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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TikTok Content Trends
Give these a whirl (and post them on Reels & Shorts too)
→ “Brash friend v. apologetic friend” Trend: TBH, coming up with a title for this trend was almost harder than brain surgery [kidding. It is however a trend that can be do solo or with 2-3 colleagues of that are on the same wave length. The original premise of the trend, is that of a friend group, there’s always at least one friend ready to flip someone off/stand up for their friends/get confrontational, and then there’s the apologetic, doesn’t want to disrupt/cause an issue friend; the scene is those two personas clashing. Those personas come out like this:
Scene One: Confrontational friend gets into and flips off the camera [faux opponent]
Scene Two: Apologetic friend acts like they’re apologizing to the camera [faux opponent]
Scene Three: Either original confrontational friend or another confrontational friend pushes back on/doubles down on “not being sorry” for their conduct
In the use case for political content, see this creator, Wihelmia Slater’s TikTok, where she solo-stars all three parts and throws the ‘f*ck you’s’ the way of ICE. The trend could be adapted to a specific person like Kristi Noem, another group, agency, etc – whatever applies to your goal. And before you say, “I can’t flip someone off,” GOP Rep. Miller-Meeks went on a whole tirade about wanting to give protestors outside her event “the one finger salute” LOL. Should you say yes to the dress trend, use this audio and increase the video speed to at least 1.3x in the edit.
→ “GRWM x ICE-related audio” Trend: The left side of TikTok is leaning into the content style of posting GRWMs, OOTDs, or vlog clips with an audio that shares/highlights what ICE is doing, like this. The audios are typically from news/new media coverage, and don’t seem to be getting flagged in the same way that other anti-ICE content has been since new ownership took over. The content style provides a way to get the message out and drive the point home on what these goon squads are doing.
TikTok Audios
Trending TikTok audios for creative uses and b-roll
AUDIO → you don’t get to talk about what's illegal when you voted for a felon remix *use this audio either clap-back at comment trying to defend the Trump Admin or use it in this type of essence to remind people that the president is a felon [and/or education them because yes, some people still don’t know that]
AUDIO → Not Ready to Make Nice *use this classic song from The Chicks with lifestyle content to signal your political viewpoints at-large
AUDIO → Green Day x DailyMail UK *use this Green Day audio to talk about the Super Bowl, could be from a cultural standpoint around the halftime show, about ICE being present at the Super Bowl, or another related political tie-in
AUDIO → Original sound Jake Schroeder *use this for videos talking about the censorship happening on TikTok
Instagram Trends
Creative content concepts to try
→ “Bait and Switch” Trend: This carousel trend has creators, and now politicians sharing important details on ICE, their stances, resource information, and so on. The first slide of the carousel is the “bait” and has a 10/10 picture of themselves, with one of two things added via text to it – a gimmicky how-to [ex: “how I made six-figures as a girl boss”] or rage bait [ex: “the five things I did when I found out he cheated”]. The following slides are these as seen in Haley Metzger’s post, which you can screenshot for your own use or DIY it in Canva in your desired style [and add an info local to you]. The goal of the post of course is to get critical information out there. The trend could, by a technical sense, be done on TikTok as well, however if it gets hit with zero views in this new TikTok ownership era, don’t be surprised.
→ “Things I find incredibly chic” Trend: Creator Coco Schiffer has a long-standing series where she shares things that she finds chic with “no explanation.” Most recently, she did her own spin on that series, with a political edition as seen here. Now, since it’s her series, it’s not quite a trend to follow precisely, but a jumping off point of inspiration that can take form like this:
A video of your own sharing political things that you find “chic,” BUT starting your video or crediting in caption with something like “Following Coco’s lead, these are some of things I’ve been finding chic.” And for another variation: “These are some of the things that I always find are in style or are evergreen classics…”
A list-out style segment video that fits with your vibe – for example, a candidate that’s into sports could do “rules that I think should always be followed on the field.” Additionally, a negative route could also be an option, for example, “things I find tacky in no particular order.”
→ “In another life, I’d be…” Trend: This trend has creators making Reels like this, where they’re showing what they dreamed of – something in some way they may have thought they’d do in another life – and then showing that they’re actually doing that thing now, in this life, making it happen. This is a great trend across niches, but especially for a candidate that wins an election [cough special elections cough] or someone that’s appointed to a position that’s their dream position. To do the trend, use this formula:
Short b-roll video of the account principal that has their OG dream written out in text [ex: in another life, I’d be a mayor of the town I love”]
Compilation of b-roll of the account principal in their job, living their dream with the text added saying “no, this one”
→ “The Immigrants are stealing our jobs” Trend: This trend has creators, like Zamzama Azizi, pushing back on the Chads, the Brads, and the Karens who base their whole personalities around saying things like “the immigrants are stealing our jobs.” The thesis of the resulting video, which consists of compiled clips of the creator doing a high-level, high-achieving job is:
To show that it’s a job that the Brad/Chad/Karen would never be qualified enough to have in the first place
To challenge the Brad/Chad/Karen’s on their own BS
To show how immigrants continually make this country great
To make it happen:
Start with a b-roll video of the account principal with “the immigrants are stealing our jobs” added via text
Quick clips of the account principal achieving their success [school, work, etc] with text added that challenges the naysayer
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IG Reels Audios
Background audios that make Reels move
AUDIO → Hilary Duff Perfect Day *use this audio for videos where the whole crew is en route to achieve something big/do something important [think multiple angles sped up of the crew en route and clearly excited]
AUDIO → Cat original audio *this audio for cat-owners and cat-owners only [you’ll see why]
AUDIO → Love Takes Miles*use this audio with nostalgic videos that have a positive vibe and goal
Threads to Thread
Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing the need-to-know/catch everyone up on what’s happening in Fulton County, ,Georgia.
The Thread → Reply OR repost add additional heinousities that Trump has done in plain sight that people may have missed, but should know.
The Thread → Reply OR repost share facts about how Trump has done the opposite of what Lutnik is saying.
The Thread → Reply OR repost by explaining how what’s happening in Fulton County, Georgia right now will/could impact the midterms.
The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing a picture of yourself at a Springsteen concert.
The Thread → Reply OR repost with a way whistleblowers can submit information [relevant to your work].
Skies Are Blue
Trending topics ATM on Bluesky
Georgia Election
Senate Spending Block
Canadian Politics
Amazon Layoffs
Trump on Venezuela
BEFORE YOU GO…
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