If you’re planning a social media campaign, it’s important to know the topics and trends that are current in social media to achieve the best results. But how do you do that? 

Here are some tips for assessing key social media topics and trends:

• TikTok. The popularity of TikTok, especially with younger audiences, is an important tool for assessing cultural shifts. TikTok’s trends tool is useful for providing insights into trending hashtags, which can lead your campaign strategy. This tool can also provide more information about demographic engagement, associated topics, and more.
• Reddit. Reddit has been around for a while but has remained relevant. In the age of AI, where people are looking for actual human input, Reddit's Pro Trends tool provides monitoring of mentions on social media, tracks conversations that use your target keywords, and finds real-time engagement opportunities. The Pro Trends tool gives insight into what real humans are looking for, with specific features and questions.
• Pinterest.  Although Pinterest is geared more towards shopping, it can still be valuable for looking at consumer trends, as 80% of people who use Pinterest on a weekly basis find shopping inspiration on the platform. The Pinterest Trends tool allows for searching for trending pins by keyword, which can provide a look into topics that might be relevant to your brand.
• Grok. This is X’s AI chatbot tool. It can provide insight into what X users are discussing. Even if you are not using X yourself, if members of your audience are using it, it behooves you to stay in step with their engagement on the platform to learn what people are discussing in real time.
• Search tools powered by AI. Social media platforms offer some level of ad targeting powered by AI. While not helpful for searching trending topics, these tools can be useful in testing each platform to see how well they choose your ad audience. Their ability to recognize patterns in large data sets can help with correlating interests and activity on a much larger scale than previously.