Question #1: What's the next big trend?

Updated by Yarden Horwitz

This article will guide you through the steps you can take to identify the top trends within a category. Follow along with the steps in your own dashboard so you can recreate this process across any category on your own.

  1. To identify the top trends within a category we can use the category trends section. Navigate to any category that you’re interested in--the category could be as vague as skincare or as specific as face mask products. We will be using the hair care products category as an example but the same steps can be applied to any category on our dashboard. 

  1. To identify new early adopter trends, choose the "Early Stage" preset in the filters section. Early stage trends indicate high growth topics (sorted by YoY) that are trending upwards (rising cluster filters) and have medium to very low search volume. Search volume indicates level of consumer awareness — the lower the search volume, the less mainstream the trend. While a brand may have to put more effort towards educating the consumer on this topic, there is also more time allowed for the brand to innovate and develop this product before it hits mainstream audiences. Early stage trends are great for new product development initiatives.

  1. To identify trends that have mainstream awareness, use the "Late Stage" preset. This will enable you to identify high growth (ranked by YoY) topics that are trending upwards (rising cluster filters) that have high to very high search volume — indicating strong consumer awareness. Late stage trends may be promising for new product development teams that require strong consumer validation. They also indicate areas that require less consumer education from marketing teams. Instead, marketing teams will want to position the trends around nuanced claims, concerns, and/or ingredients to stand out. See "How to Position Trends Based on Consumer Needs" to learn more.

  1. Find new whitespace opportunities by filtering based on brand-related searches, using the "White Space Opportunities" preset. This option will highlight all the topics that are trending upwards (rising cluster filters) and have medium to low/no competitive searches. The Spate dashboard organizes searches for a product by generic and branded keywords. In doing so, you can determine whether the consumer is more or less likely to have a brand in mind when searching for a product. If a product is considered have high or very high competition, the space is already crowded and will require more media spend or creativity to stand out. With the whitespace opportunity preset, you can easily find trends that are less competitive.

  1. Find a trend that is here to stay. If you're looking for a more secure, safe bet — include the Predicted Growth filters for "likely" and "very likely" to identify trends that are likely to last. Learn more about the Spate predicted confidence scores here.

  1. Explore the different filters to find a trend that aligns with your brand and click on any card to learn more about that specific trend. Learn more about the different clusters, filters, and metrics to understand the implications for your brand. Remember, you can apply these same steps to other categories you're interested in within the dashboard to look for top trends there as well.

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