The biggest social trends of the summer and how you can leverage them
+demystifying social media algorithms and the cultural moments and news that caught our attention this week
quick summary ⚡️
Pinterest shares 3 trends that they’re seeing in search
What to do if your content is underperforming
Our obsession with morning routines, the rise of meme merch and more in the cultural moments and news that caught our attention this week
The metrics you should be tracking on Instagram
summer trends according to pinterest
Pinterest recently released their Summer Trend Report, pulling out the most searched terms on their platform.
“What are the fashion girlies feeling this summer? According to the most-searched terms on Pinterest, the summer fashion forecast calls for Y2K nostalgia and tea parties.” - Elizabeth de Luna, Mashable
“In its Summer 2024 Trend Report released this week, Pinterest shared the most-searched terms on the platform. And though there were some outliers — like a 5550 percent jump in searches for "alt baddie" — most of the queries fell into three distinct groups...” - Elizabeth de Luna, Mashable
Y3K
Searches for "Y3K outfits" — futuristic ensembles fit for the year 3000 — are up a huge 6030 percent. A 170 percent jump in searches for "retro-future fashion" also proves people are caught between the past and the present.
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Y2K- and '90s-inspired looks
When Pinterest users need inspiration, they turn to the turn of the century. Searches for "'90s makeup look" (up 270 percent), "'90s lip" (up 760 percent), and "'90s glam makeup" (up 280 percent) are all up.
Searches for "2000s makeup" also increased 580 percent and "Y2K duck nails" have seen a 120 percent bump in queries.
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Dinners and tea parties
Searches for "dinner party" are up a whopping 6000 percent as folks prepare to embrace the warm weather with summer soirées.
Following the show's recent Season 3 debut, a Bridgerton effect also appears to be in full swing as users search for "tea party" (up 430 percent).
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more from Mashable here x find our breakdown on why you should be on Pinterest here
is the algorithm holding your content hostage?
Stop scrolling if your content is under-performing.
How to “perform well” in the ever-changing algorithm is a million-dollar question for both brands and creators alike. While brands have the budget to lean on paid boosts, creators are often left to figure it out for themselves through trial and error.
It’s long been speculated by creators across social platforms that these platforms have the ability to “shadow-ban” creators. Essentially, they allege that the platforms will suppress their content if it doesn’t align with the brand's desired image. While on the surface this may be a practice in place to enforce platform safety and guidelines, human errors and biases seem to have leaked into the processes on TikTok and Instagram. Creators have long speculated that creators of color, creators discussing certain “controversial” topics, and creators speaking ill of the platform are prone to this suppression.
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Your content may be “held hostage” if:
You mention other platforms. Elon made this overt but it's long been a joke that content talking about TikTok on Instagram (or visa versa) is likely to perform worse than other content.
If you mention the given platform disparagingly. Anyone who’s worked on the brand side will tell you: if you ever want to work with a brand someday maybe save your most scathing critiques for the DMs? This is such common knowledge on TikTok that users have taken to censoring themselves if they have anything less than glowing to say about the app. Instead, they will call it “The Clock App,” mumble the name, or say “on here” with inflection.
If you don’t create natively within the app. Similarly to deprioritizing content that mentions other platforms, it seems that TikTok and Instagram reward content that was created within the app.
If you’re not tapping SFV. Instagram especially is really invested in the success of Reels and creators are heavily suggesting that posting on Reels is one of the key ways to grow on the platform currently.
Keep in mind, each platform has its own goals and, even when they try to update creators on those goals, it can feel punishing to keep up. Hopefully, by at least avoiding these common mistakes you can figure out your unique secret sauce to go viral, find your community, and have fun.
more on the MTD blog here
💎cultural gems💎
The cultural moments and news that caught our attention this week:
WHAT’S BEHIND TIKTOK’S BEEF WITH CHIPOTLE?, ny times
“A series of popular videos on the platform encourage users to protest the restaurant chain’s portion sizes by walking out without paying or filming workers.”
WHAT TO READ WHEN YOU ONLY HAVE HALF AN HOUR, the atlantic
Short story recs for those of you who don’t have time for full length novels.
THE RISE OF MEME MERCH, the cut
“While regular merch is tired, graphic T-shirts with a built-in wink and nod are everywhere — the funnier and weirder to decipher, the better.”
WHY ARE WE SO OBSESSED WITH MORNING ROUTINES?, vox
What is it about other people’s morning routine’s that’s so satisfying?
takeaways from an interview with the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri
YouTube creators Colin and Samir interviewed Adam Mosseri, the man who runs Instagram, about everything from what his day-to-day looks like to the metrics that creators should be tracking on Instagram.
Here are our biggest takeaways from the conversation:
One of the most important things to look at if you’re trying to evaluate how your content is performing on Instagram, is sends per reach. Of the people who saw it, how many sent it to a friend?
Another metric to track is what percentage of your reach was connected [accounts who follow you] vs. unconnected [accounts who don’t follow you]. Your connected reach should be more stable than unconnected reach.
“Creators drive on average more engagement than a publisher does. People want to see the world through the eyes of another individual that they relate to or that they look to more than they want to consume content from a publisher that they feel is hyper processed and produced and designed for them.”
More creators have Instagram as their primary platform than any other platform.
watch the full interview here