{"id":17314,"date":"2023-10-25T12:48:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-25T16:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/?p=17314"},"modified":"2025-01-30T06:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T11:06:13","slug":"finding-the-latest-social-media-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/blog\/finding-the-latest-social-media-trends\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening the door &#8211; the key to finding the latest social media trends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As new and exciting subjects and memes gain popularity online, the social media <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/blog\/how-to-take-advantage-of-online-trends\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trends<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that guide marketers and digital strategies change as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social media marketers need to practice <a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/blog\/social-media-moderation-in-2024\/\">constant vigilance<\/a> when tracking these changes, and predict altered behavior ahead of time whenever possible. This is important for several reasons. Marketers need to know where and when to reach people, what media formats are resonating, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 understand the interests and communications styles that are likely to engage audiences on social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital trends can also be a great way to reach <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/guides\/personas-101-a-guide\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">personas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with niche interests, connecting with those audience members in a relatable way that builds trust and connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By building a social strategy that is flexible and allows for quick adoption of new content, marketers open themselves up to the power of online trends. Flexibility is important because trends can sometimes become cringy as quickly as they become popular, so marketers need to be adaptable and fast in order to make the most out of their trend following strategies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, by keeping track of and engaging with these trends, marketers maintain an\u00a0 edge in the saturated world of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/blog\/best-paid-social-ads-of-2023-so-far\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social media marketing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Trends circulate quickly online, allowing your content to spread far and wide, taking full advantage of algorithms and popular hashtags.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, how does one figure out what\u2019s trending, and more effectively, how does one see and understand what\u2019s going to trend in the near future?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use the right tools<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using tools can be a great way to stay on top of trends and decide which of them are a good opportunity for your brand. By harnessing the right online tools and monitoring them daily, marketers can make the most of their time on social media and create trending content.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Popular tools to track social media trends:\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a wide range of tools available to marketers in order to track social media trends, and many marketers are already using these tools for other aspects of their business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Google Trends:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17317\" src=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-300x244.png\" alt=\"Google Trends social media trend tracker\" width=\"600\" height=\"487\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-300x244.png 300w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-1024x832.png 1024w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-768x624.png 768w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-1536x1247.png 1536w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM-1568x1273.png 1568w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.10.42-PM.png 1692w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google Trends<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is one of the most famous tools for tracking online trends. It lets marketers easily track search trends from around the world, broken down by date range, location, category, search type, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Hootsuite:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17316\" src=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-300x172.png\" alt=\"Hootsuite social media trend tracker\" width=\"600\" height=\"344\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-300x172.png 300w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-1024x588.png 1024w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-768x441.png 768w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-1536x882.png 1536w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM-1568x900.png 1568w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.14.28-PM.png 1592w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hootsuite.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hootsuite<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is another popular digital marketing tool with trend monitoring capabilities. Hootsuite has a wide range of tools for marketers to search trends across several social platforms. It easily lets marketers monitor daily trends, following a wide range of topics and tags.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Feedly:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17315\" src=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-300x156.png\" alt=\"Feedly social media trend tracker\" width=\"600\" height=\"312\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-1024x532.png 1024w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-768x399.png 768w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-1536x799.png 1536w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-2048x1065.png 2048w, https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-10-at-3.15.17-PM-1568x815.png 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/feedly.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feedly<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a lesser known, but incredibly effective tool for tracking social media trends. This tool is best known as a news reader &#8211; letting marketers follow blogs and websites from their industry, but it also has social media capabilities that let marketers easily identify trending topics on social media. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feedly also identifies the topics creating the most conversation, providing marketers with the data they need to plan their upcoming social and content strategies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay in touch with your target audience\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond using tools to track digital trends, marketers should also follow trends by actively involving themselves in online communities relevant to the brands they service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s important that marketers actively use the social media they post on and that brands hire social media managers who understand audience demographics and behavior inside and out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By working with team members who are themselves social media users, marketers can better harness the mindset and attitudes of their target <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/insights\/guides\/personas-101-a-guide\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">persona<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, engaging with other users on social media lets marketers witness first hand new trends as they emerge and change over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Top 10 Social Media Apps By Monthly Active Users<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep in mind when planning your strategy where your target audience is likely to reside. Look at what social media sites are popular and which demographics are most likely to use them. For reference, here are the top ten most used social media platforms by global monthly active users according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/social-media\/biggest-social-media-sites\/#close\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search Engine Journal:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">YouTube<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WhatsApp<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TikTok<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Snapchat<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pinterest\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reddit<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">X (Twitter)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To see more from illumin, be sure to follow us on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/illuminHQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/illuminhq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where we share interesting news and insights from the worlds of ad tech and advertising.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/illuminHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-show-count=\"false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Follow @illuminHQ<\/a><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.linkedin.com\/in.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \u00a0 lang: en_US <\/script><script type=\"IN\/FollowCompany\" data-id=\"1189312\" data-counter=\"right\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"micro-cta-wrap pos-relative\"><div class=\"micro-cta-main radius-24 flex pos-relative\"><div class=\"micro-cta-image\"><figure class=\"micro-cta-thumb object-fit pos-relative\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/demo_CTA-2.png\" alt=\"micro-cta@2x\" title=\"\"><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"micro-cta-text pos-relative\"><span class=\"optional-text\">Made for marketers<\/span><div class=\"h3\">Learn how illumin unlocks the power of journey advertising for social media<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/illumin.com\/product\/request-a-demo\/\" class=\"button\">Get started!<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As new and exciting subjects and memes gain popularity online, the social media trends that guide marketers and digital strategies change as well.\u00a0\u00a0 Social media marketers need to practice constant vigilance when tracking these changes, and predict altered behavior ahead of time whenever possible. This is important for several reasons. Marketers need to know where [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-insights"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illumin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}