Great power comes from listening to what consumers are talking about on social media outside of the brand conversation. Knowing what is going on in pop culture and being up to date on the latest trends can be a vital engagement push for any brand’s social media strategy, and has been a mainstay of brand social for the past few years. By doing this, the brand can also increase the chances of tapping into new audiences and getting your current audience to engage in those conversations that you tied your brand into. 

     The show The Last of Us, based on a popular video game, has been trending weekly as new episodes come out every Sunday. Arby’s saw this as an opportunity to create a post that would tap into that show’s audience without directly calling it out. The brand showed a great way of jumping on the trend while being subtle enough to avoid copyright issues.

     Take also Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour announcement: The internet went into a frenzy with conversations of excitement and how they were going to start saving to purchase the tickets. Multiple brands jumped on the conversation and joined the Beyhive on the topic of saving money for the concert. Some brands that also posted were Ritz Crackers, Footlocker, & even Teletubbies.

      Currently, the hot conversation is the supposed unspoken feud between Selena Gomez & Haley Bieber. Fans of the singer have rallied to uncover all of the “shady” actions that Haley Bieber has taken against Selena. People and even brands on the internet are taking sides and most seem to be #TeamSelena, like Whataburger. Others like Little Caesars are using the opportunity to reach new audiences but remain neutral.

These are just a few examples in the past few weeks. Clearly, there are many ways that brands can stay on top of cultural conversations and use them to their advantage. So question is, how will you engage?

 –Mariam Gonzalez