Regardless of your age, you’ve probably been exposed to the full spectrum of social media trends.
The stupid pranks.
The obnoxious dances.
Are you old enough to remember planking?
We’ve all had fun with these trends, and we’ve all rolled our eyes at more than a few.
But for brands looking for more digital marketing exposure, these trends represent an excellent opportunity. At least, they seem to on the surface.
With brand trend jumping, you can maximize the visibility of your brand online, increase your link building potential, and increase your appeal with your target customers.
…but the keyword here is “can.” Because as we’ll see, it’s far from a guarantee.
Contents
What Is Brand Trend Jumping?
Brand trend jumping is exactly what it sounds like. It’s when a brand attempts to hijack or participate in some trend on social media. The nature of that trend doesn’t really matter; it might be a meme going viral, a trending hashtag, a trending topic, or some more engaging form of content, like a challenge to raise awareness of some uncommon issue.
What’s important is that the brand deliberately orchestrates an effort, usually via social media, to capitalize on this new concept or idea. Typically, this is done through the main brand account, but it can also be facilitated by personal brands of people affiliated with the company.
The High-Level View
Roughly 40 percent of consumers condone brand trend jumping, while one-third of consumers feel it’s “embarrassing.”
That should tell you a lot about the spectrum of possibilities associated with brand trend jumping. If it goes well, you can expect your brand to be celebrated and praised, with significantly increased visibility.
But if it goes poorly, your own customers might see your content and feel the same secondhand embarrassment they might feel watching a cringe comedy series.
What creates this distinction and how can you make sure you end up on the right side of the equation?
The Potential Benefits of Brand Trend Jumping
There are many ways that brand trend jumping can work in your favor.
- Buzz and visibility. First and foremost, capitalizing on a surging trend is a great way for your brand to get extra visibility, regardless of how many followers you currently have. Trending topics are new and exciting, and they tend to end up in newsfeeds everywhere. If you’re successful, you might be able to introduce your brand to literally millions of new people, and even if you don’t achieve that level of virality, you should at least be successful putting your brand top of mind with your most loyal followers. This can also be a great way to earn high-authority backlinks, at least in the long term; it’s rare that social media trends provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate thought leadership, but the extra visibility can draw attention to your brand and help people discover your other, more substantive content. Plus, people might link to your social media posts.
- Demographic appeal. Depending on your target demographics, involving yourself in social media trends could be a great way to connect with your audience. If you’re trying to sell equipment to middle-aged business owners, maybe trend jumping isn’t for you. But if you’re trying to sell novelties to teenagers, brand trend jumping might as well be a practical necessity. The more active your demographics are on social media, and the more they care about staying current, the more likely it is that brand trend jumping will work in your favor.
- Personal connection and memorability. Participating in a social media trend can make your brand more memorable and provide opportunities for more personal connections. This is especially true if there’s something unique about how you’re participating. For example, if you make a unique, colorful video as part of a trend that’s meaningful to some of your audience members, it might cement your brand in their brain forever.
- A showcase of values. Sometimes, joining a trend is a way to showcase your brand values. For example, there are many social media trends designed to raise awareness of important social causes or demonstrate a commitment to certain principles. Standing in solidarity with other trend participants could illustrate your company as more ethical, more respectable, or otherwise more in line with the values of your customers.
- Competitive differentiation. For some brands, trend jumping is a fun way to differentiate your business from those of your competitors. If your rivals don’t pay much attention to social media trends, this might be your way to get an edge over them.
The Risks of Brand Trend Jumping
Of course, there are some risks associated with brand trend jumping.
If you’re not careful, it could actually work against you.
- Misuse. One of the most common problems here is misusing or misinterpreting the trend. If you don’t know the meaning of a new slang term or piece of lingo, you could end up embarrassing yourself by misusing it. If you don’t fully understand the trend but you try to participate anyway, you could reveal your own ignorance and actively hurt your brand reputation. The stakes can be very high here. For example, about a decade ago, pizza brand DiGiorno made a critical mistake concerning the hashtag #WhyIStayed; instead of expressing empathy or solidarity for domestic abuse survivors, DiGiorno inadvertently made a mockery of the subject.
