3 Steps for Brand Marketers to  Trend Jacking That Works

When it comes to digital marketing, the question isn’t if you should participate in trends, it’s which ones are worth jumping on. In a creator-led landscape and platforms like TikTok, where culture moves at lightning speed, trend-jacking can either elevate your brand into the spotlight or tank it with one misstep. 

So how do you know what’s worth riding, what’s already stale, and what will actually work for your brand?

This blog will guide you through a smarter, more strategic approach to trend-jacking, one that balances speed with brand alignment, culture with data, and short-term attention with long-term equity. Whether you’re managing a brand’s daily content calendar or shaping seasonal campaigns, trend selection is more than just spotting a viral audio. It’s about building cultural relevance without losing your brand’s focus and voice.

Step 1: Discover and Evaluate Potential Trends

Trends can be powerful tools for connection but only if they align with your audience and brand DNA. Here's how to spot them early and evaluate if they’re worth the ride. Trend-jacking only works if it’s both timely and relevant and that “too late” can often mean “too noisy.”

Monitor smarter:

• Use social listening tools like Sprout Social or TikTok Creative Center to spot rising formats, hashtags, and creator movements before they peak.

• Tap into cultural calendars! Think album drops like Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl”, award shows like the Oscars or MMFF, and sporting events like the Olympics or NBA Finals that can spark niche conversations tied to your brand. Don’t forget recurring moments like International Coffee Day (October 1), Pride Month (June), or 11.11 Sales. These trends are goldmines for moment marketing!

• Go beyond the “what” and ask “why” a trend resonates. For example, the viral Girl Dinner moment, it wasn’t just about food but it also reflected burnout, autonomy, and anti-perfectionism narratives that many brands could’ve built on.
  

Use a trend filter by answering these questions before acting:

1. Relevance: Is this connected to our brand’s mission or is it a random grab for attention?

2. Timing: Are we early enough for our version to feel fresh and not fatigued?Audience: Does this speak to our core demographic, or is it outside their bubble?

3. Risk: Are we stepping into a sensitive topic? Are we prepared to stand by our message?
   

Step 2: Plan Your Trend Integration 

Once you’ve vetted a trend, the next move is not to copy-paste what everyone else is doing… but to remix it with your brand’s voice. Here are some tips to do that:

Define your POV.

The same trend can hit differently when filtered through the right tone. What matters is how you show up in the conversation. Take the “deinfluencing” trend, where creators called out overhyped products. A luxury skincare brand might lean in by spotlighting minimalist routines and promoting science-backed transparency: “Not everything belongs in your shelfie.” Meanwhile, the “girl math” trend, originally about humorous justifications for spending, became fertile ground for financial brands. A fintech app could ride the trend with cheeky skits showing how “investing P500 today is basically free money in 5 years,” turning humour into a teachable moment. Even the “Hot Girl Walk” trend was reinterpreted by different brands: from beverage brands promoting hydration must-haves to podcast channels encouraging intentional movement as self-care.

Choose your platform and timing wisely.

Not every trend belongs everywhere. A meme-heavy trend might live best on TikTok, while a stat-backed commentary is better suited for LinkedIn. Use platform-native behavior to inform your content angle and don’t just wait for trends to land on your feed. Set a regular trend-spotting schedule, like weekly or bi-weekly check-ins, to proactively find emerging moments and plan ahead instead of reacting late.

Empower creators, don’t restrict them.

Trend-jacking works best when brands let creators interpret trends their way. Not every video needs your logo in the first second. Trust creators to keep it real, that’s why their audiences trust them in the first place. Take our work with Spotify’s Daylist campaign, where we tapped into the trend of hyper-personalized content through KOL TikTok videos showing oddly specific moods or routines. People then joined the trend by sharing their own mood-based playlists in relatable formats with no hard scripts. 

Or look at InLife’s Campaign, which trend-jacked the POV storytelling format popular among Gen Z. Creators used skits and casual monologues to give financial advice making insurance and money matters feel fresh and relevant.

“The most effective trend-jacking comes from understanding platform language and creator culture, because audiences can tell if you’re a tourist.”

Step 3: Execute Fast and Measure Smarter

Trend-jacking requires us to be fast but you should put in mind that success measurement shouldn’t be shallow. A great example of a campaign that mixes both? See how Spotify partnered with creators to drive platform-native, full-funnel campaigns that worked across TikTok and YouTube. By loosening the grip, brands gain traction that feels earned, not engineered.

Don’t just track impressions, in terms of metrics, track the impact.

• Did people share it organically?

• Did it drive profile visits, clicks, or conversions?

• Did it shift brand sentiment or spark meaningful conversation?
  

Check for emotional signals.It’s easy to get caught in views and likes. Through meaningful reactions such as DMs, stitches, shares with captions, these tell you whether your brand message landed because of the trend. Tools like sentiment analysis and UTM tracking will help you map attention to action.

Balance the reactive with the evergreen.Trends might win the moment, but your brand still needs consistency. Use trend content to spark discovery, and evergreen content to sustain loyalty.

Key Takeaway: Don’t cloutchase, trend smarter!

Here’s your 3-step takeaway to help you trend-jack with purpose:

1. Stay ready, not reactive. Set up listening tools and keep a bank of trends and content angles that resonates with your brand. Certain trends may also need tweaking based on your brand’s tone guidelines.
   

2. Be bold and on-brand. If it doesn’t align with your audience or values, skip it. One ‘right-fit’ trend is more valuable than five random ones.
   

3. Partner with influencers wisely. Let KOLs translate trends in their voice, not yours. You are aiming to earn engagement, not eye rolls! Trust the KOLs and know the right fit to do these trends for your brand.

Want your next campaign to ride the trend waves instead of drown in it? Download Near’s Influencer Trends Guide to spot trends that actually fit your brand and build influencer campaigns that convert.

Category: Social Media