What exactly is a trend? Simply put, it’s the current state of any given topic. On Twitter, a post, topic, or term that is talked about a lot more than the others is said to be a trending topic” or just a ” trending topic”. Popular topics get more attention either due to an occurrence or through a concerted effort from online users. Trending topics may also get a rise out of readers and bloggers who feel compelled to comment on what’s currently being discussed on the internet.
However, not all trends are created equal. It’s important that you understand how to recognize trends so that you can take advantage of them in order to get a rise out of your followers or for yourself. There are a number of different ways on Twitter that you can use the trending topics that you find to gauge their current state. A couple of those ways are through the use of hashtags and user tags.
With hashtags, you’ll be able to get a quick snapshot of the interest curve for any given trending topic. hashtags are keyword specific area’s on the map that show the amount of times that a keyword has been used on a map. You’ll notice that there are many brands that have a significant amount of conversations centered around the particular keyword “apple-themed”. There are also many brands that get a fair amount of mentions around but have very little usage. As you can see, using the hashtags makes it easy to tell which are the most popular as well as the most dormant.
Another great tool that you can utilize in order to get a handle on the trending of various social media outlets is the utilization of user tags. The idea of user tags is that you’ll be able to identify different types of businesses or people that may be interesting by their overall search pattern. For example, if a user searches for the phrase “apple” frequently, then this could signify that there is a lot of interest in the apple product. It is a very smart way to look at the data because it helps you gain some insight into the overall trend in search terms.
Last but not least, it is important to take a look at your instagram account. The trends that you’ll see on instagram are very similar to the trends that you see on twitter and Facebook. The only difference is that the instagram audience tends to skew younger, more male, and more abrasive. On the flip side, the audience for these trends tends to skew older, more female, and more professional. Therefore, it really is a great way to not only keep an eye on what your customers are talking about but also to identify trends in the industries that your customers are participating in.
By taking a look at these two sites, you’ll be able to determine whether a certain trend is here to stay or whether you need to make some changes in order to beat it. When trying to decide how to react to a trending topic, it is important to consider the fact that a trend can last for a very long time. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you are prepared to adapt your business in order to stay ahead of the trend.