Trendjacking your way to the top!

Have you ever attempted trendjacking? 

Trendjacking has been a notion that has constantly been around in PR but with the arrival of social media, the reach of this has accelerated manifold. The type of astonishing outcomes that it delivers has made it a hot favourite with PR professionals. 

What’s Trendjacking? 

Trendjacking simply means taking advantage of a trending content and creating a buzzexploiting it. This notion first started building up impulse a many years after Twitter’s commencement in 2006. This was greatly driven by the hashtag attribute which allows social media freaks keep abreast of trends arising in real- time. 

Trendjacking can involve piggybacking on the occasion of movie releases, sporting occasions, specific days such as Valentine’s Day, carnivals, social issues being talked about, political events such as elections, burning news and so on. 

There are numerous ingenious ways of doing this. Here’s a awesome illustration of how Oreo cashed in on this. When the lights at the New Orleans Superdome went out during the 2013 Super Bowl, in just a few seconds people began tweeting#BlackoutBowl. Oreo was prompt to seize the moment and posted a real- time advertisement on Twitter which displayed Oreo cookie sitting in a dark area with the line, “You can still immerse in the dark.” Make sure that you stay well within the ethics of your brand while Trendjacking however. 

 How do you get Trend Jacking ideas? 

 • Google news search feature 

 • Twitter, Facebook, and other social media feeds 

.• Your local newspaper (online or paper) 

 • Entertainment news 

 • discussions at office or social circles 

 Begin with research 

Don’t hop on to the trending movement without investigation. Check the narrative behind the trend. Find where it began, the kind of passion connected to it, and if it has any essentials that could negatively affect your followers. 

 Here’s an occasion where Trendjacking went horribly wrong due to the absence of enough investigation. An UK- based celeb boutique spotted#Aurora was trending in 2012 on Twitter. They didn’t do enough investigation and hence were ignorant that this trend related to the terrible theatre firing in Aurora, Colorado where 12 people were killed. The boutique twittered supposing it related to the Kim Kardashian- inspired Aurora dress. The tweet generated a negative reaction. 

Make sure you’re relevant 

Trends change swiftly and you must make sure that you connect your brand to the trend at the correct time. Time is critical. Make sure that there’s a genuine connection between your brand and the subject; one must not get the feeling that this is impelled or not relevant. Act swiftly. 

Be original and creative 

 Originality and creativity not only help your brand get spotted, but they also help your brand message go viral. 

Entertain 

When you’re Trendjacking, make sure you have something that will intrigue your followership. This doesn’t inescapably mean that you have to be comical but for sure you need to have something that they will have continued interest in. 

Find a new angle 

A brand-new angle to an existing trend is important as this component of newness is what will attract the TG. Social media is always all about more and more new content and points of view.

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