Trend-to-Expertise Translation
Translate a live cultural trend through the craft your audience expects from you
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 99%
Trend-to-Expertise Translation begins with a timely cultural signal but refuses to copy it in its native form. The creator asks how the meme, phrase, product, or conversation can become an expression of the skill people already follow them for. Ilese translates internet culture into songwriting: she notices a phenomenon, researches it when necessary, extracts accurate or recognizable references, and packages them into a short song. This preserves relevance and creator identity at the same time. The trend supplies attention and shared context; expertise supplies differentiation and quality. Because cultural signals decay quickly, the method favors compact experiments that can be produced and released while the audience still recognizes the reference.
Origin
Ilese described turning trends such as “berries and cream,” gaming, and crypto into short songs grounded in her songwriting identity. Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain.
Core principles
- 01A trend is raw material, not finished content
- 02The creator's established expertise should shape the adaptation
- 03Genuine inspiration produces stronger work than opportunistic imitation
- 04Fast experiments can test whether a cultural reference fits the audience
- 05Research can add accurate, artful details when the topic is unfamiliar
How to run it
- 1
Notice a live signal
Track recurring phrases, memes, products, and debates appearing in the culture around your audience.
Pro tip Pay attention to references that provoke genuine curiosity or emotion in you.
Watch out Do not treat every trending topic as automatically relevant.
- 2
Find the authentic connection
Explain why the trend interests you and how it intersects with your experiences, perspective, or field.
Pro tip Use irritation, fascination, humor, or personal experience as the bridge.
Watch out If you cannot articulate a real connection, skip the trend.
- 3
Translate through your expertise
Turn the reference into the format and craft for which your audience already knows you.
Pro tip Preserve recognizable elements of both the trend and your normal work.
Watch out Copying the trend unchanged makes the content interchangeable.
- 4
Research unfamiliar terrain
Learn enough terminology and context to make references accurate and meaningful.
Pro tip Collect a small set of details that can do double duty as information and creative material.
Watch out Superficial or incorrect references can alienate people who know the topic.
- 5
Ship a timely experiment
Produce the smallest complete version that tests whether the translation resonates and release it promptly.
Pro tip Short-form platforms reward concise executions that reach the recognizable hook quickly.
Watch out Overproducing can cause the trend to pass before publication.
In the wild
When the “berries and cream” clip was trending, Ilese asked how she could turn it into a song. She wrote a 15-second chorus ending with the phrase and incorporated the viral sample.
→ The execution performed well while remaining clearly connected to her songwriting specialty.
Ilese and her collaborators knew little about crypto, so they spent an hour or two researching its terminology before writing “Crypto Boy.” They used the resulting vocabulary to make artful references that made sense inside the song.
→ An unfamiliar cultural conversation became credible creative material and eventually reached a new audience on Twitter.
Common mistakes
Copying instead of translating
Reproducing a popular format without applying distinctive expertise creates little reason to choose one creator over another.
Forcing relevance
Using a trend solely because it is popular can produce work the creator neither enjoys nor stands behind.
Skipping research
An adaptation built on misunderstood terminology can feel inauthentic and fail with the very community it references.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for creators and brands with a recognizable craft that can reinterpret current memes, products, events, or conversations.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the trend conflicts with the creator's values, offers no authentic creative connection, or has already expired.
From the transcript
“I would say definitely if something is trending, making a video or piece of content that's true to you around that is a good trick.”
“And it's really about like taking something that's going viral and applying it to your field of expertise.”
“So I remember we took like an hour or two to kind of just like deep dive on crypto and try and learn all the…”
From the episode
The Secrets of TikTok Revealed w/ Salem Ilese
Salem Ilese