Riding a trend is one of the best things most companies can do on the Web to gain more followers and engage with more consumers. This is why the release of a giant movie like Iron Man 3 for example might result in a wide array of tweets and other social networking activity not at all associated with the film itself. These posts are hoping to seize on the
already excited audience and transfer some of that enthusiasm onto their product. This is a great method for online marketing.
Similarly, many companies will latch onto popular songs (“Thrift Shop”, “Call Me Maybe”, etc.), television events (Oscars, Super Bowl) or news stories to move their merchandise through their social networking strategies.
Of course, as always with the Internet, it is important to walk a tightrope of self awareness without tempting trolls to besmirch your good name for your opportunism.Finding that balance between using fun popular topics for your own branding purposes is done best by trial and error with a constant focus on reaction. If the crowd on Twitter seems displeased by a particular post it is best to delete it quickly and address the problem directly. Eventually this will all become like second nature and you could establish some meaningful customer outreach in the process.
