Trend Detection (Deep Research)

What This Does

Trend Detection uses deep research to discover research-backed industry trends before competitors. Unlike basic keyword trend tools, this feature identifies emerging developments supported by actual data, studies, and authoritative sources.

Each weekly scan delivers 5 curated trend opportunities with:

• Research citations from authoritative sources
• Data points with specific statistics and years
• Pillar potential scoring (0-100) to guide content strategy
• Suggested angles for your specific audience
• One-click brief creation to turn trends into content

When to Use This

• Weekly strategic planning: Review new trend opportunities every week
• Content calendar planning: Identify pillar content topics backed by research
• Competitive advantage: Publish authoritative content before competitors notice the trend
• First-mover opportunities: Spot emerging topics when they're still underserved
• Authority building: Create research-backed content that positions you as an industry expert

How Pillar Potential Scoring Works

Each trend gets a pillar potential score (0-100) that determines the best content approach:

Pillar Content (80-100)

What it means: Deep, durable topic with extensive research support

Characteristics:

• Multiple authoritative sources available
• Rich data and statistics
• Broad enough for comprehensive coverage
• Long-term relevance (not just a momentary trend)

Recommendation: Create a comprehensive pillar article (3,000-5,000+ words)

Example: "The Rise of Circular Fashion in Sustainable Brands" (Score: 92)

Trend Brief (50-79)

What it means: Timely topic with moderate depth

Characteristics:

• Solid research backing
• Current industry development
• Medium-term relevance (6-12 months)
• Focused but not comprehensive scope

Recommendation: Create a standard topic brief article (1,500-2,500 words)

Example: "New EU Regulations on Textile Recycling" (Score: 68)

Spoke Article (<50)

What it means: Narrow supporting topic

Characteristics:

• Limited research depth
• Niche focus area
• Supporting role to larger themes
• Quick-hit content opportunity

Recommendation: Create a concise spoke article (800-1,200 words)

Example: "How One Colombian Brand Uses Recycled Ocean Plastic" (Score: 42)

How Trend Discovery Works

1. Industry Context Analysis

The system builds your industry profile from Tenant Settings:

• Industry: Your brand category (e.g., "sustainable fashion")
• Niche: Your specific focus (e.g., "Colombian swimwear")
• Target Audience: Who you're writing for (e.g., "eco-conscious women 25-45")
• Brand Keywords: Terms that define your brand positioning

2. Deep Research Scan

ILLIXIS performs web-wide research looking for:

• Industry reports and studies
• Market analysis from authoritative sources
• Emerging patterns in your niche
• Data-backed developments (not just news)

Lookback period: 60 days (surfaces truly emerging trends, not old news)

3. Opportunity Classification

Each discovered trend receives:

• Relevance scoring based on your industry profile
• Pillar potential based on research depth and durability
• Content type suggestion (pillar/trend brief/spoke)
• Suggested angle tailored to your audience

4. Research Packaging

Trends include:

• Summary: 2-3 sentence overview
• Why it matters: Impact on your industry and audience
• Data points: 3-5 specific statistics with sources and years
• Citations: URLs to authoritative sources
• Suggested angle: Specific content idea for your brand

Using the Trend Dashboard

Status Categories

Trends move through these statuses:

New (Default View)

• Just discovered, needs your review
• Sorted by pillar potential (highest first)
• Shows up to 20 most relevant trends

Reviewed

• You've looked at it but haven't decided yet
• Move here while researching or consulting with team
• Keeps new trends list focused

Accepted

• You've decided to create content from this trend
• Brief generation in progress or complete
• Shows up to 10 most recent

Dismissed

• Not relevant or not worth pursuing
• Hidden from default view
• Can't be undone (filter by status to see)

Reading the Trend Cards

Each trend card shows:

• Title: Headline summarizing the trend
• Pillar Score: Color-coded badge (green = 80+, yellow = 50-79, gray = <50)
• Content Type: Pillar, Trend Brief, or Spoke recommendation
• Summary: Brief overview of what's happening
• Why It Matters: Relevance to your audience (hover/click for full text)
• Scan Date: When this trend was discovered

