How to Find New TikTok Trends to Expand Your Brand

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms on the planet, and the video and audio trends it generates can quickly become viral phenomena. As a brand, staying on top of the latest TikTok trends can help you reach a new, young, and highly engaged audience. 

This article will explain why TikTok trends are important, how they can benefit your brand, and the most effective ways of finding and monitoring TikTok trends that might be relevant to your business.

Why Are TikTok Trends Crucial for Your Brand?

TikTok is a global sensation, and the trends that emerge on the platform quickly become a source of inspiration for businesses looking to expand their brand. TikTok’s algorithm works to surface trending content, so brands can tap into this by creating content that is aligned with current trends and the interests of their target audiences. 

By leveraging trends, you can increase your visibility and build a dedicated following on the app, ultimately leading to increased brand recognition and expansion opportunities. In fact, according to the platform, 77% of TikTok users like it when brands come up with new challenges, trends, or memes for others to join in on.

How TikTok Trends Work and How They Can Benefit Your Brand

TikTok trends are essentially popular challenges, dances and memes that are circulating on the platform. These trends often involve specific actions, songs, or even products that users incorporate into their videos to participate. 

To leverage these trends, you can create TikTok content that resonates with your target audience and increase engagement on your channel. This can boost brand awareness, improve social media presence, and even lead to more sales. It’s important to stay up-to-date with TikTok trends and incorporate them into your content strategy to maximize the benefits of the platform.

But beyond just boosting your brand’s visibility, partnering with a TikTok marketing agency has countless other benefits that you cannot afford to overlook. From gaining access to industry experts who specialize in creating viral content to utilizing advanced analytics tools, the resources offered by these agencies can significantly impact your brand’s success on the platform.

More benefits for your brand include:

1. Joining TikTok challenges and creating videos for current trends is an opportunity to engage a younger audience creatively.

2. TikTok’s algorithm promotes popular and trending content, making it easier for you to gain visibility and reach new followers.

3. By participating in TikTok trends, you can showcase your brand’s personality and creativity, boosting engagement and building a loyal following.

4. TikTok’s advertising options, such as sponsored content and hashtag challenges, allow brands to collaborate with influencers and engage with their target audience authentically and effectively.

The Advantages of Identifying TikTok Trends Early

Identifying TikTok trends early can be a major advantage. If you’re among the first to create content that aligns with a new trend, you can position your brand as innovative and on-trend, and gain momentum quickly to attract a larger following before the trend becomes oversaturated.

Additionally, by creating content that is aligned with multiple trends, you can showcase your versatility and ability to adapt to change. If you want to learn more about how other brands are using TikTok for their strategies, take a look at TikTok for Business success stories. 

Overall, identifying TikTok trends early can give your brand a competitive edge and help you stand out fast in a crowded social media landscape.

Tips for Finding New TikTok Trends to Expand Your Brand

Source: TikTok Newsroom

To find new TikTok trends to expand your brand, start by keeping an eye on the For You page and explore new content creators who are taking off on the platform.

The following tips will help you learn how to find TikTok trends, stay ahead of the curve and grow your brand’s presence: 

1. Use The Discover Tab to Explore Trending Content and Hashtags

Besides exploring the For You page, you should keep an eye on trending hashtags and think about how to put your own spin on existing trends. The Discover tab is a great resource for exploring trending content. This feature allows you to explore and search for content on the platform. By accessing the Discover tab, you can search by categories like popular videos, music, and hashtags. Also, if you’re looking for specific content, you can use the search bar. 

2. Keep an Eye on Popular Challenges and Participate in Them

TikTok challenges are a fun and engaging way to expand your brand’s reach on the platform. Keep an eye on popular challenges that align with your brand’s values or messaging, and participate in them by creating your own content. 

This is one of the best ways to attract new followers and increase engagement with your existing audience. Additionally, consider collaborating with popular TikTok creators or other brands to create content around these challenges, as this can help broaden your reach even further.

One great example of this is makeup brand Wet n Wild’s Big Poppa campaign using #BiggerisBetter to drive brand awareness for Big Poppa mascara. The video was a huge success, achieving more than 1.5 million hashtag video creations, a 17.2% lift in ad recall, and 9.6% increase in brand awareness.

Source: TikTok Business 

Pro tip: You can also search the TikTok app for #challenges or hashtags related to your industry, and explore trending content from there. 

3. Pay Attention to TikTok Trending Music and Sounds

The power of music and sound cannot be overstated on TikTok. From catchy original songs to viral dance tracks, the app constantly buzzes with new sounds that should shape your content. 

Keep a close eye on the Sounds feature to stay up-to-date on trending music and sounds. For instance, remixing a TikTok trend can lead to a 14% increase in watch time. Remixing a song for this platform means adapting a song as a musical accompaniment for your content or to fit a specific trend. This makes your content unique and enhances the potential to go viral.  

