Modern-day social media marketing is all about connecting and resonating with the audience. As long as brands are creating a connection with their viewers, they are on the right track. Therefore, a huge part of a successful social media marketing strategy is keeping up with the trend.
Millennials and Gen Z are the largest users of social media – it is their source of information, entertainment, shopping, and even human interactions. Certainly enough, the trends on social media are ever-changing, with something new becoming viral or the “cool” thing to do every other day.
While some marketers consider this dynamic a challenge, smart and modern marketers know how to use this for their own benefit. The ever-changing social media landscape with new trends emerging every now and then gives marketers numerous opportunities to create up-to-date, personalized, and fresh content for their social media audience. It is also an excellent opportunity for experimenting with creativity.
It can be beneficial to use trends such as memes and reels templates or incorporate AI chatbots in your social media business profiles. In order to connect with a large audience and tap into the benefit of social media’s global reach, following certain trends based on virality is important. So, to help you make the most out of social media trend-based marketing, here is everything you need to know!
What is trend-based social media marketing?
Before you look into the essential skills needed for trend-based social media marketing, it is crucial that you explore the intricacies of what it is and how a marketer can use it. In 2024, we saw many trends surfacing and dying down at a rapid and unpredictable pace. For example, meme trends like “very demure” and “my Spotify wrapped” blew up social media. Yet, it is important to know that viral trends will die down, and you must come up with new and fresh content to go with new trends.
Trend-based social media marketing requires marketers to change and mold their marketing strategy based on the trends and changes in social media. What images they post, what captions they add, and what nature of messaging they use truly depends on the trends. For example, there has been a recent increase in “funny” content social media marketing. This has allowed brands to connect with their audience and create a stronger community.
Similarly, some marketers try to create customer engagement by collaborating with trend-setters/ for example, an influencer whose video or particularly meme has gone viral can collaborate with the brand and promote their product through endorsement and reviews. This is the ideal combination of trend-based social media marketing and influencer marketing.
Essentially, a trend-based social media marketing strategy thoroughly focuses on what’s “new” and “in”, and uses that. As a modern-day marketer, it is critical for you to keep up with the trends to understand what your customers are also feeling or experiencing. Keep in mind that trends are not always happy and fun. They can also have other functions, such as informative, social awareness, and so on. For instance, October is a breast-cancer awareness month, and many marketers jump on the bandwagon and play their part to contribute to this trend. All brands on social media during this time tend to post pictures, videos, stories, collaborate with professionals, and indulge in corporate social responsibility activities.
5 essential skills for trend-based social media marketing
More and more customers are buying things and getting to know about brands through social media. Undoubtedly, social media marketing is one of the highest in popularity and success within the digital marketing landscape. According to Forbes, social media marketing skills can have a worth of up to $1.5 trillion by 2030. So, you must look into the number of essential skills that social media marketers need to craft successful trend-based marketing strategies.
Trend-spotting and research
In trend-based marketing, the most crucial thing is to identify and capitalize the short-span trends while they are still popular. It’s vital that marketers are ahead of the trends, identifying and capitalizing on them as soon as they emerge. Firstly, this requires a marketer to be social media savvy, so that they have ample knowledge of the various platforms and features such as “hashtags” and so on.
In addition to this, marketers can use tools like social listening and Google Trends to dive further into the market research and analysis for a much more apt marketing strategy. In fact, some of the highest-paying social media marketing jobs according to Forbes require solid research skills.
Some amazing tools and resources for social media trends research are:
- New publications and entertainment news outlets
- Social media tools like BrandsWatch
- Social media hashtags and trending features
Understanding and ensuring authenticity
To succeed at your well-paying social media marketing job or to effectively market your own brand and business, you must ensure content authenticity. One of the biggest challenges of trend-based social media marketing is that there is an overload of content, and an overwhelming number of competitors following the same trends. In order to stand out, there must be authenticity and uniqueness in your strategy.
More importantly, authenticity in your content is about building a brand image. When you ensure transparency, unique content, and consistent branding, your marketing strategy naturally becomes much more solid and effective. Your primary focus should be on building a lasting brand image that lasts longer than the ever-changing trends. To ensure authenticity in trend-based social media marketing, you must:
- Have good understanding of brand building
- Possess good storytelling skills
- Frequently monitor and adapt
Influencer collaboration
Influencers are the stars of social media. Without incorporating them in your social media marketing strategy, it might not be effective at all. From reviewing and promoting products to creating an engaging community, influencers can be game-changers for your social media marketing efforts. More importantly, most of the trends and viral content ideas are started by influencers.
However, influencer marketing is a separate domain altogether. For a successful marketing career, it is important to have a good understanding of different types of marketing and how you can leverage it to your benefit. This is one of the reasons why a professional degree in marketing is so fruitful. It exposes you to all kinds of marketing strategies and gives you an in-depth understanding of important aspects before you step into the professional world.
With the ability to manage influencer relationships and trends, the benefits are:
- Pick on emerging trends faster than others
- Long-term relationships with influencers for longer lasting benefits
- Allows easier and more unique creative content creation
Social media analytics
In any type of marketing strategy, analytics and data insights play a crucial role. Therefore, it goes without saying that having a deep understanding of social media analytics and data insights can help you create the most accurate marketing strategies. Fortunately, collecting data is not easy with many advanced tools and technology these days. In fact, apps like Instagram and Facebook have their own detailed insights that help marketers monitor the performance of their campaigns.
However, analyzing and understanding this data, and evaluating what went and what was good, is a crucial step. This skill and understanding may be developed over the years with experience, as well as learning from industry experts and through professional education. With ample data analytics skills, a social media marketer can:
- Craft long-term strategies
- Identify growth opportunities
- Ensure optimum budget expenditure
Video content creation
According to many marketing journals and surveys, video content is the new king. It is the cornerstone of social media marketing and popularity. Video content is the best for storytelling, immersive customer experience, and creating visually compelling brand messaging. Therefore, having adequate skill to create quality video content is a cornerstone for trend-based social media marketing.
In trends-based social media marketing, the goal is to create a visual impact and engage your audience. Therefore, a well crafted video concept with quality visuals paired with a well-written caption, you can achieve that goal more effectively. Platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok also favor video content and boost its visibility, ensuring your brand visibility is also increased.
Some of the core skills and abilities needed for video content creation are:
- Using quality graphics that truly captivate
- Identifying and using trendy music and audio that resonates with audience
- Using interactive elements in the video content
Wrapping it up
In conclusion, the social media marketing industry is highly competitive and will continue to be so. When it comes to trends-specific marketing, marketers must be ready to adapt, adopt, change, and quickly innovate. It can be challenging to stand out from the competition and maintain authenticity, which is why it is such a specialized task.
Moreover, data analytics and performance evaluation based on historic data is also a crucial step in successful trend-based social media marketing. From using third-party tools to in-app features, tech savviness sits at the core of successful social media marketing.
It’s highly advisable to stay atop of trends and industry changes by following industry leaders. Moreover, news publications and Google Trends are excellent for your constant learning and growth. You can also explore professional certifications and degrees to further improve your trends-based social media marketing skills and land better paying jobs.