- Mistiming. Timing issues can also work against you. Unless you have psychic powers, you won’t be physically capable of joining a social media trend too early. But it’s very possible to join a trend too late. If you’re even a few days late to the party, your brand could end up looking out of touch or desperate to win over an audience you don’t truly understand.
- Inauthenticity. Similarly, most people understand that brands on social media are primarily trying to get more attention so that they can sell more products and services. If they even detect a hint of inauthenticity or insincerity in your content, they might unfollow you or block you. If you’re going to participate in a trend, it needs to be because you genuinely like it or appreciate something about it; if this is just a cynical attempt to take advantage of a visibility opportunity, most followers are going to see through it.
- Killing the trend. You know how kids suddenly stop using slang terms when their parents pick them up? Yeah, that can happen here too. If your brand already has the reputation of being impersonally corporate, out of touch, or old, you might actually kill the trend by trying to participate in it. Ouch.
- Demographic mismatch. Different types of trends appeal to different demographic segments on social media. If your brand engages in a trend for an audience not aligned with your brand, you might win followers, but they won’t necessarily be relevant to your digital marketing strategy. In fact, this might even distance you from the people you need the most.
- Brand tone discrepancies. And of course, not every trend is going to align with the tone, voice, and overall image of your brand. Some trends are meant to be silly, goofy, and irreverently fun. If your brand is supposed to be luxurious, professional, and serious, you might wreck your entire brand image by chasing after those trends. Consider which trends you engage with seriously.
Key Considerations Before Brand Trend Jumping
Brand trend jumping can work in your favor, but you need to go in with a strategy that accounts for at least the following:
- Brand voice and image. Before anything else, you need to feel confident in your brand voice and image. Does this trend align with the core characteristics of your brand? Does it seem to align with your brand values? Is it going to conflict with or contradict anything about your brand in the rest of your digital marketing efforts?
- Knowledge of the trend. Make absolutely sure you know exactly what this trend is and why people are enjoying it. Never use a hashtag you don’t confidently understand. Never half-ass an attempt to jump on the bandwagon. If you aren’t perfectly in line with what other people are doing, you’re going to stick out – and not in a good way.
- Demographic compatibility. Think about your target audience and what types of trends they’re engaging with. You might be capable of going super viral and getting your brand in front of millions of people, but if those people are extremely unlikely to buy your products and services, what’s the point? Put your own customers and prospects first.
- Creative presentation. Novelty does matter. Doing something creative and original with a trend, even if it’s something simple like landing an excellent punch line, can instantly make your brand more visible and memorable. Brainstorm something that no one else has done yet.
- Compliance with norms. At the same time, it’s important to comply with whatever norms have been established for this trend. If you color too far outside the lines, you could end up doing your brand a disservice.
- Timing. Timing is everything when it comes to brand trend jumping. Like we already established, if you’re even a few days late to the trend, you could damage your brand more than helping it by trying to engage with it. Ideally, you’ll be able to turn out a piece of content in line with the trend within 24 hours of noticing it. This also requires you to pay close attention to social media, so you can pick up on emerging trends before they skyrocket in popularity. Inevitably, social media trends end with a cacophony of brands trying desperately to fit in with the cool kids. If you want to succeed, you need to beat them to the punch.
- Authenticity. Authenticity is a bit of a nebulous concept, but believe us when we tell you that your users can detect it. You need to present your trend participation in a way that’s genuinely believable to your audience, or else you’re only going to embarrass yourself. Only move forward with a trend if you have a real, sincere connection to it.
- Consistency of participation. Only participate in trends if it falls in line with the rest of your social media strategy. Occasionally cashing in on trends while you typically post about relatively serious matters is going to cause dissonance among your followers.
Listen.
Brand trend jumping isn’t the right move for every company.
And even if it is a hypothetically good move, you need to be careful about how you handle it.
That’s why it pays to work with a team of experienced digital marketing experts, who can help you walk the fine line between “based” and “cringe,” and maximize the visibility your brand can get online.
Are you ready to get started? Contact us today!
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