How to Track Trends for Small Business

As a millennial professor I often get asked to track trends and predict where an industry is going. It is crazy to me that people think I have some magical formula for understanding industry lifecycles. Quite frankly, anyone with an acute eye and some foresight can easily see where an industry or sector is going with the advent of technology. So here I share my secrets with you. These are some accessible and free websites that any small business can you to track consumer trends. And I hope they can spur some creativity and innovation in your business!

• Google Trends: www.google.com/trends

• Microsoft AdCenter Labs: adlab.microsoft.com

• Microsoft AdCenter Labs Keyword Forecast: adlab.microsoft.com/Keyword-Forecast/default.aspx

• Unofficial Facebook Lexicon Blog: www.facebooklexicon.com

• Twitter Grader: http://tweet.grader.com

• Trendpedia: www.attentio.com

• BuzzMetrics: http://www.nmincite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MyBuzzMetrics.pdf

• NielsenBuzzMetrics: nielsen-online.com/products_buzz.jsp?section=pro_buzz

• Trendrr: www.trendrr.com

• Google Analytics: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision/?authuser=0#/provision