Social Trends: Q3 2024

Rapid response, pop culture, nostalgia and more...

Author

Samer C.
October 14th, 2024 • Reading Time: 6 minutes

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👋 Hey everyone, it’s Samer!

I scoured socials to highlight the trends we saw during the third quarter of 2024.

Today’s issue covers things like:

  • Rapid response social

  • Cultural and format trends

  • Nostalgia and the 90’s aesthetic

  • And more…

Rapid Response Social

There was a time in the mid-2010’s when rapid response social was all the rage (and it was fun to be part of social teams that did rapid response).

It looks like rapid response made a huge comeback in 2024, especially this quarter.

I’ve been thinking about rapid response (as a strategy) for some time and wonder how big brands are incorporating it within their overall social strategy.

Here’s a cool example from Away when they got mentioned in a recent episode of SNL.

Cultural Trends: Demure, Moo Deng, cucumber salad

Jools Lebron going viral with “demure” is a perfect example of cultural trends that took over this quarter.

Here, it’s important to distinguish between cultural trends and format trends (more on this below).

Cultural trends tend to lean heavily on popular culture, be it defining it or participating and amplifying it.

Cultural trends that we saw go huge: Demure, Moo Deng, Logan’s cucumber salad

Format trends are different.

They are easier for brands and creators to participate in because there’s less chance of being “late.”

There’s also room to make the format a bit more unique and customized to a brand.

This quarter we saw a few hilarious format trends: the hilarious We let our GenZ intern edit our video (example below), Anything can be an album cover, Me when I remember I work at…, and the Dolphin/Symphony meme that was everywhere in August.

@mikehege.realtor

Help, she said I was cringe 😭@PridemoreProperties #fyp #breathingguy #breathingrealtor #inhale #genzedit #genzhumor

Nostalgia: 90’s aesthetic

Every time the world is going through tough times, marketing skews to nostalgia to make consumers feel ‘safe.’ It works. It’s nothing new.

Look at how Sabrina Carpenter threw it back with this promo that’s giving 90’s infomercial vibes.

Fashion brands also are first to embrace this trend. This J.Crew video announcing the “return of an icon.”

My favorite brand that’s made 80’s/90’s nostalgic aesthetic it’s entire personality is Vacation sunscreen. I love everything they do!

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