#TrendingIsntEverything
When we hear about social media one word comes up in most stories; trending.
So, what is trending?
Trending is a tool used by social media platforms.
Most notably Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
It tracks how often certain hashtags, phrases, news stories, or videos are shared or posted about.
In the world of social media, trending topics are what is being talked about the most at a given time.
A common tendency among businesses upon learning how trending works is to continuously try and get involved in the conversation.
In many cases, this is detrimental to a corporate social media strategy.
But, why?
There are two main reasons that account for this:
- Trending topics are not necessarily relevant to your business and its values, and
- Trending topics change constantly
Social media can be an excellent community-building tool.
And being part of an ongoing conversation can be an excellent way of engaging with potential customers.
However, the problem lies in controversy or straying too far away from what your business deals with.
Being a company with a social conscience is great, but remember, taking a side on a controversial subject (say for example gun rights) runs the risk of not only alienating potential customers.
By the same token, it can just be unnecessary.
Nobody necessarily needs to know what your pet grooming business?s stance on abortion is.
It has nothing to do with what the business does and can be jarring to your followers.
A potentially positive example of this would be if animal testing was trending and your same pet grooming business uses products that are entirely free of animal testing.
This would be a way of engaging that promotes your products and shows your company to be socially responsible.
Change
By their nature trending topics change frequently.
If you are constantly chasing a conversation to be a part of its likely the consistency of your posts will suffer.
Trending matters when it matters to your business and your customers.
Trend-chasing leads to visitors struggling to get an idea of what your company is, what it does, and what matters to you.
It also leads to your company being perceived as doing everything possible to be hip and relevant.
But when this becomes too noticeable it comes off as desperation.
Perceived desperation is among the worst things for the exterior culture of your business projects.
So, remember, being a part of important conversations is great but:
#TrendingIsntEverything
