How to Create Trend-Led / Viral Social Media Content That Actually Lands for Your Brand

Why Brands Struggle With Trending Content

When the brief is trending content.

It's a tricky one when brands ask for it. It sounds simple on paper, recreate the trend, edit and hit publish. It’s not as straightforward as that.

Here's why:

• A trend is a cultural moment, not every moment is relevant to your brand.

  You can’t shoehorn a trend, no matter how much you try. If it doesn’t feel authentic and ladders back to your overarching social strategy, it will feel off. Think of it like seeing meat next to the milk section in the supermarket. It fits but feels wrong. That’s what you’re doing.

  You need to ask:
  

  Does this link back to the brand?

  Does it genuinely link to the social strategy?

  Is it something our customers care about?

  If it doesn’t, it will feel awkward and impact your overall engagement and reach.

• Why and how trends start is misunderstood.

  They don’t magically appear overnight! They’re usually rooted in community, the algorithm tests the concepts, if it’s well received, it spreads beyond the immediate group in turn going viral.

  With a trend, you can easily pick up on the undertone of its roots. If you can’t link it back to your brand without forcing it, it’s not worth the effort. Sorry not sorry.

• Agile approval processes are a must!

  Trends move at the speed of sound. You need to press ‘post’ at peak stage, otherwise it feels cringe.

  To get this right, your approval process has to be lean and clean. If there are too many eyes, you get more opinions, more amends and miss the boat entirely.

• Reactive viral content is resource-intensive.

  If the team is already stacked, where will they find the time? These briefs put more pressure on teams, balls get dropped and content that drives value gets missed. If you’ve a lean team, you need to rethink your priorities. AND I’m not saying drop everything and focus on viral content BC that DOES NOT WORK. And ISN’T a STRATEGY.

I love this diagram from TikTok, it explains the science behind trends and wider cultural shifts we experience, like the need for IRL experiences.

It highlights how trends can happen in silos among micro communities. How some expand out due to relatability and some can lead to a behaviour shift.

The popularity of a trend is everything, and it’s led in the following way:

How it resonates with the community it comes from.
How easy is it to recreate?
Can an outsider ‘get it’?

All of this determines if a creator will take action.

How do I achieve trend-led content that lands for my brand?

1. Resource - having that open dialogue with my client for a quick 'approved'
2. Having a researcher who spends time analysing moments, knows when to spot them and knows when to pass.
3. Creatives who can drop tasks to pick them up.

Ultimately, the key is having good workflows and frameworks in place that will allow you to weave this into your wider output of content.

If you need help with this get in touch.