Back in early 2014, I came across a content discovery tool called BuzzSumo. Steve Rayson, who regularly writes for Social Media Today, had referenced BuzzSumo data in one of his posts, so I clicked through, checked it out - and honestly, I was awed by the many varied applications I could immediately use this data for.
In basic form, BuzzSumo shows you the social share stats for any URL, website or topic. In itself, this is pretty helpful, but one of the more impressive elements of BuzzSumo is the developers' awareness of how this data will be used, and what data will be useful. As such, over time they've added a range of additional features: you can filter the results by language or region; you can narrow the listing down to content type - infographics, videos, interviews; they added the ability to search for influencers on any given topic, reports to compare domains or examine backlinks, by URL or domain. As more new functions have been added, I've found myself using and recommending the app ever more frequently.
If you've not taken the time to check out BuzzSumo, you should, it really is a great app. And now they've got another addition - Steve recently got in touch to give me a look at their latest feature.
On Trend
BuzzSumo's latest trick is monitoring trending content. The new feature enables you to set up a dashboard of trending or most shared content based on whatever keywords and topics you'd like to keep tabs on.
In this example, the dashboard is set to show the most shared content under the topic of 'social media' over the last 24 hours. You can see the keywords I've used to track this in the listing just above the posts:
The dashboard is tracking the terms 'social media', 'LinkedIn', 'Facebook', etc. Any topic that mentions those terms is included in this dashboard, which is sorted by most shared to least. There's a range of additional filters you can apply to the results - you can include results from the last 24 hours, or the last 2 hours, and anything in between. You can also narrow the listing down by country and by either 'Most Shared' or 'Trending Now'.
If you choose 'Trending Now', the results will be listed based on each item's trending score, which measures the velocity of shares within a specified time period. This is a great way to stay on top of the content attracting the most interest in specific niches or based on your target keywords - you can also include hashtags in your search terms to capture all relevant discussion.
What's more, you can share your dashboards with anyone - logged out users can view the content, so you could make a dashboard capturing all mentions of, say, an event and the BuzzSumo trending log will form a comprehensive overview of the most discussed and trending content related to it - this one, for example, is looking at the UK General Election campaign:
New Possibilities
Now, if you're mind's not already floating off with the various possibilities of this new function, here are a few ways in which the feature could be useful:
- Content curation - The most obvious benefit of this new functionality is for content curation. Being able to identify the most popular and trending content, based on your specified keywords - in your specific region - is great insight into what's resonating, and what's likely to be of relevance to your audience. Not only does this enable you to stay on top of developing discussion points and issues in your niche, it can also act as a guide when considering what to share with your community to keep them up to date
- Content creation - So, if you have a trending dashboard set up and you can see that a certain issue is running hot, and you have your own perspective to add to the discussion, that's probably a good cue for you to get writing. Adding your personal insight to a trending issue can go a long way towards reinforcing your position as a leader in your field - having the list of trending topics, right there in front of you, could save you a heap of time in searching and locating relevant content by other methods
- Insight - Not only are you getting valuable insight into what content is trending, BuzzSumo's listings also show you where that content is reaching an audience. You can see below the preview images for each post that there's also a listing of how many shares each story has generated on the five major social platforms. This effectively highlights the platforms you need to be active on in order to reach the audience discussing those topics - locating and tapping into those conversations could prove extremely valuable, as, targeted with your specific keywords, it's leading you directly to your where your target audience is at. There's obviously a bit more to it than just logging on and jumping into a trending conversation, but it's a guide, an indicator of where to look. And maybe it'll show you opportunities you'd not have previously considered
These are the three main uses for the trending dashboard from a straight marketing and research perspective. But as noted in the event example above, there are a heap more ways you could consider using this. There's also an RSS feature that you can use to stay informed with the most up-to-date info on trending topics in your industry - and the terms you use to create the board are defined by you, so you can make it as specific or broad-matched as you like.
New Depths
As noted previously, I've been pretty impressed by BuzzSumo's progression - their features always add a new level of depth, and they've really thought through the functionality and user-friendliness of the process when putting together these features. Trending topics again adds another level, and there's a wide range of possible applications and uses for this option. No doubt you're already considering using it for your own purposes, beyond what I've noted here. If you aren't using BuzzSumo, you definitely check it out, and if you are, you'll no doubt love the new feature - another solid addition from the BuzzSumo team.