This week Beyoncé hit the headlines announcing her pregnancy via an elaborate photoshoot shared on her Instagram account letting fans, peers and the media know that she, and husband Jay Z, are expecting twins.

Within 24 hours, Queen B had broken Instagram records receiving 7.8m likes to her predecessor Selena Gomez’s 6.3m. So when it comes to twins and topical trends, why should you be interested?

If you’re an avid social media-ite like the Approach team, you’ll have spotted numerous parodies popping up over Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. See Myra from Hollyoaks celebrating in having a birthing buddy or Ellen DeGeneres joining in the floral fun.

Aside from providing the world with some much needed light entertainment (great timing from the Carters), here’s why you should be paying more attention to topical trends and how you can connect them to your brand or business.

 

What’s happening?

Fuelled by vats of coffee and Yorkshire Tea, a morning at APR towers isn’t complete without BBC news in the background, a full sweep of the local, regional and national newspapers, entertainment websites and a glance at what’s trending on Twitter.

Being on top of news helps us plan for clients and popular trends can (and should) influence content on social media. If ever you’ve wondered about the power of a hashtag – this is it.

Top tip

Glancing down a list of trending hashtags and topics on Twitter, it’s unlikely you’ll spot something directly connected to your company, which can make the idea of ‘jumping on a trend’ pretty overwhelming.

While you don’t have to work a la Hollyoaks and Ellen and photoshop your boss’ face onto Beyonce’s pregnant body (in fact, probably don’t), there are ways brands can join in the fun and use trends, hashtags and public interest to be noticed by a wider audience.

Take a look at cleverly worded and speedy photo editing skills from Denny’s Diner and Hostess Snacks (makers of Twinkies…twins/Twinkies, you see what they did?) for inspiration.

What can you do?

To be more on the ball with trending topics on social media, the first step is monitoring what other people are saying. Keep an eye on the trends and see how other accounts and brands are reacting – could you be doing something similar, or even better?

Dip your toe in by joining in with conversations and making concise comments on a topic using the hashtag to see your content reach a wider audience; remember, a subject is ‘trending’ due to the volume of interest, why miss an opportunity?

While you ponder the topical trends side of this blog, we’ll leave you with Beyonce’s full photoshoot; it’s Friday and you deserve a treat.

 

Image sourced from Pixabay