Virality Strategies
Leverage Trending Topics
Leveraging trending topics and hashtags involves incorporating popular and relevant hashtags and topics into social media content and marketing campaigns to increase visibility and engagement. By aligning with trending conversations and interests, brands can capitalize on existing online conversations to reach a broader audience and amplify their message.
OBJECTIVES
Increase visibility: Leveraging trending topics and hashtags allows brands to tap into existing online conversations and trends, increasing the visibility of their content and reaching a wider audience.
Enhance engagement: By participating in trending topics and conversations, brands can stimulate engagement and interaction with their audience, fostering connections and building relationships.
Boost brand awareness: Aligning with trending topics helps increase brand exposure and awareness among users who are actively engaged in relevant conversations and discussions.
Drive traffic and conversions: Engaging with trending topics can lead to increased website traffic, social media followers, and ultimately, conversions and sales as users are drawn to relevant and compelling content.
BENEFITS
Increased reach: Incorporating trending topics and hashtags expands the reach of social media content beyond the brand's existing followers, exposing the brand to new audiences and potential customers.
Relevance and timeliness: By staying current with trending topics, brands demonstrate their relevance and timeliness, positioning themselves as active participants in the online conversation.
Amplified visibility: Utilizing popular hashtags and topics increases the likelihood of content being discovered by users who are actively searching or browsing content related to those topics, leading to higher visibility and engagement.
Viral potential: Engaging with trending topics can increase the likelihood of content going viral as users share and engage with content that resonates with current cultural or news events.
CHALLENGES
Relevancy and authenticity: Brands must ensure that their participation in trending topics is relevant and authentic to avoid coming across as opportunistic or insincere.
Monitoring and timing: Identifying relevant trending topics and hashtags requires ongoing monitoring of social media platforms and news sources, as trends can change rapidly.
Brand alignment: Brands must carefully consider whether trending topics align with their brand values, identity, and target audience to avoid potential backlash or misalignment.
Overuse and saturation: Overusing trending topics or hashtags can lead to content appearing spammy or inauthentic, diluting the brand's message and reducing engagement.
EFFORT
6
Moderate effort required for ongoing monitoring, content creation, and engagement with trending topics and hashtags
VALUE
8
High value potential for increasing visibility, engagement, and brand awareness by aligning with popular and relevant conversations and trends
WORKS BEST WITH
B2B2C, B2C, SaaS, C2C
IMPLEMENTATION
Monitor trends: Use social media monitoring tools and platforms to stay updated on trending topics, hashtags, and conversations relevant to your industry, audience, and brand.
Identify opportunities: Identify opportunities to align your brand messaging, content, or campaigns with trending topics and hashtags that are relevant to your audience and objectives.
Create relevant content: Develop content that is timely, relevant, and authentic to the trending topic or hashtag, incorporating it into your social media posts, articles, videos, or other marketing materials.
Use hashtags strategically: Incorporate trending hashtags into your content to increase its visibility and discoverability by users who are actively searching or browsing content related to those topics.
Engage with the community: Participate in conversations around trending topics by engaging with users, sharing relevant content, and adding value to the discussion, rather than simply promoting your brand.
Monitor performance: Track the performance of your content and campaigns leveraging trending topics and hashtags, measuring metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions to evaluate effectiveness and optimize strategies.
HOW TO MEASURE
Reach: Measurement of the number of users who are exposed to your content or brand messaging leveraging trending topics and hashtags, indicating the extent of visibility and potential audience reach.
Engagement: Assessment of user interaction and involvement with your content, such as likes, comments, shares, or click-throughs, indicating the level of interest and resonance with the audience.
Conversion: Evaluation of the percentage of users who take a desired action, such as visiting your website, signing up for a newsletter, or making a purchase, as a result of engaging with content leveraging trending topics.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
Company: Oreo (B2C Food and Beverage Brand)
Implementation:
Oreo monitors social media platforms and news sources for trending topics and cultural moments relevant to its brand and audience, such as holidays, events, or viral memes.
When a relevant trending topic emerges, such as National Oreo Day or a popular meme featuring Oreo cookies, Oreo creates timely and engaging content that incorporates the trending theme.
Oreo leverages popular hashtags associated with the trending topic, such as #NationalOreoDay or #OreoChallenge, to increase the visibility and discoverability of its content among users interested in those topics.
Oreo's content may include social media posts, videos, or interactive challenges that encourage user participation and engagement with the brand, leveraging the trending topic as a conversation starter.
Oreo actively engages with its audience by responding to comments, sharing user-generated content, and fostering a sense of community around the shared love of Oreo cookies and the trending topic.
Oreo monitors the performance of its content leveraging trending topics, measuring metrics such as reach, engagement, and sentiment to evaluate effectiveness and inform future strategies.
Outcome:
Oreo's strategic use of trending topics and hashtags increases its visibility and engagement on social media, driving higher reach, impressions, and interactions with its content.
By aligning with popular cultural moments and conversations, Oreo maintains relevance and resonance with its audience, fostering brand loyalty and affinity among consumers.
Oreo's creative and timely content leveraging trending topics generates positive sentiment and word-of-mouth buzz, contributing to increased brand awareness and affinity among consumers.