8 Successful Ways to Turn Trends into Blog Content
Earlier this month, I wrote about a few top trends in the pet industry that were on display at the Global Pet Expo. Knowing what’s popular and growing in the industry is a great start but converting those topics into engaging content is the real success.
To help give you a kick start, I’m sharing my eight foolproof ways to turn trending topics into quality content.
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Product Round-Ups
Keeping an eye on trending products in your relevant industry is a great way to come up with new post ideas and topics to cover.
One easy way to share information about trending products is in a round-up. For these posts, you can start by gathering images and basic information about the products to display them in a visually appealing way.
I recommend creating an image of all the products that you can feature on Pinterest. Also, don’t be afraid to put your own twist on the descriptions to make your post more personable and relatable.
Since outdoor adventures with pets is a growing trend, one example might be to do a round-up of products to use for camping with your dogs. One of my favorite round-ups that I’ve done was one on outdoor dog products.
Round-ups are also an excellent opportunity to include affiliate links. Just make sure to disclose. Want to give your readers a bit more? See the next idea!
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Product Comparisons
If you have experience with certain products and can share actual opinions and experiences, then you may want to consider the route of a product comparison over a round-up.
Product comparisons can be a bit more work because you have to provide more detailed information. However, because of that, it can end up being even more successful than round-ups long term. We all love that evergreen content, don’t we?
You’ll want to share high-level information for these posts, like the price, product name, where to get it as well as providing feedback on how the product worked for you. Was it successful? Did you have issues? At the end of your post, you may want to declare a winning product or rank all the ones that you tried out.
One of my favorite comparison posts was from You Did What With Your Weiner on Dog Subscription Boxes.
A top trend in the pet industry at the moment is calming products, so one example would be to compare the different products you’ve tried out with your pets.
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Opinions on Current Events
There have been several controversial topics surrounding pets popping up in the news recently. As a pet lover, all it may take is a simple word like “airplane” to arouse some strong feelings in you. We all have opinions, and if you can eloquently express yours without being too emotional, then an opinion piece might be a great option for you.
Just be aware that anytime you choose to cover a controversial topic, you open yourself up to criticism and trolls. Don’t let that get you down. You have a strong voice and should be using it! No matter what, don’t waste your time arguing with someone who isn’t open to conversation.
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Relevant Helpful Tips
If you don’t want to share your true opinion or get into a controversy war, you can still write about current events. This might actually be my favorite way to turn trends into topics.
Instead of directly tackling the controversy head on, you can discuss it by sharing tips to avoid it altogether.
However, you can also share helpful tips that don’t just have to do with controversial current events. Natural disasters, holidays and even trending products could inspire a post. You can share tips on how to prepare for a disaster, what holiday foods to avoid, or do a deep dive into information about a specific trending product.
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Solve a Problem
There’s nothing more helpful than working to solve a problem. Sharing information and tips are great, but “How-To” content is the future. Plus, it does great on Pinterest!
A “How-To” post explicitly tells the reader how to solve a problem they are facing. You want to break down the process into easy to follow steps with photographs to support your words. The key here is simplicity. Anyone should be able to follow along with your instructions.
Pet food will always be a hot topic. Many pet bloggers were inspired to find better food alternatives for their pets thanks to some of the big pet food recalls in the past. If you relate, you can write a post about how to read pet food nutrition labels or how to translate pet food packaging.
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Hashtag Exposure
There are tons of social media trends, and as a blogger or influencer, it’s pretty much your job to take advantage of social media trends that relate to you.
GIFs have been big for a while, so share ones that resonate with you or you can even make one of your pets!
Photos and hashtags also have trends, so it’s important to keep an eye on what is popular.
Twitter’s “trending” is a great place to start and you might as well jump on the bandwagon if there is something that connects to pets for some extra exposure.
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DIY for Special Events
If happy trends are more your thing, then you might want to consider doing a timely DIY project for a special event.
Pick your event inspiration at least 2-3 months in advance, so that you can share your content before the event happens. I love picking fun holidays, like Star Wars Day.
Just let the inspiration take you away and remember to break down your post into simple, executable tasks with pictures for support.
There are also one-time events that you can take full advantage of like the Royal Wedding. Castle dog treats or a DIY costume for the watch party would have been perfect!
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Create a Parody
I will never forget the first time I saw the Dog Ross video from Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund. It was too good and so relevant to the internet’s obsession with Bob Ross.
Your dog might not be a celebrity painter, but you can definitely still stage a fun parody photo shoot or short video. Start small and don’t forget to watermark your work in case it does go viral!
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What other ways do you turn trends into blog topics? Share in the comments below!
Jessica Shipman is a bargain hunter, food lover, and software engineer figuring out how to be a pet parent for the first time. She shares her journey with her two dogs Ralph and Luna on her blog Beagles & Bargains. After getting an Ivy League degree and hands-on experience on a corporate web development team, Jessica has decided to change things up. She launched jessicashipman.com to make web technology easy and more accessible to bloggers and small business owners. Stop by for free tips or to learn more about her web development consulting.
