Though “trending” is a term that can refer to whatever is currently popular in any medium, it is most closely associated with Twitter. The trending topics on Twitter play a large role in driving the conversation on the site, and in helping users sort through the more than 500 million daily tweets.
Being the focus of a Twitter trend can be extremely valuable to marketers, a fact which has led many companies to try creating trends. Relatively few succeed in cracking the coveted top 10.
How Trends Are Calculated
Trending topics on Twitter are largely determined by frequency: a high number of tweets within a short period of time that all mention a particular hashtag or phrase.
If a specific word or phrase is included in one million tweets spread evenly over the course of a year, it will likely never be considered a trending topic. However, if something gets mentioned 10,000 times in a single hour, it is much more likely to trend.
Theoretically, then, the trending topics are whatever is receiving the most mentions at that specific point in time. And that is what makes trends difficult to manufacture: it requires a lot of people tweeting the same hashtag at the same time.
Different Types of Trends
However, it is also important to understand that not everyone sees the same list of trends.
- Tailored trends incorporate a user’s location and the people they follow into the algorithm. The list of trending words will therefore represent both what is popular and what seems most relevant to that particular person.
- Location trends show what is popular within a specified geographic area, and ignores the tailoring algorithm. The geographical options range from the entire planet, to a specific country, to specific metro areas.
Using Trends
You don’t have to create a trend in order to make use of one. By simply joining a trend, you can get more visibility as people click on that hashtag and see your tweet.
If you do try to base a marketing campaign around starting a Twitter trend, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Give people a reason to tweet it. Make it a contest, for instance, with each tweet mentioning the hashtag serving as an entry in the contest.
- Make it time-specific, so that all of the tweets appear within a relatively short timeframe (such as a day, or just a few hours).
- Focus on just trending locally, particularly if you are a strictly local company.
- Have a champion. Most trends are started by (or gain necessary traction from) being tweeted by someone with a lot of followers.
Most importantly, have realistic expectations. If trending is your goal, you have a high probability of failure. But even if your trend does not appear on the Twitter sidebar, a good campaign can still boost awareness of and interest in your company, while helping you get more Twitter followers.
*Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