By incorporating trending TikTok sounds and music into your videos, you can appeal to a wider audience and increase the chances of your content going viral. Also, ensure that the music or sound you use aligns with your brand and that it’s pre-cleared for commercial use. 

4. Collaborate With TikTok Creators

Source: TikTok Creator Marketplace

Once you have identified the trend or challenge that you want to engage with, you can search for creators who are already participating in it who you make want to work with. You can do this by using hashtags related to the trend or challenge and browsing through the videos that come up. 

When you find someone that you want to collaborate with, reach out to them through direct messages and pitch your collaboration idea. Be clear about your needs, goals, and what you can offer in return. If the creator is interested, you can work together to create a video that aligns with the trend or challenge and promotes your brand or message.

Remember, when you work with a TikTok influencer, you must:

• Set clear goals and expectations: Define goals from the collaboration and clearly communicate what you expect as an outcome to the influencer. This can include the type of content you want to create, deadlines, the terms of the collaboration, and any specific requirements for them to follow.
• Be open to creative ideas: Allow the TikTok influencer to bring their own creativity and style to the collaboration. This can help to make the content more authentic and engaging for their audience.
• Measure and evaluate the collaboration: Track the performance of the collaborative content and evaluate its success based on your goals. This can help you identify improvement areas and refine your approach to future collaborations.

5. Use TikTok Analytics to Identify Emerging Trends 

Source: TikTok

Using TikTok Analytics to track performance and identify emerging trends requires switching to a TikTok Pro account. 

Once you can access TikTok Analytics, you can track your account’s performance over time, including metrics like views, likes, shares, and followers. You can also use TikTok Analytics to identify the demographics of your audience, including their age, gender, and location. 

To identify emerging trends, you can use Analytics to track the performance of specific hashtags and sounds. This will help you to see which trends are gaining traction and which ones are losing popularity. After getting the insights you need, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your content and grow your TikTok audience.

6. Create Unique Content on Existing Trends

Source: TikTok / Cheetos

Relevant and memorable content is a great way to stand out and grow your brand’s presence on the platform. Take a look at this video from Cheetos, which capitalizes on the #foodtok hashtag. The distinctive peanut butter and Cheetos sandwich tested in the video has been part of over 58.6 billion views that appear when searching for the trending #foodtok. 

To create unique content that puts a fresh spin on existing trends on TikTok, follow these steps:

• Identify the trend that you want to participate in.
• Research the trend and see how others are using it.
• Think about how you can add your own unique spin to the trend – brainstorm ideas that are different from what others are doing.
• Use creative editing techniques and top TikTok video templates to make your video stand out.
• Incorporate your brand’s style into the video.
• Pay attention to feedback and activity from your audience and adjust your content accordingly.
• Keep experimenting and trying new things to stay ahead of the curve.
• Remember to enjoy the creative process. 

7. Engage with Your Audience

Source: TikTok / Vans

To engage with your audience on TikTok, one effective strategy is to ask for their input on new trends. You can do this by creating a video that asks your followers to share their favorite trends or challenges, or asking questions about your product. 

Sneaker brand Vans frequently employs this approach on TikTok. The example above uses the trending sound “Yeah You (Thinkin Bout You) (baegel Remix),” and the video asks users to share their Knu Skool shoe’s favorite color. 

To try this for yourself you should encourage users to share their thoughts in the comments section, and respond to their suggestions to demonstrate that you value their input. 

Involving your audience in the creative process lets you build a stronger connection with them and create content that resonates with their interests and preferences.

8. Stay Up-to-date with TikTok News

Source: TikTok Newsroom

To stay in the know with TikTok news, there are several sources you can turn to. Exploring TikTok’s Newsroom is a good place to start, as the platform often shares news and updates. You can also follow popular TikTok creators and influencers to see what they’re posting and what trends they’re participating in. 

Other sources of TikTok news and trends include social media and marketing blogs, and industry publications such as:

• The Envato Blog
• Hootsuite
• Social Media Examiner
• Later
• Influencer Marketing Hub

These sources provide valuable insights and tips on leveraging TikTok for marketing and engagement purposes.

Interesting TikTok statistics:

• TikTok currently boasts 1.7 billion monthly active users and will reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2023.
• USA takes the lead with 150 million active TikTok users.
• As of 2023, TikTok has approximately 834.3 million users around the world.
• Around 53.4% of the users on TikTok were female. 46.6% were male.

Wrapping Up

Brands should experiment with incorporating TikTok trends into their content to reach a younger and highly engaged audience. 

By tapping into the latest trends and challenges on TikTok, you can create content that feels fresh, fun, and relevant. This approach will help you build brand awareness, increase engagement, and stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving social media landscape. And we know for a fact you’ll have fun while you’re at it!