Trendjacking — 6 Ways to Spot and Capitalize on Emerging Social Media Trends Want to go viral and boost your brand's visibility? Learn how to spot emerging trends early, create original content that resonates and master the art of trendjacking to drive massive engagement on social media.

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Currently, 84% of all consumers check out a brand's social media page before making a purchase, resulting in about 20% of all sales coming directly through links from social media. For this reason, entrepreneurs often prioritize getting as much visibility on social media as possible. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is by creating viral content and taking advantage of emerging trends.

The challenge with trends is that they only create a very short window of opportunity, lasting just a few days or weeks. These trends can be difficult to spot when they are just warming up. Most brands that try to capitalize on trends do so when the trend is fizzling out and don't get the most benefit. Companies that can jump on the leading edge of a trend can significantly improve their ability to be prioritized by the social media platform's algorithm and gain massive momentum from going viral. This can result in thousands, if not millions, of additional views to your post or social media profile. A single viral post can completely change the trajectory of your business's long-term success.

Related: What Are the Next Big Trends in Social Media Content?

1. Leverage social listening

Catching the beginning of a new trend can be challenging. While these trends appear to come out of nowhere, they often start with subtle rumblings across social media. Leveraging a social listening strategy can help your company identify topics or terms that are becoming increasingly popular across social media and online forums. By recognizing these early indicators, you can more accurately predict what themes are primed to explode across social media. There are numerous social listening tools that companies can use to quickly and effectively analyze online discussions to spot potential trends.

You also want to pay attention to what's happening in pop culture or with industry leaders. Influencers and industry leaders in the space can often stimulate widespread discussions of a specific topic, especially when they are controversial. When they speak, people listen.

2. Copy the trend, but be original

One of the biggest challenges with social media today is that brands prioritize participating in a trend over the quality of their content. Because trends don't last long, many companies sacrifice creativity in exchange for speed. This often results in boring replicas of posts made by other creators. While you might get some additional traffic from joining the trend, social media users are more likely to scroll past your post if it's just a regurgitation of thousands of other similar posts. Instead, focus on bringing a fresh take on the trend to your brand and tailor it to your specific target audience. This will improve the chances of your post going viral.

3. Understand the trend and align with your brand

Many trends come with an underlying cultural meaning for very specific demographics. For this reason, it's important to understand the context of a trend. Misinterpreting a trend can lead to major PR issues and damage your brand's reputation. It's best to try and avoid sensitive or controversial topics unless you feel confident navigating these waters. It's always best to err on the side of caution rather than risk damaging your brand reputation by posting something that creates negative publicity.

Not every trend is a good fit for your brand. It's best not to force it. If a trend doesn't align with your overall brand strategy, it might be better to let it pass and look for the next opportunity.

Related: Capitalize on Trends But Stand Firm on Your Identity

4. Platform-specific design

Each social media platform is different. Identifying a trend will only get you so far. You'll need to make sure you craft content that is appealing to the type of audience on that specific social media platform. For example, Instagram tends to favor video and visual content, while success on Twitter may rely more on a solid hashtag strategy. You may need to customize your social media posts for each platform individually.

5. Use hashtags thoughtfully

Hashtags are a great way to tie your social media posts to trending topics. However, you want to be thoughtful about how you use hashtags. Using hashtags that are not relevant to your post can cause your social media account to be penalized by some social media algorithms. In addition, adding a bunch of irrelevant hashtags can make your post appear spammy to end users.

6. Know when to call it quits

Trends can disappear just as quickly as they emerge. While you do want to jump aggressively on trends that you want to pursue, you also need to know when it's time to move on. Continuing to post on trends that have passed can make your brand appear out of touch or outdated. In many cases, it may be best to remove old trend-inspired posts once the traffic begins to taper off, as it might cause more harm than good keeping them up.

Related: What Small Businesses Can Learn from Yelp's Trend Tracker

Trendjacking has the potential to create online success for any small business if done correctly. This can be a very challenging strategy to master. A study by Stanford University found that the probability of a social media post going viral is one in a million, so don't feel discouraged if your first attempts don't launch your brand into the stratosphere. Don't be afraid to experiment with different approaches and find out what works best for your business.