What happens when you do keep up with the Kardashians? You’re able to tap into the pulse of pop culture, identify emerging trends, and predict what they’re doing next. Here’s how to do it for yourself.
If you want to identify emerging trends so that you can predict what a brand will do next, the best way to do it is to take a searching and thorough content inventory. You do that by auditing the brands account.
A Social Media Audit So Good, Even Your Cat Videos Will Start Purring!
Meow-velous!
Now if you’ve done social media post audits before, you’ll know exactly how time and resource intensive they are. But in case haven’t then here’s a quick high-level overview of what you need to do:
- Scroll through every post and record the results each post gets.
- Then sort through the thousands of posts and rank them in order of which ones are the most popular.
- Create a top 10 list of the most popular posts.
- Identify the obvious patterns.
If you don’t have a Creatrix, this process takes between 20-hours to 2-weeks depending how many posts you’re sorting through. If you have your own Creatrix model, it takes between 2-seconds to 2-minutes.
So let’s skip to the good part. Powered by Creatrix, we’ve done the slow and hard manual work for you so that we can start with identifying the patterns. Here’s Kim Kardashian’s Top 10 Post Visual Audit.
Kim Kardashian’s Top 10 Post Visual Audit
[Jan 1st 2023 – May 23rd 2023]
How To Do Trend Spotting
To help you determine what type of patterns to look out for in trends read Trend Alchemy to help you spot the components that make up trends.
For a deep dive into the complete audit, read: Bikinis, Boys & Babes: Kim Kardashian’s Top-Liked Posts Revealed.
Do you notice any obvious patterns here?
Here are 2 for you:
5 of the top 10 posts feature Kim in a black triangle string bikini.
3 of the top 10 posts feature the color pink. (These posts are also carousels with more pink pics in each carousel.)
Between all Kim’s black pics (aside from the one cream high-fashion outfit post) her pink posts stood out to us because they’re a different color.
And so we wrote:
Rising Trend: Hot Pink Alert
“We’ve spotted a trend – hot pink!
Three out of the top ten posts are hot pink-themed, spanning from posts featuring her kids to her own fashion moments. Kim, if you’re reading this: we recommend posting more hot pink in the future to confirm this trend!”
How Does Trend Spotting Apply?
Trends have multiple applications.
For example:
When we noticed the popularity of pink cans with Coca-Cola, we didn’t predict that they’d pivot to pink. It’s a possible wildcard idea to explore but what was obvious (because their brand identity is red) is that they were experimenting with color alternatives. So the introduction of new colors didn’t mean “go pink or go home,” it meant: an exploration into alternative identifies. This exploration was further reflected in their collaborations with artists, multi-cultures and the identities of alternative communities, like the gaming community which we accurately predicted.
When Kim’s most popular posts included pink we predicted that more pink posts would continue to perform well. But trends in popular posts go far beyond content…
When you’re a marketing queen like Kim Kardashian, you have a dedicated team of analysis working behind the scenes, translating trends and the sentiment of your audience into items to sell… items like the next collection of Skims into a brand new product launch: Skims Pink.
Skims Pink Product Range
From Trends To Sales
Products, Design, Styling, New Collections, Launches and more…
Trend application is where trends shine their best colors (pink pun fully intended).
How do you plan to apply relevant trends to your business to drive engagement, audience growth and sales?
That’s where an agency like Malva Media comes in, or if you own your own Creatrix model, you’d use that.
After trends are identified, you get to select the ones that directly apply to your brand and let Creatrix translate them to a new brand strategy, product collection, design application etc…
Just ask Creatrix your options and you’ll get options AND all your deliverables generated for you at the touch of a button.
To get you started, here are some examples of tangible and intangible trend translation:
Translating Trends into Products, Design, and Launch Strategies
From Trends To Products
- Tangible: When it comes to product development, tangible trends like color, design, and visual elements serve as key inputs. For example, a trending color might become the highlight of a new product line. Just like Kim Kardashian did with her next Skims launch.
- Intangible: Intangible elements like consumer sentiment or concern can guide the functional aspects of a product. For example, if there’s a growing trend of environmental consciousness, a new product might be sustainably produced.
Design and Styling
- Tangible: Design elements would include actual materials used, the layout, and color schemes. If minimalism is the trend, you’d likely see a clean, uncluttered design.
- Intangible: The mood or ethos behind a design is the intangible aspect. For instance, a nostalgic style might evoke feelings of comfort or memories of a bygone era.
New Collections
- Tangible: A fashion line may include specific cuts, fabrics, or accessories that are currently trending. Collections may also explicitly feature trending colors and materials. For example we recommend that Kim launches a simple black string triangle bikini, just like the one she wears in her most popular posts.
- Intangible: The inspiration behind a collection often taps into intangible trends. If the trend is about empowering women, the collection might feature bold designs, strong lines, and a campaign that speaks to women’s strength.
Launches
- Tangible: The marketing for a launch will often include hashtags, memes, or visual elements that are in trend. The launch event itself may be designed around current trends, such as virtual events (for example the ex pandemic restrictions).
- Intangible: The timing and tone of the launch could be influenced by public sentiment, aspirations, or concerns. If there’s a growing trend of wellness, a launch might focus on the health benefits of a product.
Additional Points
- Data-Driven Decisions: Both tangible and intangible elements can be analyzed using data analytics. While colors and hashtags can be directly counted, sentiment analysis tools can gauge public mood and viewpoints.
- Multi-sensory Experience: Modern trends often aim to engage multiple senses. For example, a physical product might be paired with an AR (Augmented Reality) experience to engage both tactile and visual senses.
- Storytelling: Intangible elements often make for compelling narratives. Brands frequently use storytelling to align their products with social movements, values, or cultural phenomena.
- Consumer Engagement: Trends also influence how brands interact with their audience. For example, a trend toward transparency might lead to more behind-the-scenes content or more detailed product information.
Understanding and incorporating these elements allows businesses and creators to be more intentional and effective in how they translate trends into their offerings.
Or you could just ask Creatrix…
