Four ways you can use social media trends to enhance your Digital PR campaigns

Social media has changed the way we receive, digest, and interact with news. With the social media landscape moving at such a fast pace and with new trends daily, it's a powerful tool that can be intertwined with Digital PR campaigns to not only enhance them but expand the reach of your PR campaigns even further. 

We’ve pulled together four different ways you can use social media trends to enhance your Digital PR Campaigns: 

#1 - Leverage User Generated Content (UGC) 

User Generated Content (UGC) is becoming increasingly influential in social media and Digital PR, and more and more brands and top-tier publications are looking to place authentic real life stories at the heart of their conversations. This strategy not only gives an air of credibility to any message or story, but it amplifies both the brand and the influencers they are working with, this is something end users are buying into. 

If your client is a Home & Interior brand, why not collaborate with an influencer who has done a fantastic home transformation on a budget? Uncovering the story behind the transformation to build a relatable, press release can lead to some fantastic results.

For example, for our client Lick, we worked with a creator to share her amazing home DIY project, and as a result, we gained 29 pieces of coverage in publications like The Express, Ideal Home, and Wales Online, which resulted in 13 new users visiting the lick.com site and a 37.5% increase in total referring domains (697 v 507).

#2 - Using TikTok Trends To Drive SEO Performance

Trends are often aligned with specific hashtags, making it easier for people to follow and explore related content. This is especially the case on TikTok, where all videos are categorised and organised by hashtags, allowing users to easily follow any trending topics. TikTok is an incredible source of trends, so why not leverage these trending topics for your PR activity and ultimately your SEO performance? 

There are many ways you can analyse and track hashtags on TikTok, such as looking at the search page where you can find specific topics that are trending now📈, or using the TikTok Creative Centre, where you can discover and type in specific hashtags that relate to your particular campaign.

For example, if your campaign topic is food/drink, is there a particular food hack or trend that has gone viral that you can tie into your campaign to make it super relevant and topical? Doing this could turn your campaign into a viral hit!

#3 - Pinterest Trends

Another social media platform that is great for finding trending topics is Pinterest. The Pinterest Trends tool shows the top search terms across different countries and regions, so it can be used to enhance your digital PR campaigns that have an international scope.

The platform also releases a trend report each year, which is great for generating hooks and creating reactive campaigns– and we did exactly that.

It was reported that ‘Western gothic’ was an interior trend set to be huge for 2024, so we thought that this would be a great fit for one of our home/interior clients, Ruggable. We created a captivating piece around how to master this new interior trend, and we secured 23 pieces of coverage in publications like Yahoo and Country & Town House. As a result, the term ‘black rugs’ (8,100) moved into page 1 of the SERP’s (10 v 11) and saw a 23% increase in desktop visibility after the links went live.  

#4 - Reddit Polls/Online Surveys 

Public opinion is something that always circulates in the media landscape because if people are talking about it, it means there is interest, and analysing and sharing these results can give weight to what you are talking about in your PR campaign.

Social media apps like Reddit are home to opinions and conversations worldwide. You could simply put a poll up to reveal how many people love this trend, and include it in your campaign to support and enhance it even further. It then has the potential to be reworked with different statistics in the headline– and just like that you have another angle to go out with!

By staying on top of emerging trends, you not only put your brand in new conversations that have the potential to help you reach a wider audience, but it also creates the opportunity for you to make an impact, and land coverage in top-tier press.

Conclusion

Whether you leverage user-generated content, TikTok and Pinterest trends, or Reddit polls, using either of these four powerful social media tools/tactics can help take your campaign to the next level, making your content more engaging and relevant. The beauty of social media is that there is a plethora of content you can access with a click of a button, and it's always growing, so utilise it! Staying ahead of the curve can not only keep you ahead of competitors but also help your campaigns reach places you never thought possible. If you are ready to elevate your DPR strategy, get in touch today to see how we can amplify your brand's presence.