I know you’re probably tired of hearing, “Twitter this” and “Instagram that” and “TikTok whatever,” but there’s a reason it’s all over the place. Social media will, at least for the foreseeable future, always be relevant. While it’s vital to be consistent, make connections, and interact with your audience, none of that will work if you aren’t relevant.

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Think about the Twitter account of the popular fast food chain, Wendy’s. Wendy’s, besides being known for their food, is widely known for their social media presence. Is the person running the Wendy’s Twitter account a 14 year-old kid? Probably not. Do they, however, keep up to date with popular trends (some of which are popular with young teens) and reflect those onto their content? Absolutely.

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I’m sure everyone in the country has heard the term “boomer” in a negative context. To put it simply, the way the younger generation describes a “boomer” is someone who is stuck in their old ways and not with the current times.

While calling people “boomers” and calling people out for not being up-to-date with everything happening is rather immature, there is a little bit of truth to it. No one’s asking someone to change everything about themselves or to believe things that they don’t believe in, but people must be able to change with the times.

Changing with the times, in this context, refers mostly to the ever-changing scenery of social media. Trends come and go every day. People come and go every day. Brands come and go every day. On the surface level, there is only one thing that keeps most brands and people afloat: relevance.

But what does relevance really mean? What does it mean to be relevant? It means that you must be up-to-date with current trends. Social media will always be around, but it is sure to change drastically over the years, like it has already. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are not the same platforms they were 10 years ago, so a brand that’s using these social medias like it’s 2011 are not doing it right.

Brands must learn to educate themselves on who their audience is on certain platforms. For example, 42% of Twitter users are between the ages of 18-29. Given that information, brands must target a large amount of their content towards that audience. Popular brands that interact with accounts in that audience and release content that appeals to that audience tend to prevail. Wendy’s, SlimJim, Moonpie’s, and plenty of other accounts have seemed to master the art of using memes and similar content that appeals to a younger audience to their advantage.

At the end of the day, however, a brand needs to stay true to what they represent. If Wendy’s only posted memes and quirky replies, they wouldn’t be getting their message across well. They use the memes and replies to generate more online traffic to their socials, in which they also promote their restaurant.

A brand must use their relevance to their advantage in order to gain more followers who are aware of whatever goods you provide to the people. Once a brand is able to gain that following and obtain it through relevance, the content they actually want to push will perform better. It’s all about staying relevant.