back to top

When is a good time to join a social media trend?

September, 2022

It can be tempting to jump on a Twitter trend as soon as you spot it. Erica Jones, Account Director at Kent PR, marketing and public affairs agency Maxim explains why sometimes it’s better to wait.

At the time of writing, we’re approximately 14 hours into the latest random Twitter trend, to post a one-word tweet describing what an organisation does.

It began with American firm Amtrak:

And swiftly took off across the US, with the likes of The Washington Post,

Xbox,

President Biden,

And my favourite, Lake Superior,

all getting in on the action.

It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s a good exercise in saying what you do without having to conjure up an expensive publicity campaign (although for longevity of messaging, that is still the way to go).

When I stumbled across the trend around four hours ago my first thought was “quick, I must log into all Twitter accounts and post a one-word tweet”.

My second thought was “you’ve not finished your morning cuppa, take a moment to think about this”.

So I thought. And I decided not to join in. At least, not yet. And even when I did, I took it slow, testing the waters with a personal community account a couple of hours later, rather than gambling with a client’s followers. This had the benefit of helping to share the trend while also gauging local public reaction (mild but nothing negative).

Why delay?

The trend began at about 8pm in America. When I spotted it at just after 6am in Britain, it was doing well but still only really visible across the Atlantic, and while we may be a global community, I had to think how many of my clients’ followers will also follow any of the accounts listed above? By that I mean more than one of them, plus a few others, to fully appreciate what’s going on.

We live in a country that celebrates Ed Balls Day in recognition of the then MP’s accidental tweeting of his name when he meant to run a search.

Without context it would be very easy for followers to see Maxim tweet “communications” at 6am and think we’d done the same. If we advised similar for one of our clients, they wouldn’t be very happy if that’s the reaction the post generated.

Indeed, one national British organisation did join in the trend shortly before midnight, and the majority of their early replies are suggestions to avoid drunken tweeting. As the morning has worn on, a few of their followers have worked out what’s going on, but responses are still 50/50 in terms of taking the mick or appreciation. So what did that organisation do wrong? They joined in too soon.

We all want to be trend setters and benefit from the additional free publicity of a bit of social media fun, but sometimes it really is best to wait, see how the water lies and then join in when the likes of larger accounts such as Innocent and Warburtons have got in on the act.

It may sound like a cop out, but if a joke needs explaining, it’s not funny. The same goes for a Twitter trend.

Erica Jones - Account Director

Erica Jones

Maxim / Account Director

posted in: advice, social media,

we'd love to work with you

get in touch
tendentious-parliamentary