What makes an advertisement or a social media post successful? The overall story has to be relatable. Marketers know how to relate to their target audience because they are listening. Social listening is the practice of monitoring digital media channels to create a strategy that will better influence consumers. The best way to gain attention online is to pay attention – tune in to the trending topics.
Consumers will eat up your content if it relates to a trending topic, especially if you invent original content that speaks about both the trend and your brand. Relevance and creativity are the two essential ingredients in successful content.
Here are some tips for how you can create original content that resonates with your target audience:
Check Top Trends on Facebook & Twitter
How do you discover the trends? Check your social media accounts. On Facebook, you can find the trending topics feature by visiting your homepage newsfeed and looking in the right hand column. Facebook automatically lists the top overall trends, but you can also click on the different icons to see the trending topics within each category, like politics, entertainment and sports. On Twitter, the trending hashtags can be found in the left column of your homepage newsfeed.
Listen to the Media Hype
If you notice a particular hashtag or topic trending across multiple social media platforms, it’s smart to assume that the trend is a high-volume topic that you can create original content related to it. Try to tie your content in to events with big build up throughout social media for an extended time. For example, the hype over the premiere of Star Wars episode 7 was a highly effective marketing trend – these brands successfully campaigned with Star Wars themed-videos.
Customize a Trending Topic to Your Brand’s Message
Once you pick a specific trend in the media (Superbowl season, Valentine’s Day, or the presidential election) morph the theme or a tagline associated with that trend with your brand’s message. For example, in celebration of May 4th, Oreo developed a clever image of a glass of milk with oreos mimicking Princess Leia’s hairstyle. (The tagline “May the Fourth be with you” ties into the famous dialogue from Star Wars ) Think of a creative way to display your product or service that contributes to the conversation about the trend but also encourages consumers to share your content.
Remember, joining the conversation about a cultural trending topic is one way to mirror your audience and grab their attention. The more creative you get with your original content, the more buzz you will create about your brand.
For more social media tips, be sure to follow us on Facebook!
