How to Find and Write About Trending Topics: Brand Playbook

The Ice Bucket Challenge, climate change, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, what do these three hot button topics have in common? They are all trending topics that have broken the internet or continue to remain at the top of social discussions.

As a brand, you can leverage trending content that’s important to your audience. But how do you know which trending topics to write about? And once you find them, you’ll want to know how to write about trending topics in a way that aligns with your industry and brand voice.

You know we’re about to spill the goods, so keep reading for the formula that’ll turn writing about trending topics into building a thriving audience. 

What are the benefits of writing about trending topics?

Before you can write about trending topics, you might want to know what’s in it for you as a brand. The latest trends can catch like wildfire one week and fizzle out the next. So why invest valuable resources into writing about topics that may or may not go the distance? 

As SEO strategists, digital marketers, and content writers, our goal is to create sustainable content strategies supported by evergreen content. 

But sometimes, if you catch a trend at the right time, you can accelerate results, like we did for our hair brand client, YA-MAN USA. 

The search data showed that the topic “how to avoid greasy hair” was on the rise. We wrote an SEO blog article targeting this niche but trending keyword. The results? Within the first month of our collaboration, the blog post went viral and unleashed a whopping 36% increase in revenue!

Here’s why writing about trending topics is so beneficial:

Builds Brand recognition

Every brand wants to be recognizable. Writing about trending topics helps you stay relevant and engaged in industry conversations. 

For example, let’s say you’re an interior designer and want to get your brand in front of new eyes. You could write content about celebrity decor trends or hop on the virality of Architectural Digest’s Open Door series by posting roundups of your favorite homes with tips for how your audience can adopt those styles into theirs. Dakota Johnson’s limes, anyone? 

Your Brand Could Go Viral

You know the scene: Suddenly, a video pops off about a house flip that guts the soul of a vintage home and leaves it sterile and white. Sticking with the same interior design theme, you could write an article about how to modernize homes without erasing their history.

Enhanced Visibility

Writing about trending topics makes your brand more visible online. In turn, you’ll drive more web traffic to your site, boost brand authority, and if you strike while the iron is hot, see mega engagement on social media.

Let’s face it: the conversations are already happening on viral content, so why not jump straight in when there are serious gains on the table? 

First step in learning how to write about trending topics? Finding them. Buckle up and follow me down the rabbit hole, friends.

Where to find trending topics: Our 5 Go-To Platforms

So many platforms, so much chatter, so little time. I can hear you groaning at the screen. Let me save you some time from trying to scour every single platform that exists. We’ve been writing about trending topics for over a decade, and these are our tried and trusted for finding trending topics:

1. X for Popular Topics with Active Engagement

X (formerly Twitter) is basically the birthplace of chat wars. It’s the platform where celebs get canceled and news breaks before actual news coverage. So if there is one place you’ll want to be to find current trending topics, it’s X.

Here’s how:

1. Click over to the Trending tab to see what hot topics are already dominating the platform. What can you add to the conversation? Aside from engaging in the comments, perhaps you can put together a blog post on the topic.
2. Search for topics in your industry. For example, if you’re a beauty brand, search for phrases like “beauty trends” or “beauty news.” The “Top” tab will show you posts with the most engagement. Look for conversations that relate to your brand offerings. 
3. Write a blog post or send out a newsletter on the topic. Check out this X from Evie Magazine. It compares beauty trends in the 1990s and 2000s to beauty trends now. If you work in the cosmetics or aesthetics industries, you could publish a blog post on this topic, adding your own expertise to the discussion about how beauty trends evolve over the years.

2. Google Trends for Search Engines Data

Want to find trending topics right now? Then head straight to Google Trends to see live search volume and get ideas to write about trending topics. Let’s pluck one from the list and see how a brand might use it to create a new article.

“Delta airlines flights canceled” is a current trending topic. As I write this article, there’s been a huge flight disruption due to CrowdStrike’s software outage.

If your business is in the travel industry, this is a perfect time to share how to bypass canceled flights, alternative modes of transportation, or general travel tips.

You can also see realtime data from the past 24 hours and look for topics relevant to your industry. Another travel brand opportunity? There was just a massive hydrothermal explosion from Yellowstone’s beloved geyser, Old Faithful. 

You could do a roundup of the best national park alternatives to Yellowstone or post stats on social media about natural eruptions. With a little creativity and brainstorming, the options are endless.

Still coming up short? Mining trending data and turning it into a click and conversion generating machine is our jam. Just peep our case studies.

3. Reddit for Real Opinions and Discourse

If you want unfiltered discourse and the realest opinions you can find online, head straight to Reddit. There, you’ll find trending topics and thousands of subreddits on virtually every topic that comes to mind.

A good first stop on your Reddit journey is r/popular, a feed for all of the most buzzing topics on Reddit. Of course, if you want to bypass political landmines, you can search by topics, like technology, pop culture, internet culture (viral), and more.

Internet Culture is where you’ll find the most viral topics spanning animals, satisfying threads, heartwarming content, and even cringe-worthy content. 

While we generally advocate you steer clear of political topics, we’ve seen a lot of brands hop on one of the latest trending topics right now:  the “pet eating” claims made by former president Donald Trump in the presidential debate. 

Here’s a trending topic in the r/politics thread:

Several different industries could hop on this topic and put a playful angle on it. A food brand could publish a roundup of the best alternative, affordable *pet-friendly* meals. A pet brand could share tips for protecting your pets from the neighbors.

But… and this is a big BUT:

If you want to write about trending topics involving political discourse, keep it lighthearted and non-aggressive. Don’t make any assertive claims, biases, or opinions about politicians or their policies (unless if that is important to your brand values and persona). 

