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)

→ “I’m going to name him Tarzan” trend: This audio is being used to highlight a choice made by oneself or someone you know that’s not exactly the best, but you’re going to be supportive anyways – cheerleader to the end if you will! This example about every kid in the 2010s thinking that painting their room teal was a good idea nails it. The best most lighthearted political application of this would fall into the buddy humor category amongst two reps, colleagues, etc. And with that, the decision that’s certainly “a choice” is one that doesn’t have anything to do with politics – maybe it’s eating mayo (ew), maybe it’s wearing an eagle costume to work (random) – the options are endless but should feel aligned with the participants' personalities. 

→ “Baby, you got to go to hell” Trend: This is a quick and easy lip-sync trend that can be used to highlight someone’s horrid behavior or track record. To make it happen, simply lip-sync this audio, and then do one of the following things:

→ “You owe me money” Trend: This audio is being used for a number of trends, but the use case that comes to mind is for showing how much money in damages the Republicans owe taxpayers, specific groups suing etc. With that in mind, orgs or groups that are suing the Trump Admin or any of its members would do well with this trend. The visual element of the video could take on this format or other direct-to-camera styles, with either text added to the screen sharing the why/who/what/when of a lawsuit a group has undertaken, or by adding a screenshot of coverage of the lawsuit.

→ “How life sounds when…” Trend: This trend is based around this audio, which is supposed to illustrate what it sounds like when something positive happens – you get promoted, you book a vacation, etc. The videos are often built off b-roll of the positive/win captured like this, with text added. Other formats include videos like this, which through the creator’s behavior show joy with the reason explained via text being the key hook. For electeds, this trend can be used to highlight an accomplishment. For candidates, this trend can be altered slightly to “how life WILL sound when…” and the rest of the sentence can be something like “flip the district blue” or “get a fighter in DC.”

Trending TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → original sound ProbbyKTB *use this for vlog background audio or carousels

AUDIO → son original walid smili *use for videos that have a nostalgic yet inspirational feel

AUDIO → original sound Sarit_^Sentho *use over a video of your principal walking past someone they despise but have to work with – mostly using the first segment of the audio

AUDIO → Night of Arara II *use for carousels where you’re building out a story across the slides

AUDIO → original sounds saxboybill18 *use this if you’re based in or visiting Madison, Wisconsin 

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Creative content concepts to try and post on TikTok too

→ “Girl grip” Trend: The girlies will get this trend, no explainer really necessary – but the trend has the girlies showing their girl grip, also known as girl claw in action. In other words, putting as many things as possible in one’s hands and balancing it with ease and grace to this audio, with “girl grip” added via text on screen. For politicos, I’d recommend adding in a thing or two that makes a nod to something political – for example, the notebook being held has the org’s logo on it, or stickers with a message, etc. The trend provides the perfect opportunity for reliability meets subliminal messaging. 

→ “whenmybosssays” / “whenmymomsays” Trend: This trend started on TikTok, but is seeming to have more legs on Instagram Reels. The trend is centered around not taking “advice,” with this sidestep illustrated with the text on screen. From the political end, a few example use cases:

→ “I don’t feel so good, I think I need a…” Trend: This trend is two-part. In the first the creator is playing the audience, saying that they don’t feel good and need something. The sarcastic expectation is that the audience will think they need something distinctly medical (ex: Advil), but the creator drops what they really need in the second half – in this case, it’s a reveal that their friend became a doctor. In other examples, the trend reveals that the creator needs a girls trip, a yap sesh, a new haircut – there’s the gamut. For politicos that have achieved something recently, this trend provides a creative way to share the achievement. Let’s take a recent achievement in Virginia as an example:

The trend uses this audio on Reels, and to note, is also starting to take its own form on TikTok.

→ “Naming your kid if you could only use industry terms” Trend: This trend is super fun and making its way around offices of all varieties. The concept is asking people in the office what they would name their child if they could only name their child after a term used in their industry – ex: for a lawyer, a choice might be “Court.” Of course this can easily apply to government terms, campaign terms, and other segments of the political space. This is of course great for offices that are a-okay with being a part of the content.

Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → “we needed this” original audio *use with storm b-roll or make it into a skit mid-rain storm (2 people); use the caption to discuss the impacts of drought and policies that are pro-climate

AUDIO → Little Magic *use for vlog-style b-roll and carousels; positive, uplifting, forward-thinking content only

AUDIO → Hey, look at this!Hey! Audio *use for carousels, namely infographics (yes, sometimes on rare occasions these are still the move) or static posts sharing an endorsement from an org/group

AUDIO → original audio *use with video that goes from lightly negative to positive, and quickly shows that transition

AUDIO → Missing (Todd Terry Remix Edit) *use with b-roll based content that shows that things have changed in a negative way

AUDIO → The Middle *use with b-roll that captures an upward trajectory (ex: early days of a campaign through winning a primary)

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost by giving an example of this country being run like Ponzi scheme currently or some other form of corruption. 

The Thread → Reply OR repost by explaining the GOP in-fighting around this.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing something that you thought was going in a positive direction that either stalled or is now DOA.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing further data on abortion being lifesaving healthcare. 

The Thread → Reply OR repost by adding another positive blast from the past making a comeback. 

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing what else the J6 slush fund could’ve covered.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by explaining why this is critical this year and beyond.

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky

Ben Palmer

GOP Bill Delay

ICE Protests

Epstein Files

Mark Carney

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