Brand Social Trend Report
A non-exhaustive, very incomplete list of trends I’ve been noticing on brand social.
For today’s Logged On we’ve got a long (but still very incomplete) list of trends I’ve been noticing brand’s play with on social right now. It ranges from very specific meme templates (like the vicious cycle one) to broad patterns (like using AI as a character in content)—with the ultimate goal to put in writing what feels big right now.
As we all know, half of these will likely be irrelevant tomorrow!!
Speaking of, I recently got asked in an interview how I decide what trends or moments feel worthy of being in Link in Bio—what’s a fad and what will last? I responded that I think the beauty of social is that even if something is only relevant for 24 hours (what some might call a fad) it’s still worthy of our attention and inspection. The Little Miss trend or Barbie photoshop trend were only relevant for 24 hours, yet both feel significant in “brand trend” world.
Let’s dive in.
Venn Diagrams
I credit
for calling out the chartification of social media visuals trend. Specifically, I’m seeing a lot of venn diagrams right now! Easy template to make your own as a brand—plus it can be as fun or serious as you want. Love the cheeky text in the SSENSE example below. You can find Tower28 implementing it here to explain the difference between two products and Joggy using it here to explain how to reach tranquility.
AI as Content
Lots of brands figuring out ways to casually work AI into their content strategy—using it almost as a character to play off of (and sometimes dunk on) in videos. Below you’ll find Seemore asking ChatGPT how to sell sausage and here you’ll find sweetgreen asking AI to build a custom salad.
Show the Process
Lots of brands showing the unpolished, more real side of creating a product. Noticing a lot of photo dump-style posts in factories. Below is an example from Omsom in their factory, here is an example from Smallhold, and here is an example from Ghia. Less stylized product shots, more realistic BTS shots.
Turn Your Phone Upside Down
TBH I’m not sure if this is a trend or just Oreo riffing on a format that Dunkin’ posted a month earlier.
The Beginning of the End of Founders as Content Creators
I think we’re starting to see how having a founder be an online personality for a company can either work really well for a brand (in Golde’s case) or potentially backfire (in Tarte’s case). Whenever I talk about adding personality to your social, I say “people like people”. But, on the flip side, being a very visible founder on social can also open you up to a lot of personal criticism. Curious to see how other Very Online founders chart their path given some of the blowback founders like Maureen at Tarte and Lindsey at SET Active have (rightfully) gotten.
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Being In on the Joke
Consumers want the brands they love to be in on the joke with them. I have a feeling we’ll see more brands own the inside jokes their customers have about them. For example, Chipotle knows their burritos fall apart—instead of claiming that they don’t, they lean into the shared experience of when that does happen. Also love this example from Adobe about the process of making a poster.
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