Chasing every social trend is hurting your brand

A few weeks ago, the internet was taken by storm when a daredevil couple got arrested for staging a dramatic marriage proposal at the top of the Empire State Building.

Following the stunt, the internet life cycle was as expected. First came the headlines, then came the social reactions, then came the inevitable (and most irritating) final stage: brands using the viral moment to show they are cool, fun and part of the cultural conversation.

I’ve seen this happen time and time again across my career. Within hours of an ‘internet-breaking’ moment, social feeds get filled with brands posting their own take on the event. It happened 12 years ago when Kim Kardashian posted the heavily imitated exploding champagne photo. It happened just last year after the Coldplay kiss cam scandal. And it happened again with the Empire State stunt.

An image captured the zeitgeist and marketing teams rushed to get something live before the moment passed, hoping to harness a share of the attention. The problem was that, by the end of the day, every second post looked identical, and brands were drowning in a sea of sameness.

What started as a moving and strong cultural moment quickly became a reminder of one of marketing’s biggest challenges. Businesses have become so focused on reacting to what’s happening today that they’re forgetting what they’re trying to build for tomorrow.

As someone who has spent more than 25 years helping brands earn attention, I’ve never believed the objective was simply to be part of the conversation, it has always been to create a brand people remember and that adds value.

Marketing has developed an unhealthy obsession with speed. Be first, be on trend and never miss a moment to make your brand known. Every platform encourages brands to react faster than the one before it, creating the impression that relevance is measured by how quickly you can publish.

Ultimately though, while vying for the attention of the algorithm you are losing the memorability and trust from your customers.

Every time a business joins a trend simply because everyone else is doing it, it risks diluting the very thing that differentiates it. Instead of reinforcing what makes the brand unique, it becomes another voice repeating the same joke, using the same format and chasing the same desire for virality.

Ironically, while brands are working harder than ever to stand out, many are becoming increasingly indistinguishable.

The question every marketer should be asking isn’t, ‘how do we join this cultural trend?’ Rather, it should be, ‘does this help people remember who we are?’ or ‘does this create true impact for us?’

If your answer is ‘no’, it’s probably not worth posting.

This is becoming even more pivotal as we enter a new era of marketing.

As AI search and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) become part of how customers discover businesses, authority and reputation is becoming one of the most valuable marketing assets a company can own.

AI is beginning to reward businesses that consistently demonstrate expertise, share original insights and prove themselves to be trusted sources of information. In some ways, it’s almost as if we’re moving back to the traditional roots of the discipline.

The businesses that invest in thought leadership, earned media, expert commentary, genuine reviews, business awards and content that adds significant value to their audience, are the ones building more than reputation. They’re creating the signals that influence journalists, customers and, increasingly, AI. They’re thinking about how and where they are showing up and, as a result, are showing up where it really matters.

All of this is now leading to a time when public relations is a content marketing team’s best asset. They are two sides of the same coin, where PR focuses on credibility rather than clicks, and content marketing focuses on developing long-term visibility and authority, which are two areas that GEO values the most when search engines no longer ranks websites but rather generate recommendations.

With this new framework in mind, too many businesses are still measuring success by impressions that disappear within hours, while overlooking the content and pathways that build trust for years. Sometimes the most valuable piece of content you’ll create for your channels is the one that answers a customer’s question better than anyone else.

Meaning that, more often than not, the smartest marketing decision is to let a trend pass you by.

Ask yourself one simple question before jumping on the next viral moment: ‘is this making our brand more distinctive, or just making us look like everyone else?’

Looking at the market we are in, where every brand is fighting for attention, the businesses that win won’t necessarily be the quickest to react. They’ll be the ones with the clearest point of view, a strong and developed reputation, and the confidence to resist adding to the noise.

Sharon Zeev Poole is the founder and director of PR agency Agent99.