatever happens to be popular that day. Trends should be ONE tool in your content mix, not the whole strategy.
This is a huge part of what we do for our clients every single day. We watch the trends so they don't have to, and we only bring them the ones worth their time.
That "should we be doing that?" panic you feel when a sound takes off? That's the exact thing we take off your plate.