Welcome to #VIRAL, The Newsletter, sharing need-to-know content trends and concepts for Dem social media, digital, and comms professionals. Dive into this week’s picks below.
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TikTok Content Trends
Give these a whirl (and post them on Reels & Shorts too)
→ “The radical left, the Marxists,” Audio: This audio of Trump listing out segments of the left and society that he has an issue with is being used to create spoof videos like this one. In the resulting videos, creators are framing those described in the video as their response to questions like:
“Who’d you hang out with last night?”
“Who did you invite to your wedding?
“Who did you go to college with?”
“Who was at the pregame?”
The goal of the videos is to push back on Trump trying to villainize groups of people [also, yes looting is bad and maybe he has a point with that one, but alas]. This trend would be a fun one for thought leaders that want to tap into the intersection of a regular, every day interaction [“Who’d you hang out with last night?] while also keeping politics centered.
→ “They said we were red flags” Trend: Liberal creators are using this trend to showcase that they’ve always been blue to bone. The carousel trend, which taps this audio into play, uses three slides that follow this formula:
Slide 1: Image of at least two liberal besties/siblings/fam members with text added that says “they said we were red flags” with the red flag emoji added.
Slide 2: A second image of the same people with text added that says “which is crazy because.”
Slide 3: A third image that’s a throwback/TBT that specifically shows that this crew was blue/Dem forever and always. Text should be added that says “we’ve always been blue.”
→ “Just be yourself” Trend: This trend has creators sharing what happened when they acted on the advice given to them to “just be themselves.” The circumstances shared are all over the place, from heinous results, to funny results, to amazing results. To the ‘amazing results’ end of things, a politico could use the trend to share that being themselves resulted in them: running for office, becoming an activist, going to law school, etc. By design, the trend uses this audio and looks like this in application most often, but can generally feature a video of the principal and text added in the formula shown.
→ “I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics” Audio: This Taylor Swift audio has come out of the archives and is being used by creators to showcase that they like wearing pink just as much as they like telling people around them about their political feels. The resulting trend includes carousel posts like this and videos like this with the principal creator wearing pink. Should you go the video route, b-roll of the principal wearing pink works as well.
→ “We have confirmed you are possessed by demons” Audio: This audio feels like what it would be like for many people to walk into an ultra-conservative church environment. And as a result, it can be used to highlight weird ultra-conservative views – for example, “POV: you mention abortion at a megachurch.” It can also be used to generally highlight someone coming at you for wild reasons, like this.
TikTok Audios
TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids
AUDIO → Punkrocker
AUDIO → All Too Well
AUDIO → Music of Italy Instrumental
AUDIO → Evan Jacobson Sparks
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Instagram Trends
Creative content concepts to try
→ “Hard times for opinionated bitches” Audio: The title of this trend really teases what’s inside this audio of gold. And yes, it really is hard times for opinionated people. Anyways, the audio can be used for a lip-sync style video that’s upgraded with an example of the principal creator being opinionated added to the video – this can be done with text or a screenshot of said situation. It can also be a two part video, with the lip-sync portion first followed by a video example of the principal speaking their mind.
→ “My IG story versus what the table next to us heard” Trend: This trend pairs this audio with an image that would classically be posted to someone’s IG story, to illustrate the difference in experience had by the Story viewer versus the people next to the post IRL. It’s giving contrast between sophisticated and rowdy. The trend can be made political in the location portion of the trend [ex: “what the people seated next to us at XYZ event heard”].
→ “Code Names” Trend: This trend is absolutely cousins with the one shared above. Via this Reel it depicts a convo with a bestie that refers to all the characters mentioned by code names. As we all know, code names with besties are hilarious and relatable, and also connect to the world of politics where you can only talk about people in the larger space via code name. The audio can be used as the background for a political version [change the text on the screen to something like “when you’re dropping the tea but you’re on the Hill”]. Or instead of using this particular audio, creators can generate their own variation.
IG Reels Audios
Background audios that make Reels move
AUDIO → About You
AUDIO → We Are One
AUDIO → Ooo Baby Baby
AUDIO → Quando Quando Quando
AUDIO → So Far So Fake
Threads to Thread
Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing an economic stat of late that further proves that we’re in the opposite of a “golden age.”
The Thread → Reply OR repost by naming another example of a man in politics being too emotional to lead (can be the same man).
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing another Trump lie.
The Thread → Reply OR repost by adding another three accomplishments of failure that the GOP have achieved while having control of the White House, Senate, and the House.
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing details on another OBGYN desert and its impact on maternal and infant health.
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing something that the $20 billion Trump is giving to Argentina could pay for [ex: healthcare].
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing another every day item where the prices are skyrocketing the the “why” behind it.
Skies Are Blue
Trending topics ATM on Bluesky
Amazon Settlement
South Park
Ryan Walters
DOGE Report
Astros
Fire Emblem Shadows
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