Tips on Tying in Trending topics: Stranger Things have happened
Good PR firms see a trend and latch on to it to bring attention to their organization or brand.
Staying close to the pulse of exploding trends can really pay off if you can figure out a way to cleverly leverage them.
Here are five steps you can take to predict and ride the wave of trends as they are landing in the minds of the masses.
Step 1: Know where to look for what’s trending.
Step 2: Ask what it is that you do, that can tie in to a particular trend?
Step 3: Identify a theme or well known occasion that connects your business with a specific trend, or sensation.
Step 4: Create something truly original, and become a trend setter yourself.
Step 5: #usehashtags
Step 1: Know where to look for what’s trending.
Besides mining social media and personal areas of interest, here are some great tools for finding what’s currently trending:
Google Trends
“Exploding Topics”
“SparkToro Trending”
FronPageMetrics
Feedly
Other tools include: Podcast Notes, Buzzsumo, Trends.co, Treendly, Trendwatchers, & Trendhunter. You can also study conference agendas, editorial calendars in your favorite publications,
In our case we saw a post in our Instagram feed announcing that season four of Stranger Things was getting ready to drop on Netflix on May 27th 2022.
Step 2: Ask what it is that you do, that can tie in to a particular trend?
Once you have identified a trend, turn the microscope back on your own enterprise and team to find connections, and opportunities.
In our case, we took a look at how the Stranger Things series news related to our company. A couple of years ago we were commissioned to create a gripping, suspenseful Stranger Things themed entertainment program for a high-profile private event. We, as a company, wanted to reprise this program complete with mind reading, magic, and a cinematic soundscape. To achieve this we posted images and copy about our program on social media to connect our program with the launch of the new season in the minds of our clients.
Step 3: Identify a theme or well known occasion that connects your business with a specific trend, or sensation.
In the case of Stranger Things, the holiday theme was the most pronounced as Halloween and Christmas (lights) are themes that run through all four seasons of the show.
We leveraged this by suggesting to our clients that the Stranger Things theme would be a perfect fit for corporate Halloween and holiday parties.
What connections can you find between what you’re up to and a trending topic of today?
Step 4: Combine the theme, the trend and what you do to create something truly original and unique about you.
You can advance the trend in your direction by combining all these elements into a newsworthy post or article that grabs attention or creates laughter.
In our case, we knew that there was no other female Mind Reading team offering a Stranger Things themed Mentalist Show. Given that this is the only program of its kind on the market, it naturally met that criteria.
Step 5: #usehashtags
We know that hashtags can increase engagement by 100% for individuals, and 50% for brands on Twitter. There is a science to using hashtags and this varies on different platforms, however experts agree, they play a huge role in the phenomenon of trending.
Don’t create your own hashtags when you are leveraging what your company does with a trend. Search your favorite social media platform for the most popular hashtags and use them.
Trends come and go, but now you know how to make the most of them before they’re gone. Ready? Set…Trend!
*Event Planner: Tiffany Klein, Rosecrest Events
*Photo credit: Susan Adler Photography