by 
Kaimana Mau
Many project strategies that aim to attract people often contain a trend or angle which hooks audiences. The power of a trend can help influence market awareness and perceived conception of a particular organization or product. Creating a trend is not as simple as making a funny video. Many times trends are created through organic interactions online, the same way acronyms are created if enough people can agree on a common consensus. This might also include spotting arising trends before they go viral. Jumping on emerging trends may prove successful in getting a head start in some cases. Looking for arising trends on social platforms, it is important to look across social media platforms, influencers, and online activity. You can learn more about how to be on the lookout for upcoming trends here.
To create a successful trend, research what people are currently already interested in to find what is popular within that community. Looking at past trends, we can also look to find a patterns within successful trends. This could include the length of a video, if its easy to remember or is catchy, and relatability.
Step 1: Find a unique angle/topic
One of the best ways to create a trend nowadays is to look at something in a community and create a trend based off of it. Some ideas might include a challenge, a phrase, an activity, or something to try. Try to look at things with a new perspective and things that might have been overlooked in the first place. Finding a unique angle to start a trend is really valuable since you wouldn’t need to compete against someone else’s idea.
Step 2: Create engaging content
The type of trends that are most successful tends to engage the audience. This would look like them going out to try a new food challenge or hop onto a joke such as the ‘grimace shake.’ What might have been a trend created by accident, helped McDonald’s sales of their limited time purple drink to celebrate Grimace’s birthday. Engaging content will help the trend to spread even further as audiences would feel more captivated to engage and spread the trend.
Step 3: Spread the Word
One of the most important aspects of creating a great trend is to spread the word. This means making it stand out from the crowd and push it to the front. One example could be to create a new hashtag which relates to the trend. You can also post plenty of people participating in said, trend. The goal for this step is to make sure that it circulates throughout the community in order to get as many eyes on it as possible, hopefully reaching an audience that engages with it.
Step 4: Be Flexible
Something to be aware of is that your “idea” of how you wanted to portray your trend may not always go your way. This might be because the community takes it and makes it their own. Creating new ideas based off of it and changing it. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes leaning into it might show that your company pays attention to their audience and is therefore, more authentic.