As you go further down the Reddit rabbit hole, look for engaging content that provokes scintillating conversations. What can you add to the mix? As always, be respectful, considerate, and proceed with caution. 

And above all: only hop on trends that align with your industry, brand values, and mission. Otherwise, it’s just fluff that’ll do little to actually build an audience.

4. BuzzSumo for Trends, Topics, and Tools

You could scour each and every social media platform for the most popular trending topics. Or, you could head straight to BuzzSumo, a media platform that analyzes the most shared content across all platforms, outlets, and publications.

BuzzSumo’s Discovery feature shows you real-time trends on engaging topics and viral content. Then, it will recommend topic ideas for you. You can distill content to search the last fifteen minutes, or go back in time to have it analyze five years of data. 

Bottom line? You’ll never run out of ideas for content with BuzzSumo. But there is a cost to having a content marketing machine at your fingertips, and it starts at $199 a month.

If you plan to take advantage of all of its features, including its Content Analyzer, Trending Feeds, and Question Analyzer, it’s worth the investment.

But if you prefer a more grassroots, ear to the ground approach, use the other platforms I’ve shared.

5. TikTok for Breaking Trends and News

Gone are the days of multi-billion dollar media moguls owning the news. Well, not literally, they still own the networks, but news isn’t exclusively disseminated through network news channels anymore. Why? 

Because of a phenomenon called TikTok.

Now, millions of people across the globe deliver news, often quicker than traditional news. That’s not to suggest it’s quality reporting, but you get the point. Trends break first on TikTok, and the comments section, while it can be a digital bloodbath, often gives you access to the pulse of the general narrative.

Most importantly, TikTok is a great way to gauge audience interest on products, news, and trends. This can be invaluable data for your keyword research and content strategy, especially if you’re planning to publish conversational topics beyond SEO how-to’s and pillar posts (essential for SEO, but also sharing unique content will set your brand apart from competitors).

Alright, now that you know where to find them, consider these things as you master how to write about trending topics:

3 things to consider before writing about a trending topic

There are thousands of trending topics right now at your fingertips, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all worth your time or marketing dollars.

When scouring platforms for relevant topics, ask yourself three key questions:

1. Does it fit your brand?

I touched on this earlier, but it’s worth revisiting. You really only want to write about trending topics that align with your brand and, most importantly, your target audience. 

Imagine you sell organic cleaning supplies and a recent study published on the effects of microplastics on human health is trending. This is an ideal opportunity for your brand to discuss the topic and advocate for values important to your brand and your demographic. 

This would be a lot less relevant to a big box retailer selling primarily plastic products. Always read the room and think, how will this topic affect my audience? Because they will be the first to turn on you if you get it wrong. 

You can easily bypass this faux-pas by having a firm mission statement and sticking to it.

2. Why would you write about the topic?

As with any marketing campaign, it’s important to always understand the why. In this case: why do you want to join in on this topic? Asking yourself this question will help you bypass any potential impulse posts that don’t align with your brand. 

And ultimately, your why is going to fall into a few categories:

• To provide insight and gain brand authority: If the topic at hand relates specifically to your industry, then you may be the best person to not only join the discussion, but lead it with thought leadership content. 

For instance, if a popular musical artist was sued for copyright infringement, and you’re an entertainment copyright lawyer, you’d be able to provide insider points relevant to the case. That insight translates to recognition, authority, and trust from other perspective artists battling similar issues. Reading your tips might inspire them to contact you for legal defense, instead of your competitors.

• To entertain: It’s important to be intentional about the trending topics you participate in. But for many brands, entertaining their audience is the prime objective, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Just look at Duolingo’s TikTok account. The brand has amassed a mega 13+ million following by spilling tea, being absurd, and leaving deadpan, sometimes even instigating comments, proving that in some cases, your why can boil down to fanning the flames or being clever.

• To inspire change: We love dissecting beauty marketing case studies at Lyon Content. Strong social initiatives are a common thread across most of the beauty brands we examine. But you don’t want to throw together a half-baked attempt at advocacy, because people will see straight through it. 

35% of Gen Z shoppers support brands that advocate for political and social issues. If you want to inspire change, then you need to know what your brand cares about. Then when a trending topic goes viral that’s in your advocacy wheelhouse, you’ll be ready to clear your throat and phone in.

3. What’s your angle?

One of the key factors when learning how to write about trending topics is differentiating yourself from everyone else. There’s one problem with using trending topics as writing ideas: everyone wants to ride the hype.

This means there’s a lot of noise you’ll need to rise above to stand out from the sea of online voices. When you find a trending topic ripe for the picking, do some brainstorming to figure out what angle you can take that’s unique. 

If you notice competing brands publishing videos, could you instead put together a downloadable resource like a case study or white paper? Or dial it back and try out a comical meme or GIF. Get creative, take a unique angle, and that’ll increase our chances of virality.

Don’t Just Chase Trends, Set Them with Lyon Content

Learning how to write about trending topics is a great way to build brand recognition, get more eyeballs on your content, and scale your business. All it takes is one spaghetti noodle to stick to the wall to break the internet.

There’s no way to know exactly which topics will pop off at any given moment. But you don’t have to leave it to chance. You’ll significantly boost your chances by keeping your finger on the pulse of industry news and trends.

When in doubt, follow the data. That’s precisely what we do here at Lyon Content to craft viral content strategies and content writing ideas for our beauty, marketing, and lifestyle brand clients.

Ready to write about trending topics and generate serious buzz? You’ve got the match, we’ve got the fuel. Let’s ignite the fire! Get in touch today.