You keep seeing Instagram trends you’re apparently supposed to try, but half of them leave you wondering: How on earth am I supposed to make this relevant to my business?
Or maybe you’ve tried a few. You used the trending audio, recreated the Reel, got some views… and then nothing really happened.
And that’s the thing: A trend can be super popular and still be completely useless for your business.
A lot of the trends shared by those “viral trends you need to try this week” accounts are made for influencers, lifestyle creators or simply people who want to get as many views as possible.
But when you’re running a business, views alone aren’t really the goal. You want the right people to discover you, get a feel for who you are and what you do, and hopefully buy something.
So how do you know which Instagram trends are actually worth trying for your business, and which ones you can happily scroll past?
Let’s get into the good ones first. 👇
The good: Trends that show your personality
These are probably my favorite trends right now.
Things like “Unfortunately I do love…”, Gold Star Behavior, Reasons to Follow/Unfollow Me or Things I Find Incredibly Chic give you a format to start with, but your answers are what make the post interesting.
And that’s exactly what I want from a good trend.
You can make it funny, specific to your niche, slightly opinionated or very you. Someone who discovers the post through the trend still learns something about the person or business behind it.
For personal brands especially, these are SO easy to work into your content.
The good: Trends you can make completely your own
This is probably my easiest test for whether a trend is worth saving:
Could a designer, a business coach and a bakery all use this trend and end up with three completely different posts?
If yes, we’re onto something.
The trend gives you the framework, but you decide what goes inside it.
That’s very different from recreating a Reel where everyone uses the same audio, makes the same joke and pretty much ends up with the same post.
I want the trend to help you create the content, not be the entire content.
The good: Trends that let you have an opinion
I’m also loving how many opinion-led formats we’re seeing right now.
Hills I’ll Die On.
The Golden Rules I Don’t Believe In.
Things I DON’T Do As A…
These are technically trends, but underneath them you’re sharing actual expertise, experiences and opinions.
And even once that particular format stops trending, the content itself still has a reason to exist.
That’s a pretty good sign.
The Big Instagram Trend Report: What’s trending this week (for small business owners!)
Tired of scrolling through “viral trends” that make absolutely no sense for your business?
We update our Instagram Trends Report every week with early trends we actually think are worth trying as a business owner, plus ideas for how to make each one work for your own brand.
The not-so-good: Trends that only work if people are already interested in your life
This is where I think businesses can get a little lost.
There are plenty of trends that are perfect for lifestyle creators because their lifestyle is the content.
What I ate today. What’s in my bag. A montage of my weekend. Random clips of my holiday set to a trending audio.
I happily watch that kind of content. 😂
But if you’re a copywriter, coach, designer or small business, ask yourself whether a complete stranger would get anything from your version.
If the only reason the post is interesting is because someone is already invested in your life, it might not be the best trend for discovery.
That doesn’t mean you can never post personal content. You absolutely should. I’d just choose personal trends that give you some way to connect the post back to your personality, brand or the people you want to attract.
Related Article: Should You Use Social Media Trends as a Business Owner? (And If So, How?)
The not-so-good: Trends you can’t put your own spin on
Sometimes you’ll see a trend everywhere and desperately try to figure out how you could make it work for your business.
And sometimes the answer is simply: you can’t.
Skip it. 😅
You don’t need to awkwardly connect every viral format back to your offer.
If you’re basically recreating exactly what everyone else has already posted, what does someone learn about you from seeing it?
Maybe you get some extra views. Great.
But if none of those people have a reason to visit your profile, follow you or care about what you do next, those views aren’t doing very much for your business.
And finally: Trends you’re only doing because someone said they’re “going viral”
This is probably the one I’d be most careful with.
You see:
“USE THIS AUDIO NOW 🚨”
“This trend is getting MILLIONS of views!”
…and suddenly you feel like you need to make something immediately.
But millions of views for who?
If the trend is blowing up among lifestyle creators and meme accounts, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to be useful for your business.
So instead of only asking:
“Could this get views?”
I’d ask:
“If this did get a lot of views, would the right people have a reason to care about me afterwards?”
If the answer is yes, great. Try it.
If the answer is “…not really”, there will be another trend tomorrow.
So where do you actually find the good trends?
Well… this is basically why we created our Instagram Trends Report.
We’re already spending the time looking through what’s popping up on Instagram, but we don’t add every single trend we find. We specifically pick the ones that we think business owners and personal brands can actually do something with.
Every week, we add the latest ones to the report and give you ideas for how you could put your own spin on them.
So instead of scrolling through hundreds of Reels trying to figure out which trend might actually work for your business, you can just check what we found this week.
See This Week’s Instagram Trends →
And if you see one you want to try, there’s an even easier option.
We turn our favorite trends into ready-to-customize Canva templates inside the Trend Edit, so you can make it yours without spending an hour recreating the format from scratch.
