Last month, OnMilwaukee senior writer Molly Snyder asked me a simple question via e-mail:
Where do you go/how do you figure out the up-to-the-minute latest trends? Obvi I know I can see what's trending via social media, but other suggestions?
I loved the question, and we had a great back-and-forth exchange of ideas and thoughts.
Trends are tricky. No one wants to be rooted only in trends, but staying on top of them is vital. How do we do it? Other than always embracing curiosity, and strolling through creative local venues like the Milwaukee Art Museum to find inspiration, there are many sources for trends and trending information.
These ways are easy: Explore what's trending on Twitter or Moments, or via a service like Trends24, and dive into Google Trends.
I always enjoy and learn from WSJ's "The Future of Everything" and make it a point, at least weekly, to look at the top iTunes songs, iBooks and Amazon sales.
Also, I make a concerted effort to read sites that I regularly don’t. Random visits to fashion sites, healthy living sites, political sites, etc. Out of my comfort zone stuff.
Nexter and DailyDot, a Billboard site, also are good stops. For greater Milwaukee needs, the MMAC publishes economic trends.
There’s a lot more than just those above, of course, but adding these trends tricks to your world will help. How you process and use them … well, that’s up to you!
Take the first step and dive in, though. It will only help you to keep kicking butt and forging onward into the future.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
