On common, YouTubers add 20 million movies every day, whereas Instagram customers place 66,000 visuals on that platform each minute.
A overwhelming majority of that content material slips by with little fanfare. However each every so often, one thing breaks by means of the barrage of trip images and dance clips to go completely viral. You realize a few of them properly: the model problem, sea shanties, “This Barbie is…”
Cultural moments like these hit the algorithm excellent, ricochet throughout the globe, and go away individuals speeding to get in on the development.
Manufacturers can faucet into these occasions—a tactic known as trendjacking— to seize the eye of latest individuals and develop their circle of affect at an unbelievable scale. However not all viral tendencies are created equal. Some can injury your model simply as shortly.
Let’s dig into the phenomenon of trendjacking, easy methods to leverage it for enterprise progress, and when it’s greatest to proceed with warning.
Contents
What’s trendjacking?
Trendjacking is the act of capitalizing on a viral cultural second. And the observe can take a number of kinds. In case your model…
- Reshares a trending meme (Suppose: “One doesn’t merely…”)
- Faucets your group to recreate a viral dance or efficiency problem (Suppose: Gangnam Model)
- Participates in a problem for charity (Suppose: the Ice Bucket Problem)
- Creates its personal model of a trending GPT picture (Suppose: the Studio Ghibli picture development)
- Shares content associated to a trending phrase (Suppose: “Very demure, very aware”)
…or in any other case creates content material that’s primarily based on an “of the second” web craze, congratulations, you’re trendjacking.
You might also attempt your hand at trendjacking’s shut cousin, newsjacking.
Whereas trendjacking trades in cultural cachet, newsjacking is the artwork of participating with a viral information second. After all, there’s a little bit of a grey space between the 2 techniques. For instance, commenting on the Sydney Sweeney “good denims/genes” advert marketing campaign is a little bit of each. However the essential element in both observe is the timeliness of the content material and commentary.
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Why attempt trendjacking?
On the web, consideration is foreign money. So, discovering artistic methods to attract consideration to your model pays dividends. That’s why many manufacturers wish to work trendjacking into their social media strategy.
Carried out proper, trendjacking may also help you:
- Get higher attain with out creating your individual virality: You journey the wave of a broader cultural second.
- Show your cultural bona fides: Companies in trend-based industries (style, magnificence, wellness, and many others.) get bonus factors for cultural fluency. Participating with a viral fad alerts you understand what’s up.
- Exhibit your character: Faucet right into a development that has a cheeky hyperlink to your model, and also you show your wit. Few issues make a brand more attractive than an excellent humorousness.
- Drive visitors: In case your contribution to the development takes off, you increase visitors to your social pages and web site. Hi there, new group of leads to nurture!
- Construct brand awareness: Even when these new followers aren’t prepared to purchase, it’s by no means unhealthy to have extra eyeballs in your model. They could purchase from you in six months, or their buddies would possibly wish to purchase at this time.
8 trendjacking dos and don’ts (with examples)
Simply because trendjacking can produce wins to your model doesn’t imply it’s all the time the appropriate alternative.
Some tendencies are too risqué for a model to take an opportunity on. Others merely aren’t the appropriate match for your model. And a few companies aren’t positioned to maneuver shortly sufficient to benefit from a viral second.
If you happen to’ve sat on the sidelines earlier than otherwise you’ve gotten concerned with out a lot success, these dos and don’ts may also help you assess future trendjacking alternatives and leverage them extra successfully.
Trendjacking dos
Need to get higher at figuring out worthy trendjacking moments and capitalizing on those with actual promise? Begin right here.
1. Do goal tendencies related to your trade
Whenever you see a development and suppose you would possibly wish to take part, begin by asking your self, “Does this make sense with my model’s focus?” If the reply is sure, you may proceed to additional analysis. If the reply is not any, save your self a while and cease proper right here.
Unsure what this appears like in observe? Let’s discover the query for some hypothetical manufacturers utilizing the sea shanty trend for example.
In early 2021, COVID was nonetheless limiting our lives considerably. Maybe as a result of being trapped at dwelling for 11 months straight felt somewhat like taking a protracted journey throughout the ocean, a Nineteenth-century sea shanty went fully viral on TikTok. What began as duets on the unique video quickly blossomed into sea shanty variations of latest songs. (Smash Mouth’s All Star as a sea shanty? Sure, that actually occurred.)
Think about you’re main advertising and marketing for your small business at the moment. You see the ocean shanty development taking off and suppose to your self, “Ought to we get in on this?”
Situation 1: You run a neighborhood CPA agency. Your model has nothing to do with the ocean. You don’t want to get entangled within the sea shanty development.
