How to Find Trending Topics on Popular Platforms

Content marketing is a great way to grow a business. That said, maintaining a consistent flow of high-quality content can be challenging. No matter how creative you are, eventually, you will run out of ideas to use for your content.

One of the most effective ways to find new ideas is to check online trends. Trending topics have the public's current interest and can be a valuable source of quality traffic.

In this post, we will examine how to find trending blog topics using a variety of online platforms.

How to find trending topics using Google Trends

Google Trends is an online tool used to gather insights on search terms used on the Google search engine.

It provides real-time data for current search trends as recent as the past hour going all the way back to 2004. This data is presented as a metric called interest over time.

Interest over time is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 with a score of 100 representing the highest interest for the term over the time period specified in the search.

With Google Trends, you can search for specific topics and filter the results based on geographic location to quickly learn about the keywords most relevant to your business.

Google Trends also provides useful visualizations to make the data easy to digest and you can review multiple terms at once to analyze them side by side.

To get a quick overview of the top trending subjects, you can view Google’s daily search trends page.

How to use trending topics from Google Trends in your content strategy

Content timing

Creating a content calendar is an important part of building a content strategy. It helps you strategize your articles, enabling you to post the best types of pieces at the right time.

With Google Trends, you can see when certain topics have the most interest.

To do so, you need to set the time window to the past day or past 7 days. You can then view the interest for each hour of the day.

You can expand on this data by using a custom time range. This will let you set a 7-day window for any prior week. With this information, you can analyze prior periods to pick up on consistent trends.

Check keyword research against Google trends

Google Trends is useful for cross-referencing the keyword research you perform with other keyword research tools.

Solutions such as Ahrefs and SEMRush provide tons of data but it is not always easy to tell if interest in a topic is trending up or down.

Google Trends gives you trending data to pair with the monthly search volume and difficulty metrics that you pull from other tools.

With the Related topics and Related queries sections, you can quickly find similar terms and see their directional data.

Topic clustering

Google Trends makes it easy to identify subjects to include in a topic cluster strategy.

When you enter a search, each topic also lists related topics. These insights help you discover the relationship between topics.

You can refine your searches even more by using the category filter.

To do so, enter a search with the category filter then delete the search term you used to get a list of top current trending topics for that category.

How to find trending topics on YouTube

It should come as no surprise that YouTube is a great place to find hot topics to include in your content strategy.

The platform is one of the most visited sharing sites and it is also a popular search engine. There are plenty of current events and the latest viral topics that quickly gain interest across the web.

To find trending ideas on YouTube, you can visit the YouTube trending page. This distinct section of the YouTube platform shows trending videos across a variety of the platform’s categories.

The content is segmented by country and ranked according to popularity. There are additional subsections for music, gaming, and movies.

The page is updated every 15 minutes so you can be sure that all the trending videos are fresh.

Check comments and hashtags

Another way to find trending topics on YouTube is to explore the comments in videos.

You will have to sift through some nonsense and some toxic remarks, but this is a unique way to see how people in your audience feel about a particular topic.

Like other social media platforms, YouTube implements hashtags for linking and cross-referencing content.

The words and phrases used in hashtags are a good way to find other trending videos.

When you click one of these links, YouTube will take you to a list of related content. YouTube has done the work to sort the videos based on quality and popularity, so the best-related ideas will be easy to find.

Use YouTube trends to create more thorough content

You can use the trends you find in YouTube videos to create a written and more detailed piece of content around the topics.

Many videos don’t cover topics from every angle so it is easy to create a unique piece that still provides value to the reader.

Once you find some interesting trending topics on YouTube, you can conduct further keyword research to determine how to best position your posts to generate SEO traffic.

How to find trending topics on Twitter

Twitter is known for always having tons of shifting trends across the platform.

There are broad trends and current events for all users as well as those tailored to your feed based on your interests.

You can find a list of trending topics by using the Explore page.

The main “For You” tab shows posts based on the platform’s algorithm and your interests. You can personalize this page to narrow your feed by setting preferences based on geographics or specific subjects.

Another way to find relevant trends is to use the “Trending” tab of the Explore page. This will show the topics trending the most on the platform.

Different topics are listed and ranked based on current engagement. For each topic, there are a few posts and you can click the topic to go to a curated list of similar posts.

Use Twitter trends to understand audience sentiments

Twitter trends can be used to understand audience sentiment around certain topics.

You can monitor what others are saying about a subject in real-time and then create content that matches their perspective.

How to find trending topics on Instagram

Instagram is a highly popular social media platform, boasting over one billion monthly users.

Trends grow quickly on the platform as companies and influencers look to capitalize on the interest by posting related content to tap into the interest.

Like Twitter, Instagram has an Explore feature that makes it easy to find trends. When you click the Explore icon, Instagram takes you to a page of highly viewed content.

The selections are based on your personal interests and the type of material you have interacted with in the past.

Hashtags are also a key part of discovering content on Instagram. People can even follow their favorite hashtags to have those types of posts automatically appear in their feeds.

When you find interesting trends, take note of all the hashtags that the various publishers use. You can use these tags to attract the right people to your own content.

Use Instagram trends to grow your brand

As a visual platform, Instagram and the trends you find on the platform are a great way to drive a unique type of targeted traffic to your site.

After you’ve created your blog content, you can share the posts on Instagram to leverage the platform’s user base.

You can boost engagement and visibility further by setting up an Instagram feed on your website.

This will make your social profile easily accessible to people who arrive on your site through other channels.

How to find trending topics on Facebook

Facebook uses a variety of factors to decide what’s trending. This includes engagement, timeliness, and location

A way to find trends on Facebook is to use the hot topics list in the Business IQ dashboard.

On this page, Facebook provides the most popular topics in a variety of categories including entertainment, food and drink, sports, and people and creativity.

