For Brands That Follow Creator Trends, the Possibilities Are Endless

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, Dorothy Hui of Sony Music U.K.'s 4th Floor Creative describes the team effort for following user-generated content that derives from the brand. Below, in her own words, she suggests that with close monitoring, you'll know when the time is right to lean in. The challenge At 4th Floor Creative, trends are always top of mind. We continually look for emerging patterns in audience behaviors that may influence how we market our artists. These trends could span tech and business or conversational topics linked to cultural moments such as back-to-school season, London Fashion Week or National Album Day. A key area where we have monitored trends is user-generated content (UGC) platforms—notably through short-form videos on platforms including TikTok, Instagram and more. With the growth of these platforms as channels for spawning and participating in trends, creators and micro-communities within UGC are helping kindle new opportunities for discovering emerging artists' music, as well as driving fan engagement with classic artists. Analysis of UGC trends—which includes identifying key characteristics and metrics related to the audio used in them—is part of the work that our labels, and our digital and audience development team, now do every day. This allows us to continue to build our understanding of the catalysts behind creation and on- and off-platform consumption. The process We take a crossfunctional approach, drawing on work from teams including digital and new tech, insight and analytics, and partner development, in conjunction with many Sony Music U.K. record labels. Each of these departments has a role to play in our ongoing process of identifying new UGC trends and their business impact, monitoring how the creative evolves and coming up with ways for artists to engage with them. Our goal is to further elevate UGC engagement as its own KPI, using it as a measure of social interaction to consider beyond the metrics of likes, shares and comments. Through this effort, we’ve noticed branching creative as an interesting characteristic of UGC trends, as users and communities introduce new creatives for videos made to a trending track. In the case of singer-songwriter Tom Odell, his catalog track “Another Love,” originally released in 2013, became the soundtrack to a TikTok trend earlier this year. Users first used the sound as part of a Vampire Diaries trend; then videos featured users tearfully looking into the camera before smiling or bursting into dance; and yet another creative branch centered around soccer moments. We used this as an opportunity for Odell himself to get involved—it was at this stage in the trend that he posted a response on TikTok, performed the song live and deepened his presence on the platform. The song went on to trend for around five months. Similarly, a trend sprung up around rock band Bring Me the Horizon’s “Can You Feel My Heart,” also released in 2013, this time featuring creators lip-synching the lyrics to darkened backgrounds and changing lights. The trend branched to feature videos of anime clips that transition into falling and, later, slow-mo falling into beds, leaves, ball pits and trampolines. The band shared a series of video responses, which led them to team up with musician and TikToker Jeris Johnson on a remix released earlier this year. Through analysis of these and other notable UGC trends and their creatives, we were able to share learnings on the best approach for artists to participate as part of the community. The takeaway Social media has always been a participatory medium. The continued evolution in user-generated content opens up unexpected directions and creative opportunities for brands. For UGC trends that arise involving your brand, monitor the creative and sentiment associated with it—and how creator communities may evolve these over time. When you feel there’s a fit with your brand identity, consider making a well-timed move to get involved with it—and lean in when you do.