The sad… and maybe not so sad – thing about online trends is that they change faster than a chameleon changes its skin to blend in with its environment.
But that is what trends help you to do anyways, they help you stand out by blending in.
Auntyronke
What do I mean?
Trends are the current craze and there always seems to be one trend uprooting another from its position at the trend table. By using trends, you get to stand out as a brand that is fully responsive to current happenings in your environment. It positions your brand as a caring and adaptive brand and this draws more customers to you.
However, while you want to be seen as a responsive brand, you also do not want to be that brand that jumps on every trend. That would be bad for your brand reputation and can pass across a message of being “everywhere.” That might not be good for business!
You want to properly examine a trend quickly enough to jump on it so you’re not late. There is really nothing worse than jumping on a trend after it has died down – it’s like attending a Yoruba party after the Jollof rice has been shared; there’s no point for you even being there!
There are basic questions you need to ask yourself before jumping on any trend. Questions like, is this trend relevant to your brand? Is this a one time trend or something you’ll have to keep up once you’ve begun? Is it something you can keep up?
For example, Black Friday is a trend and event that happens worldwide in the month of November where brands give out massive discounts on different items up for sale. If you decide to participate in the trend, you have to first check your resources to know if you can actually pull it off in a manner that will be favourable to your brand.
You also have to make sure that you are participating for the right reasons and not because you just want to follow a trend and ‘feel among’. Doing it for the wrong reasons will bring bad results for you and make you worse off than before. This is also why you have to have an end goal for your brand when participating in trends no matter what the goal is. Your goal might be more sales, more social media followership, more subscription to your email list etc
No matter what the goal is, you must have one. With a goal, you will easily be able to measure by whatever metric you choose and decide if the goal was actually achieved. With that in mind, you will also be able to decide if to keep participating in trends or desist, and the different types of trends you should take on or not.
Some trends are annual like Black Friday and some are transient like the random every day trends that flood Twitter. For example, the What I Ordered vs What I Got is another example of a trend that can be used to create good content for your audience because it never gets old.
Handpick the trends you follow and make them count always! Once you find the right trend for your brand, do well to tailor it to your own content and audience.
Always be ready to experiment in your business to find out what works and what doesn’t.
Which trends have you followed in the past?
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