“Hot topics” are those that have doubled in volume over the previous month.

Another way to find trending topics on Facebook is to search for popular posts posted on Facebook. Popularity is measured by the number of likes a post receives.

You can do this using the “Search” feature and by applying the following filters:

• Select Posts
• Sort By - Select “Most Liked”
• Date Posted - Select the current year
• Post From - Select “Public Posts” to get a list of all popular posts and not just the ones from pages you follow.

Use Facebook trends to improve engagement

The trending topics from Facebook will allow you to create fresh, relatable content that is easily shared across platforms.

You can add your unique opinion on the subject and whether you agree or disagree with other popular opinions.

You can also use your insights to create Facebook groups. With a group, you can post and share valuable content over time to engage and establish trust with a wider audience.

How to find trending topics on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a popular social media platform for businesses and professionals. People use the platform to establish connections and grow their networks.

You can find LinkedIn trends by visiting the Content hub. You can choose the main topic and then explore sub-topics. This will give you a list of trending posts on Linkedin related to your chosen topic.

When you find trending topics related to your business, you can reach relevant prospects in your network by adding your own perspective to the current trending topics.

In addition to commenting with your thoughts, you can share other content like articles from your blog to increase their exposure.

Another powerful way to use LinkedIn trends to reach your audience is through the LinkedIn publishing platform.

This will allow you to publish long-form content directly on the platform. Posts written on LinkedIn Publishing help boost your authority and can be used to connect with highly relevant users.

The platform also provides detailed analytics on your readers. Once some of your posts gain traction, you can leverage these insights to better understand the best type of audience to target in your content marketing.

How to find trending topics on TikTok

TikTok has rapidly become the most popular social media platform. In fact, in 2021 it was the most popular site in the world, even receiving more visitors than Google.

TikTok as a platform was built on trends. Users create all sorts of short-form videos that quickly gain traction and become viral hits.

Music and dance videos are particularly popular. Once a particular theme takes off, others will hop on board and create their own version.

The first place to look for TikTok trends is the Discover page. These trending topics are curated daily and include hashtags that you can use to find related videos.

TikTok trends are generally short-lived so you will need to capitalize on them quickly.

Look at videos to see what issues people are talking about and how you can create content that adds value to the discussion.

People often showcase popular products so you can use these insights to better understand what types of items to focus on in your content.

By staying on top of TikTok trends, you can tap into the interests of younger audience bases that may be harder to discern through other platforms.

How to find trending topics on Google News

Google News is a platform that aggregates news from thousands of sites around the web. It provides groups of related stories according to the user’s interests.

Google uses an algorithm to decide how to rank the content shown to users. The biggest factor is how often a certain story appears on different sites.

This means that trending topics are typically the ones at the top of the list as they are the ones most common across the web.

Google also weighs freshness, location, and relevance when ranking content so that users’ feeds are generally filled with useful content.

Use Google News trends for newsjacking

Given the freshness of Google News posts, the trends found on the platform are great for creating a newsjacking strategy.

With newsjacking you find major news stories to quickly create your piece on the subject to capitalize on the current interest.

If you have a site that is well-optimized for regular Google SEO, you have the opportunity to get your pages to rank in Google News if you are timely enough.

How to find trending topics on BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is a news-type site that focuses on providing a light-hearted and entertaining angle to providing content related to current events.

This approach makes the site highly relatable, especially to millennials and other younger generations.

You can find popular trends on BuzzFeed by going to the “Trending” page. The page will show a list of recent posts that are receiving the most engagement from the platform’s user base.

The platform also shows a list of top posts in the sidebar of your regular news feed.

BuzzFeed as a whole curates content that is already starting to go viral. Because of this, topics on the Trending page have a strong interest at the present moment.

Once you find some good topics, you can analyze the posts on BuzzFeed to learn how to make your content just as engaging and relatable to your audience

Some of the content may not have a high keyword search volume, but you can find hot topics that are great for sharing on your social media accounts.

How to find trending topics on Reddit

Reddit calls itself the front page of the internet. The website provides an extensive listing of small forums where users come to discuss the topics that interest them.

By default, Reddit will surface trending topics prominently in your feed. At the top of the page, you can find a list of topics that are “Trending today”.

The feed below shows popular posts that are actively getting the most engagement.

When you visit subreddits for a specific topic, the posts are also ranked by those that have the most upvotes and comments.

Another way to find viral topics on Reddit is to use the search function. When you enter a search, Reddit will display the most relevant posts and subreddits.

You can set the list to sort by “Hot”. This will show the biggest trends related to the search term.

How to use Reddit in your content marketing

Reddit is another platform that is more popular among younger age groups. You can use the trends you find on Reddit to get content ideas that may be harder to surface through traditional keyword research.

After you create your trending content, remember to go back to the Reddit thread to share the post with the community.

How to use trending topics in your content strategy

Trending topics make great material for online content. When you create content around a trending topic, you know that there is current interest in the subject.

Because you know the subject has strong demand, you don’t have to spend as much time researching the topic’s search volume or other metrics before creating your posts.

Additionally, trending topics tend to be fresh and new. This makes them easier to rank for. Many marketers invest their time creating content around established subjects that already have a high search volume.

By creating content around a newer topic, you have the opportunity to gain a high ranking for emerging keywords.

Plus, when you create an article with fewer alternatives, there is a higher likelihood that people will read through all of your content instead of skimming it.

This increased engagement has SEO benefits and boosts the chances that readers stick around your site to interact with more pages.

Conclusion

Most marketers will run into the trouble of coming up with new content ideas at some point. By staying on top of the latest trends, you not only get new ideas but you can also be confident that the topics will be interesting to your audience.

Take action on the tips in this guide and start using the latest trends to enhance your content marketing.