How to Navigate Trends as Part of Your Influencer Marketing Strategy 

“Get ready with me to…”, “Unpopular opinion:…”, “POV: you…” Consumers are sure to encounter a few of these phrases as they scroll their social feeds. Influencers have adopted a vernacular for speaking to audiences as part of the development of social trends, but with that vernacular may come high saturation and trend fatigue.

In the sea of sameness, how can a brand’s influencer content stand out? How does a brand know whether a trend is worthy of entering via its influencer partners, or if doing so will backfire?

Brands must know how to ride the trend wave without losing authenticity or instigating fatigue, especially within verticals like beauty, skincare, apparel and retail where this trend vernacular is the most prevalent. So how can brands capture their audience without prompting them to scroll? At FleishmanHillard we help brands break through the noise with creativity and precision.

Timing is everything

There is a sweet spot for hitting the right trends for your brand at the right time. Activate a trend too early and audiences aren’t ready and engaged but activate too late and it can come off as just another play with the trend already cycling its way out of the social conversation. It’s about moving at the speed of culture and activating the right trends to ensure brand relevance with the target audience.

It’s also important to note the difference between macro culture signals, which are larger movements based in cultural truths, and micro “of the moment” social trends, which are manifestations of the macro culture signals that cycle in and out of social conversation. Using tools to understand what your audience cares about from a macro level will help to uncover which related social trends are most relevant to jump into, at the right time.

Ground social-first programming in user behavior and audience data

Combining culture-forward content and engagement strategies with search and creator trends is key, but this is made more impactful with data. Ground your influencer programming in user behavior and leverage the precision of audience data to drive the most impact. FleishmanHillard uses a proprietary methodology to ensure an influencer’s audience aligns with the target audience we’re looking to reach.

Keep creativity at the center

Brief for authenticity. Brief your partners to not fall into the trap of worrying about keeping up with what’s trending and instead have them focus on what’s authentic to them, their content and their audience. In doing so, brands should insert themselves seamlessly into an influencer’s creative without contributing to a trend that’s perpetuating product or vernacular fatigue.

If brands encounter a social trend that is related to a piece of IP that is owned by an influencer or creator, such as a dance, sound or phrase, it’s important to be sure not to capitalize on or exploit their creativity. Instead, provided the source’s audiences align with the brand’s, consider going directly to them for a partnership.

FleishmanHillard operates at the intersection of culture, behavior and platform capabilities, marrying cultural trends, audience insights and influencer best practices to drive impact. By keeping creativity at the forefront with the precision on how, where and when to activate social trends within influencer content, brands can successfully navigate how to authentically activate trends and beat the scroll.