14 Simple Solutions for Tracking Your Industry’s Trends

Staying on top of trends in your industry is critical. But with so much information out there (and a 24/7, global news cycle), finding the information you need is becoming a full-time job. Fourteen entrepreneurs from YEC recommend tools that can help cut through the clutter – no matter what industry you’re in.

1. Feedly

Feedly is a great way to keep up with trends and news stories. You tell Feedly the stories, outlets, keywords, or trends you care about, and it aggregates all of your news into one easy-to-manage list. Both the app and the Chrome extension are really easy to use and will save you from having to visit site after site after site. –Brittany Hodak, ZinePak

2. Pulse

For me, Pulse is the best app for aggregating news feeds. I appreciate its simplicity and enjoy the subscription model that includes only the sources I care about. It’s an easy and efficient way for me to keep up to date on industry trends but also on my other interests. – Andrew Thomas, SkyBell Technologies, Inc.

3. Stratfor Global Intelligence

We use Stratfor Global Intelligence as a geopolitical intelligence firm that provides intelligence information and aggregates trends and articles from sources worldwide. They help us anticipate opportunities and events worldwide, giving us a better understanding on international developments. In short, their analysis and forecasting capabilities cover over 175 countries and regions. – George Mavromaras, Mavro Inc. | Praetor Global LLC.

4. Facebook

I found that Facebook actually works as a great news aggregator where you can ‘like’ all of the industry publications and quickly review them through the ‘Pages Feed.’ It’s more useful than Twitter because it combines pictures and enough text to know if it’s an article of interest. – David Sendroff, Forensiq

5. Slack

Slack is a chat application that our teammates use to communicate more easily. It acts as an in-house social media network where we share a variety of content including relevant news. We’ll share things ranging from popular news to funny memes to team photos. – Nanxi Liu, Enplug

6. Private Lists on Twitter

I spent ~30 mins every month reconfiguring my Twitter feed to make sure I get access to all relevant industry news/trends. Using private lists is a great way to manage and sort a plethora of information. – Ashish Rangnekar, BenchPrep

7. Moz Top 10

The Moz Top 10 is an email newsletter that shares inbound marketing news, insider tips and great links uncovered by the Moz team. Subscribe today and you’ll stay up to date with all the latest Internet marketing trends. – Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

8. Hacker News

I used to have a feed reader full of blogs and various news sources that I would check daily. The problem is, this would take a massive amount of time that I didn’t have. The solution I’ve found is to check just one source each day — Hacker News. I’ve found that everything I found interesting in my feeds is already in Hacker News, neatly curated by the community. – James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

9. Launch Ticker

Jason Calacanis created the Launch Ticker to help busy entrepreneurs receive the most important tech news in their inbox every day. No more should we need to browse through every blog post that is published. Launch Ticker filters through the nonsense to deliver to you what is most important. It’s a major time saver that I never mind paying $5 per month for. – Logan Lenz, Endagon

10. NewsBlur

Create an RSS feed through a website such as NewsBlur. You can set it up to only receive news relevant to your industry, leaving you the time you need to run your company. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

11. Flipboard App

The Flipboard app allows me to flip through and digest information at a much higher pace than I would otherwise. – Xenios Thrasyvoulou, PeoplePerHour

12. My Network

Build a network of other business owners that are in the same industry / space. I have 10 other owners that I believe are “thought leaders” and at the forefront of the industry, and I make it a point to talk to them every quarter. I literally schedule in my calendar time to call them and to just talk about what is going on and what they are seeing, hearing and doing. – Matt Ames, MN Pro Paintball

13. Customized Google Alerts

Google Alerts are great to use to stay on top of industry news, competitors and your own press. You simply put in any keywords as an alert and when any keywords appear in the news you’ll get an email about it. You can customize the frequency of the emails at well if you feel like you’re getting too many. – Zachary Yungst, Cater2.me

14. Your Industry News of Choice

For me, to follow what’s happening in the oil and gas industry I follow Oil and Gas Investor Magazine and use DrillingInfo.com to view current data on production and drilling. I also keep up with multiple scouting reports that detail permit and rig activity. I refer to these resources daily to help me keep informed and knowledgeable about the industry. You can do the same for your industry. — Joseph DeWoody, Clear Fork Royalty

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