Viewing Full Details

Click any trend card to see the detail page:

Research Backing:

• Full summary (2-3 paragraphs)
• Complete "Why It Matters" explanation
• Data points list with statistics, sources, and years
• Citations with clickable links to sources

Strategic Guidance:

• Suggested content angle specific to your brand
• Pillar potential score breakdown
• Recommended content type and word count

Actions:

• Create Brief button (pillar or trend brief)
• Dismiss button
• Status update dropdown

Taking Action on Trends

Create Brief from Trend

Click Create Pillar Brief or Create Trend Brief:

1. System queues brief creation task
2. Brief is generated with:

• Target keyword derived from trend title
• Research data pre-populated in analysis
• Citations included as supporting sources
• Suggested angle as brief rationale

3. Status changes to "Accepted"
4. Brief appears in your Briefs dashboard

Processing time: 3-5 minutes (same as standard brief creation)

What happens next:

• Generate content from the brief
• Research is pre-loaded (faster generation)
• Citations included in content where relevant
• Publish authoritative, data-backed article

Update Trend Status

Click the status dropdown to move trends between categories:

Review → Mark for later consideration while you research competitors Accept → Commit to creating content without generating brief yet Dismiss → Hide trends that aren't relevant to your strategy

Note: Changing status does NOT create a brief. Use "Create Brief" button for that.

Running Manual Scans

Click Run Trend Scan to trigger an immediate discovery scan:

When to use:

• You've just updated Tenant Settings (industry, keywords, audience)
• Major industry event happened and you want fresh insights
• Weekly automatic scan hasn't run yet and you need trends now

Processing time: 3-5 minutes (deep web research across hundreds of sources)

Automatic scans: System runs weekly scans automatically (configured in platform settings)

Automation Schedule

Trend detection pulls from multiple sources on different schedules to provide comprehensive coverage:

Post-Processing: After each source completes, the system runs trend scoring and deduplication to:

• Assign pillar potential scores based on research depth
• Remove duplicate trends discovered by multiple sources
• Merge related data points into unified trend cards
• Update the Trend Dashboard with new opportunities

Why Multiple Schedules?

• Different sources have different refresh rates (Google Trends updates daily; deep research is resource-intensive)
• Staggered schedules prevent API rate limit issues
• Ensures fresh trends appear throughout the week, not just on one day

Timezone Note: All times are UTC. If you're in a different timezone, trends will appear in your dashboard by the time you start your workday.

Interpreting Data Points

Each trend includes 3-5 data points. Here's how to read them:

Data Point Format

Statistic: "X% of consumers prioritize sustainability when buying swimwear" Source: McKinsey & Company Year: 2024

Evaluating Data Quality

Strong data points (use these):

• Specific percentages or numbers
• Named authoritative source (research firms, universities, government agencies)
• Recent year (2023-2024)
• Relevant to your niche

Weak data points (verify before using):

• Vague statistics ("many consumers...")
• Unnamed sources ("according to research...")
• Old data (2020 or earlier)
• Tangentially related

Using Citations

Click citation links to:

• Verify the data point in the original source
• Find additional statistics for your article
• Check publication date and methodology
• Cite correctly in your content

Best practice: Read at least 2-3 citations before writing. Don't rely solely on the extracted data points.

Content Strategy Guide

For Pillar Opportunities (80-100)

What to do:

1. Accept the trend and create pillar brief
2. Research ALL citations (spend 30-60 min)
3. Find 3-5 additional authoritative sources
4. Plan comprehensive article structure (10+ sections)
5. Generate content (aim for 3,000-5,000 words)
6. Add original research or case studies if possible
7. Create supporting spoke articles for subtopics

Timeline: This is a 2-4 week content project

ROI: Pillar content can rank for 50+ related keywords and drive traffic for years

For Trend Briefs (50-79)

What to do:

