Stay On Trend: Peppermint’s Guide to Hot Topic Sources
One of the biggest problems a content curator faces and anyone working with social media is keeping in touch with what the hot topics are on the Internet right now. Everyone in social media knows that when you post about a trending topic, you’re more likely to likes, shares, retweets, favourites, pins and everything else you hope social media and its faithful fans will do for you.
Social media buffs know it isn’t easy to drive people to your site, or to get people to engage with posts. As we know, it is often a bit hit-and-miss and there are often some surprises. Most of us know that cute babies and animals of any kind are undisputed winners in the battle for audience engagement, but we can’t always rely on them, so Peppermint Spain dug out some of the top sites for you to bookmark and stay on trend.
Content marketing platform providers opentopic shares its insights into the company’s techniques for finding topics. As one of its content writers, Kiana Basu says: “Topics may be current global affairs, celebrity gossip, business news or a technology launch.” Basu also warns that the trending topics in your Twitter feed is not as useful as it looks, largely because if something is on that list then it’s already a mainstream topic. Finding less ‘popular trends’—to stay ahead of the game– will probably take a bit more work and specialist knowledge of your clients’ businesses. Use specialist publications to look for current trends and emerging ones.
Use Google Trends visualiser for a quick guide to what is trending in Google searches. And Google Trends Top Charts is pretty useful as well. For a marketing agency like Peppermint that is on the Costa del Sol and works in both English and Spanish, the Google Trends chart is great because we can look at what is trending in Spain as well as in the English-speaking world. In fact, you can search for trends in Dubai if you wish, and receive lists in English and Arabic. It’s not quite as up to date as the Google Trends Visualiser, but it is good to look back and see the patterns in trends – it gives you a good chance of making a trending topic prediction.
Peppermint has to recommend Buzzfeed for its ‘Trending Now’ lists and its ‘Top Posts This Week.” We know that Buzzfeed is lethally addictive; especially when you just happen to spot that one of the top trending topics right now is “How to make your IKEA stuff look expensive,” or “10 Things to Say in Meetings to make Yourself Sound More Intelligent.” At the time of writing Beyoncé is the No.1 trending topic, but that is often the case. We’ll all have to find ways to fit Beyoncé into our social media campaigns.
Bottlenose is an ideal tool for emerging trends. It identifies what is happening right now, whereas search engines index what has already happened. This company has a product for sale, but if you’ve got the kind of clients who need to be social media leaders, then this is worth paying for.
We don’t want to overload you with resources. It’s better to have a few good ones than spend too much time digging through loads. Just try not to stop on the Buzzfeed page for too long!
Contact Peppermint Spain if you need help with your social media. Email info@peppermintcreate.com or call Jade Thompson on (+34) 951 316 553