Trend Forecasting: How to Spot a Trend Before it Booms

Ever thought Snail Mucin would be one of the best-selling new products on Amazon for 2024 with a search volume of 360k a month? We all have a vague idea it has something to do with skin care. And this is exactly how trends emerge: we know about them loosely for a while, hearing it here and there, and then suddenly: an explosion.

Nobody wants to jump on a trend when it’s already peaked. Whatever your industry, you’ll want to know about a budding trend before your competition does. And like every aspect of our lives that has been touched by machine learning and AI, the business of trend forecasting is no different.  Big data and algorithms now make it possible to give us amazing insights into what people will search for in future. 

We’ve known about Google Trends for some years. It analyses search queries and shows us the popularity of Google Search topics over time. But there’s another, lesser known tool called Exploding Topics that’s even more fun to play with . This tool uses more sophisticated algorithms to scour the web and look for emerging trends. It can detect trends in their very early stages, before they’re reflected in search data, and give us a peak into topics about to explode in popularity.

By looking at more resources than just Google Search. It analyses social media, forum mentions, industry news articles, identifies trending topics, and then tracks them.  Its algorithm is finely tuned to pick up on new topics faster than any human. 

Now that we know what Google looks for,  what are some practical steps to take to raise to the top?

 Exploding Topics will identify a metatrend (a big, overarching trend that affects many parts of our lives) Within that metatrend are smaller topics, across various niches (think of the Sustainable Living metatrend for example, that spans across food, interior, fashion and more). This offers a ton of ideas that hint towards what people will be interested in tomorrow, instead of just searching for keywords like we usually do. 

Who doesn’t love browsing through lists – it’s by far the most effort-free internet reading. Pick your favourite category from the 29 categories on Exploding Topics’ Trend Database and be presented with lists of trending topics.

These make great list-based articles like “20 Must-Try Health and Wellness Products of 2022” or “10 Innovative Tech Gadgets Transforming Everyday Life”, and “Top 15 Fashion Brands Leading the Industry”.

Exploding Topics is free to explore and use, although the most recent data (1- year, 6-month and 3-month view) is behind a paywall. A great way to get first-hand information and insights from the Exploding Topics team is to read their blog articles and subscribe to their newsletter.  Curated gems from the blog include “The Top 100 searches on TikTok (2024)” amongst multiple tech, startup and investment articles. 

This tool is hands-down the most unique way of finding trending ideas, giving businesses and entrepreneurs an equal chance at striking that next golden opportunity. Try it!

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