Welcome to #VIRAL, The Newsletter from Girl and the Gov®, sharing need-to-know content trends and concepts for Dem social media, digital, and comms professionals. For 1v1 tailored help building out your social media, book an Office Hours Session or an Audit here.

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Give these a whirl (and post them on Reels & Shorts too)

→ “Get ‘em banned” Trend: This audio is being used to highlight things that are heinous and an immediate no – in other words they should be banned. The examples of course run the gamut, from a nail shape like this to a behavior of an ex, and beyond. Politically-speaking, there are loads of heinous actions/behaviors/items that could work with this trend. Once you pick your poison, put this audio over b-roll of the item/behavior in action that you’re trying to showcase as heinous OR take on a lip-sync meets text on screen variation like this [video in this variation should be sped up].

→ “I don’t believe in that stuff anymore” Trend: This audio is being used to show the contrast between what someone used to believe in versus now. In an application, like this, it’s a carousel trend, using essentially a before and after format. The “after” is where the text on screen opportunity comes into play in the form of emojis like this; emojis that align a creator’s current viewpoints should be littered across the image [as best as one can do with the emojis available]. The caption for this trend serves as an opportunity to share more about one’s evolution in views. To note, this doesn’t just have to be about swapping parties or candidates, it can be done within one’s own “side” or even touch lighter topics like clothing style choices.

→ “Post the best sunset you’ve ever seen” Trend: This super simple audio is a prompt to post the best sunset you’ve ever seen. And here’s the thing, I would guarantee you that you’ve had a gorgeous sunset in your district/city/area that provides an opportunity to show how amazing it is, and how much pride you have in it. It also provides an opportunity, especially in the caption, to share more about the area with people that might not be super familiar with it [hellooo, tourism and small business dollars].

→ “We lost Biggie y’all” Trend: This trend has people sharing who they’ve either cut out of their lives/friend groups/families or have seen move to another polar opposite team. In a political sense, it could be applied to when the Dem space loses a celeb, a CEO, or a thought leader to Trump land. The use case is awareness, sharing with people where people or orgs stand. Style-wise, the video can be done a few ways, using this audio:

Trending TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → rue you owe me money *use to point fingers at the Trump Admin for holding back Congressionally allocated funds; make sure to share what the funding that’s owed is for

AUDIO → dying for you *use if you decide to dive into or connect with the Wuthering Heights discourse 

AUDIO → original sound *use for moments of build-up that are laced with sarcasm, like a trolling meme situation

Creative content concepts to try

→ “Can you break it down for me” Trend: This two-person trend features one person asking the other to break down something they don’t understand, and the other person responding with a variation of a break dance, like this. The trend can be made political by including a political tidbit in the question, followed by the real, actual answer/an explainer in the comments to complement the spoofy element of the Reel. For the Reel, use this audio.

→ “Horrible things ____ said while ____” Trend: This trend largely features couples sharing in a sarcastic way, the “horrible” things that their partner said to them while renovating, or perhaps putting together an IKEA dresser or a Barbie mansion. It’s love meets eye rolls meets couple humor. While the political interpretation could be a road trip version, with staffers quarreling, or an office reno gone topsy turvey, it could also be evolved to feature the heinous comments that elects/candidates/thought leaders get; the goal isn’t sympathy, it’s to make the asshats [excuse my French] look as they are – as asshats. For the format, think a b-roll video of the account’s principal creator typing at their computer, scrolling on their phone, etc, with screenshots of some of the comments imposed on the video [1-1.5 seconds per comment].

→ “Mugs and messages” Trend: This trend has creators sharing a message in their mug – what does that mean? This – this is what that means in application. Essentially, the trend pairs a simple b-roll video of a creator holding a filled coffee mug with a message appearing in the center, either filtering through word by word, phrase by phrase, or simply being one isolated message. For a political application, pick a short n’ sweet message you want to get across, and bring it to life like so.

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Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → All My Love *use this with b-roll meant to depict something on an upward trajectory 

AUDIO → endless summer days *an evergreen summer-focused audio to save for warmer days ahead or to use to tease those days

AUDIO → Softly *use for a carousel sharing a round-up of bad/revealing news

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing something political this person [and thus their viewers on the thread] should know.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing a historical American figure that would provide a great educational/learning experience. Share details on the ‘who.’

The Thread → Reply OR repost with something political that’s “made you happier.”

The Thread → Reply OR repost by naming a political ‘sound’ – something niche – that’s super satisfying.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing details of the Wisconsin Dems’ plans that were blocked by the GOP and what constituents can do about it.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing yourself in a jean skirt **only if you enjoy being roasted – this has become a platform-wide inside joke via this creator roasting people for thinking jean skirts look good

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky

Ukraine Support

Royal Arrest

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

AEW Wrestling

AEW Dynamite

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