Sometimes, not every viral trend on social media is the right choice for a business, depending on what type of business you run and the brand voice it has. It’s always best for companies to evaluate trends before joining. Trends go viral because they’re fun, entertaining, and generally pretty easy to replicate. But sometimes they can get a bit out of hand and may not translate well with your business. Take a look at some of the key points below that should be kept in mind when trying to decide whether or not you should join a viral trend.
Does The Trend Align With Your Brand?
Viral trends can come in all different shapes and sizes. Does the latest trend align with your brand? It’s best to stick to trends that match well with your current branding. This is because your customers already recognized you from the current branding that you use. Changing it up may confuse or frustrate them. It’s best to stick with what works! For example, if you are an insurance agency, it may be better to pass on the more silly videos and stick with professional content. If you are a fun business that is geared towards families, fun and exciting content, like dance trends, may be a good idea for you to join!
Another way to determine if a trend aligns with your brand is to look at your content pillars and see where a trend can fit in. Content pillars are specific core topics or themes that your brand focuses their digital content on. Examples of this can be a gym that focuses on content relating to workouts, nutrition, and lifestyle. Trends showcasing fast food companies may not align well with any of these content pillars, meaning that it can be passed on for a future viral video.
Does The Trend Come Across as Offensive or Insensitive?
Any trends that use vulgar language may be best to pass on. There are few businesses that could make this work, like perhaps a bar intended for young people. If there are any trends that appear that make you think “can someone be hurt or offended by this?” then immediately disregard them and skip out on it.
Can You Come Up With An Idea Quickly?
When you have determined that a trend aligns with your branding, the next step is to come up with an idea that connects your business back to the trend. Most trends accompany some kind of written copy on the content itself. Sometimes the creative juices just aren’t flowing and it takes a while to come up with an idea. If it takes you more than half a day to figure out how to connect a trend back to your business, it probably means that this one is not for you.
The internet moves fast, sometimes it’s better to pass on a trend than be too late and your video flops. The way your content performs on social media can indicate to the algorithm whether your account is interesting to viewers. The better it performs the more likely you will appear on audience targeted pages like the For You Page on TikTok and the Explore page on Instagram.
Are You Okay With The Trend Changing Your Layout?
Sometimes trends feature low quality images or videos that stray from the current appearance of your business account’s profile. If your business has an Instagram account that strongly sticks to an aesthetic, perhaps a trend with a low quality image should be passed on. This point is more specific to business accounts that have grids, like Instagram. TikTok also features a post grid, but since it captures stills from the videos as the cover image, it is less expected for them to match an aesthetic.
If your business’ account does not follow a specific aesthetic, you can alter the trend to match your aesthetic, or you don’t mind the grid theme being altered, then join the trend!
Conclusion
Trends have a wide range of variety and they come and go faster than you realize! The points listed above are a good method to reference when deciding if viral trends align with your content.
Are you interested in creating a digital marketing presence that will deliver real results? Here at JBC, we love creating and delivering content that helps push your brand to the forefront. We can work with you to develop social media strategies and content creation that can help push your business’ online presence. Book a consultation with us so we can learn more about you and your business.
