#VIRAL, The Newsletter: April 22, 2025

College rejection cakes, liberal man squats, and a catchy audio from the Muppets

Author

Girl and the Gov®
April 22, 2025

Happy Tuesday and 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 trends and content ideas below [and share with a social media manager in your network].

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TIKTOK CONTENT TRENDS

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

“COLLEGE REJECTION CAKE” TREND: To catch you up, high seniors are creating TikToks sharing their college application rejections like this. This trend could be adapted to politics by swapping college decisions with bills that were rejected or didn’t make it out of the chamber. For the flags, the bill number could be used instead of a college mascot. The thesis of the video would be showing what bills/issues got the axe, bringing attention to what is happening in a leg in a more relatable way. 

“COUNTRY GIRL SHAKE IT FOR ME” TREND: The country liberals have dropped this trend featuring Luke Bryan’s classic song, Country Girl (Shake It For Me). The trend has country liberals dancing about with the following text dropped over the video: “in a liberal way.” The thesis is to show that country liberals exist. The trend would work great with an org that works in rural areas or a consortium of candidates with country roots/and or running in a rural area. 

“LIBERAL MEN SQUAT” TREND: Where to begin on this one… so, basically conservative men have been filming themselves at the gym showing what a “liberal guy squatting looks like,” which is quite possibly weirdo behavior. But without going down that rabbit hole, the men making the content also seem to be not so great at squatting or lifting weights. In response to the rage bate vids, liberal men that squat have been making videos in response like this. In other words, a candidate that is big into weight lifting [or is a military vet that can lift], could also participate in the trend with the goal being that they’re dispelling the narrative that liberal men are “weak,” which is the stereotype conservatives try to paint.

‘WHAT THE HELL-Y” AUDIO: This audio is being used to highlight things or happenings that are just heinous – you know, things that you would respond to with “what the Hell?” The resulting videos can vary in style. They can…

  • …use b-roll of the wtf thing/sitch with the audio overlayed 

  • …have a creator make a video like this with text on the video explaining a wtf sitch

  • …be used over a carousel of headlines or graphics that define a wtf sitch

“VOICE OF MY GENERATION” AUDIO: This audio slaps and goes “I think I might be the voice of my generation.” Its main use so far has been by realtors sharing something that they did that was/is impactful [start a company]. There’s also a sarcastic variation of this as seen here. This trend would work particularly well for an org that highlights electeds or thought leaders that truly are the voice of current generations. To make it happen, pair b-roll of said people with the audio, and then add text that shares why in particular that person is influential (in a sentence or less).

TIKTOK AUDIOS

TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → Som original

INSTA REELS AUDIOS 

Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → Blink Twice

AUDIO → Hmm Hmm

Creative content concepts to try

“JOE FROM LEGAL” AUDIO: This Muppets audio from this Reel is lawyer humor in a nutshell. It can be used to create a Reel that highlights an org or lawyers or an org’s lawyer-in-chief. The entirety of the audio does not need to be used, only the first portion to make it work. For teams that have their eye on skit-style content, this audio could easily fall into that use case as well.

“I NEED TO TOUCH THE SEA” AUDIO: It’s common for people on both sides of the aisle to be told to “go touch grass” aka to go get some nature time and calm down. That concept is center stage in this “ocean” / “sea” style spoof on the concept. The resulting audio can be used by electeds, candidates, and orgs based by the sea to create a Reel where they’re connecting with nature [the sea] to “get the grip” that they’re accused of needing to get on reality.

THREADS TO THREAD

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost with something else that JD Vance can’t be trusted around.

The Thread → Reply OR repost and share specifics on how Trump’s policies are tanking the economy day after day.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with further elaboration on what OMB Director Russ Vought plans on doing to critical life-saving programs from a budget POV.

The Thread → Reply OR repost with a message inspiring people to run for office.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by discussing the financial reality of most Americans and what happens when they’re faced with an emergency that they can’t afford.

SKIES ARE BLUE

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky

Clippers vs Nuggets

Pistons vs Knicks

Kanye West

Student Loans

CAPCUT TEMPLATES

Meme it

  • Use this template to highlight a rather alarming situation that has popped onto your radar.

  • Use this template to showcase a situation where you and a partner will not compromise – in essence “you’ll take both items on your wish list.”

  • Use this template to highlight an absolutely bonkers situation that you’re witnessing in politics and/or from your opposition.

AND BEFORE YOU GO

…find more from Girl and the Gov®