What Does Trending Mean? 

According to Thrive Hive, it describes what’s currently popular with the masses. There are two types, acute and long term. As their names suggest, acute Trending Topics gain popularity quickly but don’t last long, while long term trends build slower and last longer. 

Current trending topics can be breaking news headlines or current event articles. You can also find trending content on social media platforms. Free online tools can also help curate the latest news so you know what’s popular. 

What Does It Do?   

Trending topics represent hot topics right now. They become trending because a large amount of people are showing interest in it at the same time. By tapping into relevant topics, you become a part of the information spreading. This means that when people search the most talked about topics today, your business will come up as a source, therefore reaching people you may not have before. 

Think of this strategy as a form of organic marketing. Organic marketing attracts your customer naturally over time, rather than ‘artificially’ via paid links or boosted posts. In contrast to paid advertising, this option provides long term, continual growth.

How Do You Find What’s Trending

Inspiration

Wondering how to find trending topics? There’s plenty of places to look for inspiration. You can always check the latest trending news articles on sites like Medium, GetPocket, Buzzfeed, and Reddit. Their feed showcases a variety of high traffic articles. Grab a topic that inspires you and get creating!

Also, try catering posts to what’s popular in your business niche. Do this by checking major competitors’ websites or places that share information from business insiders. Another avenue to check is the social media accounts connected to the previously mentioned businesses. This can give you an idea of what people are interested in at the moment.

Free Tools

Additionally, there are tools for free online that can be great resources.

• Buzzsumo currates current event articles from different news sites. It also shows a trending score, engagement score, and different statistics from multiple social media sites. 
• Google Trends, perhaps one of the most widely used free business tools for finding trending content, show daily search trends as well as real time search trends. The most talked about subjects are listed, as well as relevant articles on the posts. 
• Trendsmap is a resource that looks a bit different than the previous two. The tool allows you to search a map and see what topics are trending anywhere in the world. You can also receive information from previous months, as well as set up alerts for any topic.
• Twitter also has a constant stream of current trending topics. Trends 24 organizes these trending hashtags by a few minutes ago, 1 hour ago, and 2 hours. “All day trending today” and “most happening trends” are two other ways the site organizes topics. 
• The last free tool for finding trending content is Linkedin’s Today’s news and views. With a LinkedIn account, you can access these trending headlines within the right hand column. 

Paid Tools

Paid tools are also a helpful option when figuring out how to find trending topics. With a subscription to Trend Hunter, you gain access to ideas, insights, trend reports, a newsletter, and books. NewsWhip Spike allows you to predict trends and performance from billions of sites, stories, and posts across the web and social. TrendSpottr is specifically great for B2B Markerter and PR Pros, while Content Studio is works well for general queries and provides AI-generated post captions. 

Don’t feel like going through a bunch of websites to stay updated on current event articles? Feedly helps you do this in less than 10 minutes a day by condensing free website information down to RSS for easier management. What’s RSS? It’s a web feed that translates websites into a standardized, computer-readable format. This allows you to keep track of many different websites within a single application. 

How To Utilize Trends

Now you know how to find what is trending, but what do you do with it? As a small business, it is integral that you have a website. Within this website, if you don’t already have it, you can set up a news or blog section. Here, you can post industry tips as well as relevant trending topics. Create quality content based on the hot topics right now. Be sure to incorporate SEO keywords to make your posts more searchable and accessible. You can also sign up for our FREE SEO guide for more information.

Social media can also help maximize your success as a small business. Not only does social media expand your brand voice and build your company’s credibility; it can also reach potential clients. Choose the applications best for your business and post consistently and often. Integrate the latest trending news and most talked about topics into your posting. Instead of SEO keywords, use applicable hashtags to reach new audiences. 

Where To Gain Exposure

We don’t need to explain why exposure is important; as a business owner you already understand that. Our job is to equip you with the tools you need to gain the exposure you seek as a small business. Make use of these strategies, and you’re sure to see results. Need help employing these tools effectively? Let us help! Reach out for a free estimate today.