Situation 2: You use a restaurant with seafood on the menu. Certain, you may think about this development. (This instance was impressed by Arby’s, which discovered success creating a sea shanty TikTok about its fish sandwich.)
2. Do ask if this development issues to your audience
When you’ve assessed a development’s relevance to your trade, go somewhat deeper. Will your target audience care in case you submit one thing about it?
Take into consideration your viewers’s demographics, psychographics, and common demeanor. Will they get the reference? And in the event that they perceive it, will they care that you simply’re participating with it?
To proceed with the ocean shanty instance, Arby’s handed this check, too. Its audience, based on an interview with its VP of brand name and company communications, is youthful shoppers (aged 18-34) who “like to have enjoyable.”
An irreverent, purposefully cringe TikTok video? That’s an ideal match for this viewers.
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3. Do use associated hashtags
Trendjacking is all about capitalizing on a viral second to develop your attain. Including related hashtags to your content material can increase your distribution and place your model alongside fellow trendjackers.
On its fish sandwich video, Arby’s added some strategic hashtags employed on different trending sea shanty movies.
4. Do be artistic
A viral development goes stale shortly as a result of it’s, by definition, repetitive. There are solely so many sea shanty movies a TikToker can watch earlier than their eyes glaze over.
That’s why creativity is crucial for manufacturers making an attempt trendjacking. What distinctive spin are you able to placed on the development, and the way can it assist your content material stand out from the others?
That is additionally a possibility to indicate off your brand’s personality. Don’t be afraid to take a artistic threat inside the framework of the development.
Trendjacking don’ts
If you happen to’ve tried trendjacking prior to now with little success, these don’ts could be holding you again. Keep away from these frequent errors to get additional together with your viral-inspired content material.
5. Don’t chase unhealthy tendencies
Some tendencies aren’t an excellent match to your model. However different tendencies aren’t an excellent match for any model. Keep away from most of these tendencies in any respect prices:
- Imply or offensive tendencies: Customers don’t like manufacturers that punch down or are unnecessarily crass. If getting in on the development means being petty or gross, don’t do it. *The exception right here is manufacturers with an edgy voice. Grownup Swim, you may take part!
- Complicated tendencies: In case your advertising and marketing group doesn’t perceive the development, don’t do it. Which means the development is both: 1) Inscrutable to everybody (through which case, why hassle?), or 2) Doubtlessly hazardous. It’s possible you’ll be lacking a nefarious which means that resonates on some darkish aspect of the net.
- Hole tendencies: This one will be exhausting to gauge—who’d have thought we’d all nonetheless know the mannequin challenge almost a decade later? But when a development feels significantly vapid or fleeting, take a move.
DiGiorno needed to eat its phrases after leaping on the fallacious viral development.
6. Don’t trendjack too usually
Chasing each final development is exhausting to your group. You will have restricted bandwidth, so consider carefully earlier than leaping at a trendjacking alternative.
Not solely that, in case your model participates too often in viral moments, you grow to be a one-trick pony. Give your group the respiratory room to create significant content material and your viewers the house to be shocked and delighted once you do have interaction in a development.
7. Don’t take without end to submit
Viral tendencies transfer quick. A brand new meme, GIF, or problem could solely final every week or so earlier than it reaches peak saturation and fully sputters out. If you happen to consider trendjacking as present on a bell curve, you wish to get your content material out earlier than the height.
In case your inside approval course of means it’s going to take weeks to get your trendjacking content material revealed, sit this one out.
And in case you work in a extremely regulated trade the place compliance and authorized usually must opine in your advertising and marketing output, create a fast-track approval course of for trend-related posts prematurely. Then, when the appropriate development comes alongside, you’ve already created a pathway to your group to get content material out shortly.
8. Don’t assume success
As you attempt trendjacking, all the time maintain monitor of your content material’s outcomes. Which trendjacking posts transfer the needle to your model in significant methods (reshares, new follows, nice client suggestions, media mentions), and which fall flat?
As you proceed to play with trendjacking, you’ll see patterns emerge. Figuring out the weather of a trending second that resonate together with your viewers may also help you additional refine your trendjacking technique and drive higher social media success.
Attempt trendjacking for a giant increase in model consciousness
When completed efficiently, trendjacking is a confirmed tactic for gaining a ton of consideration, particularly on social media.
As you suppose by means of your first development hijacking journey, keep in mind these dos and don’ts:
- Do goal tendencies related to your trade
- Do ask if this development issues to your audience
- Do use relatable hashtags
- Do be artistic
- Don’t chase unhealthy tendencies
- Don’t trendjack too usually
- Don’t take without end to submit
- Don’t assume success
