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Marketers hop on the bandwagon all the time. As long as it is popular among a broad audience, you can count on marketers to borrow current trends and use them for advertising purposes. 

 

This marketing strategy is called trendjacking, and you could use it to strengthen your digital marketing efforts in Singapore.

 


 

WHAT IS TRENDJACKING?

Trendjacking is the act of adopting current trends to your marketing strategy. These trends could be new slang, internet memes, and pop culture phenomena in general. Anything popular among a crowd could be a possible marketing asset.

 

In other words, trendjacking is hopping on the bandwagon to gain support and raise brand awareness. You can join the hype while it is still insanely popular. In doing so, you could boost your exposure and gain a lot of attention in a short span.

 

Marketers hop on the bandwagon all the time, but should you do the same?

 

Of course, why not? Trendjacking is an effective digital marketing strategy that can help you grow an audience quickly. If done right, you could establish your relevance, drive traffic to your website, and increase your SEO rankings.

 

Here are some examples of successful trendjacking strategies in Singapore.

 


 

3 EXAMPLES OF TRENDJACKING

 

1. UMBRAGE

 

Umbrage Trendjacking

 

The word “umbrage” means to take offence or annoyance at someone’s remark or action. An example of umbrage is SPH CEO’s negative response to a CNA reporter. Video of the incident quickly spread on the Internet and garnered thousands of reactions, with most comments citing that the CEO’s reaction was “ungentlemanly” and “unprofessional”.

 

Surprisingly, countless brands in Singapore have taken the opportunity to use the situation in their favour. Marketers used the word “umbrage” to add humour to their advertisements, which worked out successfully and helped attract attention from thousands of social media users. 

 

2. SAD LOVE STORIES

 

OOm Sad Love Stories Marketing

 

People are drawn to stories, especially if it involves heartbreaks and romance. Lately, the #sadlovestory trend has been a centre of attention on social media, with many brands jumping on the bandwagon by incorporating love stories into their branding. You could hop on this trend to make fun of love stories and add your very own twist.

 

Consider adding sad love stories to your digital marketing strategy. All you need to do is use this one single phrase: “He fell in love with…” or “She fell in love with…”. From there, you can insert a clever pun as your punchline for comedic effect and eventually grab the attention of your social media followers. Do it right, and you should make a good impression of your brand.

 

3. “GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA. WHAT A BEAUT.”

 

Grand Canyon Cake

 

The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth recently posted a close-up picture of kueh lapis (a traditional Indonesian snack) and wrote the caption “Grand Canyon, Arizona. What a beaut.” Funnily enough, the cake does have a similar resemblance to the actual Grand Canyon.

 

This marketing strategy is actually a response to a social media post from a man named Aye Shaun. Shaun’s social media post contains a picture of the Marina Bay Sands with the caption “Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s beautiful”.

 

Tennesse Singapore

 

The image is obviously not a shot of Downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee but the Marina Bay Sands. Whether the person is trolling or making fun of the image is up for discussion. What matters is that the social media post has gained a lot of attention, with brands jumping on the trend and creating parodies for their ads.

 


 

WHEN SHOULD YOU HOP ON THE BANDWAGON?

Trendjacking can be an effective digital marketing strategy to gain instant exposure and boost SEO rankings. However, there is a right time to do this, and it boils down to two crucial factors:

 

  • Timeliness
  • Context

 

The first factor is timeliness. Determine if jacking the trend would be a good idea in the long run. To do so, check if the surrounding hype is still going strong.

 

For instance, old internet memes, such as rage comics and the Nyan Cat, were popular back then but are now outdated. Because of this, you should probably adopt a trend or meme that will remain relevant for a much longer time.

 

The second factor is context, which refers to the definition and culture surrounding the trend. Some internet memes, terms, and phrases might be offensive to other cultures. For that reason, you should probably understand the context of specific trends before using them for branding. Otherwise, you might potentially harm your reputation.

 

As long as you understand the timeliness and context of a specific trend, you can hop on the bandwagon and create an effective branding strategy for your business.

 

For more digital marketing tips and tricks, contact OOm.

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