Trending Hashtag

Written by Cobus van der Westhuizen, reviewed by Wynand van der Westhuizen, fact-checked by Lenata Oosthuizen. Last reviewed July 2026. Editorial policy.

What Is a Trending Hashtag?

A trending hashtag is a hashtag that has seen a sudden, measurable increase in usage over a short period on a social platform such as TikTok, Instagram, or X. Most major platforms display a trending section or explore tab that surfaces these tags in real time, often filtered by country or region. When a hashtag trends, it means a very large volume of people are posting, searching for, and engaging with content tagged under that topic simultaneously.

Trends arise from many sources. A major sporting result, a popular television moment, a political event, or an entertainment release can all trigger a trending hashtag within minutes. In South Africa, local cultural events such as the Springboks winning a test match, load-shedding announcements, or nationally loved TV programmes regularly generate trending hashtags that are specific to the SA audience. This locality matters because a tag trending globally may have no relevance to a Durban-based restaurant, while a tag trending specifically in South Africa may represent a perfect moment for that business to connect with its community.

For marketers, the window of opportunity with a trending hashtag is narrow. Research consistently shows that the majority of engagement on a trending topic occurs within the first few hours. This is why social media managers who monitor trends actively, and who have content creation processes fast enough to respond, consistently outperform those who plan weeks in advance and never deviate. A well-timed, on-brand contribution to a relevant trend can generate more organic reach than weeks of regular posting. That said, trends also carry risk: joining a trend that turns negative, or one with no genuine connection to your brand, can attract criticism and damage trust.

Trending Hashtag In Practice

The scenario below is an illustrative example, not a Juicy Designs client result. The figures indicate the scale of effect that trending hashtag work typically produces, so treat them as indicative rather than measured.

Picture a Cape Town-based craft beer brand that monitors trending sports hashtags during a major rugby tournament season. When a specific post-match hashtag trends after a memorable Springbok performance, the brand might post a celebratory piece of content with the trending tag, its own branded hashtag, and a relevant product shot. If the content is creative and the timing is right, a post of this kind could plausibly attract thousands of engagements from people browsing that trend, many of whom would never have heard of the brand before.

The critical rule is relevance and authenticity. South African audiences, like audiences everywhere, respond poorly to brands that appear to be exploiting a serious or sensitive trend for commercial gain. The brands that win at trend marketing are those that have a genuine connection to the topic and can contribute something of value, whether that is humour, celebration, information, or a compelling visual. Building a hashtag strategy that includes a real-time monitoring component is the most reliable way to capitalise on trending moments without making costly missteps.

What a trending hashtag is

A trending hashtag is a hashtag that is currently experiencing a surge in use and popularity on a social platform, reflecting a topic, event or moment that many people are posting about at that time. Platforms surface trending hashtags and topics to show what is popular right now, and they change quickly, rising and fading as attention moves. Trending hashtags represent moments of concentrated attention, a major news event, a cultural moment, a sporting occasion, a viral meme, where large numbers of people are searching and posting under the same tag. For brands, trending hashtags offer a potential opportunity: joining a relevant trend can put a post in front of the large, engaged audience following that trend, extending reach beyond usual followers. But this opportunity comes with an important caveat, relevance and appropriateness, because using a trending hashtag that has nothing to do with your brand, or inserting a brand into a serious or sensitive trend, looks opportunistic and can backfire. Trending hashtags are thus a fast-moving, high-attention feature of social media that brands can sometimes use for reach, but only where the trend genuinely fits the brand and the moment.

Using trending hashtags well

Using trending hashtags effectively rests on relevance, timing and judgement, not on jumping on every trend. The opportunity is real: a trend concentrates a large, active audience under one tag, so a well-judged, genuinely relevant contribution can win reach and engagement a brand would not otherwise get. But the risks are equally real, so the key questions before using a trending hashtag are whether the trend is genuinely relevant to your brand and whether your participation adds something rather than looking like forced opportunism, and whether the trend is appropriate to associate with, since attaching a brand to a serious, tragic or controversial trending topic for marketing purposes reads as tone-deaf and can cause real reputational damage. When a trend does fit, timing matters, trends move fast, so a relevant, well-crafted post while the trend is live captures the moment, whereas a late or laboured effort misses it. For a South African brand, locally-relevant trends (national events, local culture and moments) often offer more genuine fit and resonance than distant global trends. The discipline is selectivity: engage with the few trends that genuinely suit the brand, quickly and authentically, and skip the many that do not, since a forced or inappropriate trend-jump does more harm than the reach is worth. Used with this judgement, trending hashtags are an occasional, opportunistic reach tactic; used indiscriminately, they make a brand look desperate or insensitive, which is why relevance and appropriateness govern their use.

FAQ