How Your Business Can Leverage Trending Content on Instagram

Social media is a time-limited world. Trending content has the potential to reach a lot of people, so it's only natural that as soon as an interesting idea or topic starts to trend, different users and influencers would jump at the chance to share it and sort of make it their own.

Since trends come and go on Instagram, you should participate and leverage anything that seems popular now, because it may not last. If you have a good understanding of what will trend, you can quickly find ideas and topics before others do—giving you an advantage.

Let’s get right to it!

How to identify and search for trending content on Instagram

Searching for trends on social media sites is important and can be very easy if you know what you're looking for. Head over to Instagram for a variety of hashtags that are always trending under different categories, from #instalike to #picoftheday and #instadaily. You will always have something to post.

Below, we have outlined some of the best ways in which you can identify interactive and trending content:

• 1. Hashtags

  

  As we have discussed, one of the most effective ways to find trending content on Instagram is by using hashtags. The use of #tags on social media has helped users find and organize posts effectively so that anyone can come across them when searching for the hashtag.

  Discovering popular tags can help you find trending content and figure out how to make your own content resonate with others in the same category.

• 2. Business or influencer pages

  Always ensure you’re following business or creator pages that are bigger than yours and within your industry. Whenever something starts trending in your niche or field, check these pages to see if they are joining the trend.

  Some of them may even be so influential that they can drive the trend on their own - do you see why you should keep an eye on these pages?

• 3. The Explore tab

  It isn’t possible to discover all trending posts in one go because they vary based on the audience. This means that each Instagram user has access to different trending content.

  Some people only use the Explore tab, but others might go to a few other sections as well. Nonetheless, this tab is always one of the most popular parts of the app, so if you want to analyze trending posts with a lot of engagement, you need to explore the tab regularly.

  However, because the algorithm is based on what you interact with, the tab only works for content types you're following or posting on your page. You can only see what's popular for accounts similar to yours in terms of content interests.

• 4. Social listening tools

  You can use a variety of online tools to discover trending content through social listening. Platforms like Google Trends, Quora, and Reddit are all great examples of where one can observe and study conversations about products and services in an industry.

• 5. Twitter

  

  …AKA the best way to keep up with breaking news, trending content, and anything else with enough traction. Whether it’s a football game, election, or music concert, if it has enough hype, it’ll find its way on Twitter.

  By following the right people in your industry, you can be sure to hear about any news before it happens. You can also have important conversations with others on the topic, too.

  A lot of people use hashtags on their tweets - that makes it easier for you to find the content. You don't have to follow people with controversial views to see what's going on; you just need to scroll through the search section.

  Keep in mind that if a topic has a lot of hype on Twitter, it will also trend on Instagram.

Benefits of participating in Instagram trends

As with everything, businesses and creators need to adapt to the changing times. Brands that refuse to change will struggle as new trends arise and markets evolve.

Therefore, as a business owner or influencer in this era, you must follow current trends related to your industry or niche to stay competitive and relevant.

Oftentimes, businesses are unable to create any sort of engaging content. They need to work with creative marketers so they can understand the public and give them something they're interested in.

Following or creating trends can be difficult, but with the right understanding of your audience, you'll find a way to have an interactive voice.

As marketers, knowing the most popular topics that people are discussing online can help curate engaging and valuable content for a target audience, so it’s wise to stay on the pulse of what topics are gaining traction on Instagram.

Here are some of the main reasons that you should keep up to date with social media trends:

• Better business ideas. You can find numerous business ideas and product concepts hidden in trends.

• Business improvement. By joining in and following what's happening, you can find out which trends will work best for your business, and which won't. With this knowledge, you'll be able to improve your brand by better preparing for future trends.

• Higher engagement. Following trends is a great way to appeal to a large, new pool of targeted audiences. If you know how to craft your content properly, you’ll be able to engage with this group and grow your follower count.

Leveraging trending content on your Instagram page

Being successful with trends means you need a good understanding of both creating and following them. These are the two groups here (creators and followers), and it’s a looping cycle with at least one consumer or business on each side.

With every trending topic, you can always find relevant content for your audience. But not everything that's trending will suit your brand - you need to ask yourself a few questions to pick what works for your company.

• What type of content did you plan on creating as indicated in your marketing strategy?

• Is the trend in any way related to your business, niche, or industry?

• How long is the trend projected to last - will it be short or long-lived?

After your decision, the next step is to create content. You can best do this by considering what other people have done with the topic, and also by figuring out which type of content will work best for your audiences—such as a video clip or live streaming.

It can be challenging to come up with content ideas, but as you create more, it will become easier. The more you do it, the simpler it gets.

Remember to use the latest trending hashtags in your posts to make them more accessible to more audiences. Also, make sure you don’t confuse or trick your viewers in the process of trying to go viral on the Gram.