#VIRAL, The Newsletter: May 13, 2025

What's moving the needle on social this week - trends to know and try

Author

Girl and the Gov®
May 13, 2025

Welcome to #VIRAL, The Newsletter, which shares need-to-know content trends and concepts for political 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)

“INSIDE THE ICON” TREND: This audio is being used as part of a two-slide carousel trend that looks like this. The first slide show is an image of the creator in the present day, looking like an icon [you can define this how you want/in a way that works for your purposes]. The second slide is an image of the creator looking like an icon when they were a child. The goal is to show that 1. The creator was always an icon and 2. That the dreams they had as a kid are still steering/guiding them today. This is a natural fit for an elected or candidate — the same goes for a thought leader.

“SUCH A NICE DAY FOR A BEVERIGINO” AUDIO: This is a multi-participant trend that stems from an audio-turned cultural moment circa a few years back. The audio puts forward the concept of getting a ‘beverigino’ with the girls [translation: drinks] and how it’s always nice to do so. From a political lens, this trend can be used to highlight the friendships amongst politicos, namely electeds or recognizable thought leaders. The thesis is really about showing that they know each other, they’re aligned in some way, and they’re in the same rooms together, which in turn translates to the audience that they can ‘group them together.’ To give it a try, grab a few wine glasses, a ring light, and this audio.

“THINGS COMING IN THE MAIL” TREND: This trend has creators sharing what they have coming in the mail, or rather what they’ve ordered recently. It’s mostly used by lifestyle creators with the intent to drive sales of those items. However, it can also be used to share campaign marketing collateral that’s coming in the mail – think yard signs, stickers, palm cards, etc. Instead of items to buy, it’s a behind the scenes moment of what you need to order and have ordered to support awareness of your campaign [and in posting the round-up, you’re also boosting awareness]. To try it, use an image of yourself for the first slide of the carousel with the text “things I have coming in the mail” added to the image. The following carousels should have one image/item per slide and can be made in Canva. For an audio, try this.

“HARD LAUNCH” TREND: If you’re not familiar with the term “hard launch” it’s when a person fully and confidently posts their new partner on social media – like name, face, the whole nine yards. This is versus a soft launch, where a possible partner is “teased” with say something like a Story post that features a man’s arm with a watch alluding to someone being in the picture. Anyways, the concept of soft/hard launches has also been adapted to brands, causes etc when revealing something new to their audience. The latest trend variation of this is depicted here, making a bit of a joke of the concept, with the “launch” being of a dog, a favorite food, etc – anything but a partner really. In that lens, it can be used to launch an accomplishment of a particular office, a resource, a tool – ex: a government spending transparency tracker. To make it happen, use this variation as inspo and use this audio for the background.

TIKTOK AUDIOS

TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → Old Man

AUDIO → Original Sound

AUDIO → Son Original

AUDIO → ‘Bout It

INSTA REELS AUDIOS 

Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → Fade Out Lines

AUDIO → She’s Got You

AUDIO → Gypsy

AUDIO → Pretty Little Baby *Also trending on TikTok

AUDIO → Monky Disco

Creative content concepts to try

“ME ANYTIME” TREND: To best think about this trend, which truly is a bizarre one to describe in writing, first think of something that piques your interest instantly when you hear it or see it. Then apply the thing [political thing that is] that piques your interest and apply it to this Reel format with this audio. The point of the Reel is to highlight something that you’re either interested in, want to be involved in when you hear it mentioned, or are an expert in. 

“I LIKE STUFF” AUDIO: This audio can be used to highlight five things that you like – think policy ideas, bills, rules, regulations – whatever it is that floats your boat politically that you want eyes on. To note, this audio provides five duration spots to plug in the things that you like – that ends/should be cut at around 10 seconds. Format-wise, there’s this route and then there’s also the route of using setting-style video with images [think screenshots of a press release headline] that represent your video’s POV.

THREADS TO THREAD

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost by using this as a jumping off point to discuss what a president is/isn’t allowed to be gifted, and what parameters are supposed to be involved.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by discussing the firing of the Librarian of Congress – the intent, the implications, and the reality.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with another book title/follow up book that could apply to the Trump Admin.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with an explanation of what went down most recently with the Trump x China trade war/tariffs.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with a name of a group chat you’d like to create, be in, make fun of, or via the name put eyes on an issue.

SKIES ARE BLUE

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky to tap into

Julius Randle

RFK Jr.

Star Wars

South Africa

Tory Lanez

Superman

CAPCUT TEMPLATES

Meme it

  • Use this template to drop some tea, behind the scenes info, or just something that people should know about. 

  • Use this template to shame an action of the opposition. *don’t use if profanity is a problem for you, obvi 

  • Use this template to react to something insane that’s happening or has happened that needs eyes on it. 

  • Use this template to highlight a move made by the opposition that you will never get over or forget. 

  • Use this template to showcase trying to react to yet another action by the opposition that is beyond comprehension. 

AND BEFORE YOU GO

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