My anti-FOMO trend system for marketers

How I track what’s blowing up without frying my brain.

Day 76/100 (Final stretch now)

 

Hey—It's Tim. 

I just moved my ass outta Vancouver and into the mountains above Osoyoos.
Thought I was trading clouds for sunshine.

It’s May. It snowed yesterday.
Absolutely blew my little brain.

So I’m standing there, frost on the windows, refreshing Google Trends like it’s a slot machine -
watching “OpenAI” spike
“TikTok Notes” drop
“Marketing’s dead” rise from the grave again.

And I realised:
This habit is insane.
Refreshing trends daily with no system is how your brain gets turned into scroll soup.

So here’s how I fixed it.
A simple, pragmatic way to monitor trends - without frying your brain.

 

1. Set up your radar (once)

Create a system that tells you what’s popping off — without you having to go dig.

Here’s my stack:

Reddit → r/popular

  • Great for spotting early waves (like “niche idea goes mainstream” stuff).

  • This is my fav tool for this - https://reddstats.com/

    • Like legit, no one knows about this site.

  • Free version gives 3–5 hot topics with actual velocity data

  • If you’ve got budget, Pro has historical growth charts and SEO insights

 

2. Put it on autopilot

Instead of checking 10 sites, get the web to come to you.

Here’s how:

Google Alerts

  • Set alerts for keywords like:
    "[niche] trend", "new [tool] for [job]", "[your industry] is dead"

  • Make them weekly (not daily) to avoid burnout.

Use Mailbrew / Feedly / Stoop

  • Curate your own “trends feed” from blogs, subreddits, YouTube channels, newsletters.

  • Takes 10 mins to set up. Saves you hours.

Calendar block: 1x/week trend scan

  • Pick a 30-min window. That’s it.

  • No scrolling. No FOMO. Just check your dashboards, note anything interesting, and move on.

 

3. Build a “Trend Vault”

Most trends aren’t useful today. But they might be next month.

That’s why you want a dead-simple tracking vault.
Here’s mine:

Notion or Coda table with:

  • Trend name

  • Source / link

  • Why it matters

  • Content idea / angle

Optional: Add columns like “spiking,” “simmering,” “dead” if you’re feeling spicy.

Every Monday, scan your vault → pick 1 trend → ship something.
A post, a meme, a blog, a quick email. That’s the game.

 

Thinking of building a simple “Trends Dashboard”

One tab. All your signals. No scroll hole.
Google Trends + Reddit + some extras… all in one spot.

Nothing fancy. Just the shit you need.

Would that be useful?
Reply with a “hell yes” or just hit me with a “🧠” emoji — I’ll take the hint.

 

TL;DR for people who scroll like me:

  • Set up radar tools (Google Trends, Reddit, Twitter, Exploding Topics)

  • Automate info intake (alerts, newsletters, feeds)

  • Save trends to a vault you check weekly

  • Stop scrolling. Start shipping

See you tomorrow.

 

✌️ Tim “Refresh Button Addict” Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

 

P.S. It’s Monday. The to-do list is already side-eyeing you. Pretend you don’t see it.

 

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.
 

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