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Finding trends
I work as a social media assistant and was told to compile a list of current trends for clients in different industries. How can I find these? Less video focused, too. I’m thinking moreso pop culture memes right now (one example was that Hailey and justin Bieber outfit thing) please help I’m so stressed!
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1 Reply
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ooof thats a hard question to answer, to be honest you need to really be “online” to know what’s trending or not. It’s bleak but you really have to be on the pulse when it comes to memes and just be in the know with the younger generation (unfortunately that’s how memes get popularized haha) so imo, Twitter is a good place to start, just follow a ton of meme accounts that cater to the gen z audience if that’s the kind of audience you want to target.
I subscribe to Substack accounts that do well on trend reporting; “After School” by Casey Lewis and “Link in Bio” by Rachel Karten are good starts. And you have to really be on top of it, because trends and memes have super short lifespans and usually become “uncool” 2-5 weeks in. Like for example, the hailey/justin trend is already outdated; last I heard about it was in like… October so over eight months ago.
You also should be able to push back to your managers when you feel like something is already un-trendy, un-cool, and just irrelevant to the brand. Like brands inserting themselves into trends that make NO sense for them being there is actually super cringe and bad for brand image imo because generally, the audience will see right through that bullshit. So don’t be afraid to give it to them straight and tell them “NO” when they come up with a really stupid way to insert themselves into a trend.
Last thing, once brands start heavily jumping on to trends, that’s usually the signal that the meme is officially “un-cool” and dying in relevance. People like new things, when brands jump on a bandwagon so many times it just becomes overkill.
Anyways those are just my thoughts! I hate social media people/managers who think finding trends is easy-peasy and as simple as a google search, it’s hard work and involves a ton of time and research, so make sure you keep that in mind and don’t get discouraged/super stressed out. They should be paying you more for this!
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