1. Accept and create trend brief
2. Review citations (15-30 min)
3. Generate standard article (1,500-2,500 words)
4. Publish within 1-2 weeks while trend is fresh
5. Update article quarterly as trend develops

Timeline: 1-2 week turnaround

ROI: Timely content captures search volume during trend's peak

For Spoke Articles (<50)

What to do:

1. Consider if it supports existing pillar content
2. If yes: create brief and publish quickly
3. If no: dismiss (not worth standalone effort)

Timeline: Same-day or next-day publish

ROI: Supports pillar rankings, adds depth to topic clusters

Best Practices

Weekly Trend Review Workflow

Monday (5 minutes):

1. Check Trend Intelligence dashboard
2. Scan pillar candidates (80+ scores)
3. Accept 1-2 high-potential trends
4. Dismiss obviously irrelevant trends

Tuesday (30 minutes):

1. Review detailed trend pages for accepted trends
2. Read 2-3 citations per trend
3. Decide: pillar content or trend brief?
4. Create briefs for accepted trends

Wednesday-Friday:

1. Generate content from trend briefs
2. Publish and distribute

First-Mover Advantage Strategy

Goal: Publish before competitors notice the trend

How to identify first-mover opportunities:

• Pillar score 70+ (enough substance to be valuable)
• Citations from last 30 days (very recent research)
• Suggested angle mentions your specific niche
• Google search shows <5 in-depth articles on the topic

Action plan:

1. Accept immediately
2. Create brief same day
3. Generate content next day
4. Publish within 72 hours of trend discovery
5. Promote aggressively (social, email, ads)

Why this works: You'll rank fast because there's little competition. As others publish, your article has age/authority advantage.

Building Authority Series

Strategy: Turn pillar trends into content series

Example:

• Week 1: Discover pillar trend (score 92) about circular fashion
• Week 2: Create pillar brief and comprehensive article
• Week 3: Create 3 spoke articles on subtopics
• Week 4: Create case study from pillar research
• Week 5: Publish original research survey

Result: 5 interconnected articles that establish you as the authority on this trend

Common Questions

Q: Why are some trends not relevant to my business? A: The AI uses your Tenant Settings to filter trends. If irrelevant trends appear frequently, update your Industry, Niche, and Brand Keywords in Settings to refine discovery.

Q: How often should I run manual scans? A: Rarely. Automatic weekly scans are sufficient for most businesses. Only run manual scans if you've just updated settings or need urgent trend research for a campaign.

Q: Should I act on every pillar candidate (80+ score)? A: No. Pillar content is a major investment (20+ hours). Choose 1-2 per month maximum. Prioritize trends where you have unique expertise or case studies to add.

Q: What if I dismiss a trend by mistake? A: Dismissed trends are hidden but not deleted. Filter by status "Dismissed" to find it, then change status back to "New" or "Reviewed."

Q: Can I create a brief from a dismissed trend? A: Yes. Open the trend detail page and click "Create Brief" - works regardless of status.

Q: Why do some trends have no citations? A: Rare, but possible if the research couldn't find strong sources. These are lower-quality trends. Dismiss and focus on trends with 3+ citations.

Q: How do I know if a trend is too old to pursue? A: Check the scan date and citation years. If citations are 2+ years old or scan date is >60 days ago, the trend may have peaked. Search Google to see how much coverage already exists.

Q: Should I use all the data points in my article? A: Use 2-3 strongest data points. Don't force-fit all of them. Find additional statistics from the citations that better support your specific angle.

Related Features

• Strategy Hub: Trend opportunities also appear in the unified opportunity feed
• Keyword Briefs: Standard brief creation for non-trend topics
• Pillar Content: Comprehensive articles that leverage high-scoring trends
• Content Calendar: Schedule publication of trend-based content
• Preference Learning: System learns which trends you accept/reject to improve future scans

Need Help?

If trends seem irrelevant or you're unsure how to act on a trend, check your Tenant Settings (Industry, Niche, Audience) or reach out to support with the trend title and pillar score.