#VIRAL, The Newsletter: August 28, 2025

Welcome to #VIRAL, The Newsletter, sharing 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)

→ “To-do list” Trend: This is a super simple trend that pairs a creator’s mini to-do list with b-roll video that looks like this. The idea is to share a little behind the scenes of what a creator [elected/candidate/thought leader] is up to. For the to-do list featured in the post, pick 4-6 things, with half being directly political and half being regular, every day to-do’s that highlight their humanity [ex: pick kids up from school]. Then add the list via text to b-roll video like that shown in the example above. The text added should be centered and small. And for the video’s audio, use this one.

→ “Everybody supports women” Audio: Dare we say this audio will give some people chills? The song highlights a specific form of misogyny, one that many candidates and electeds have experienced [and really any woman that’s ever breathed on earth, but alas]. The song would be perfect to use for an edit that shows an account’s principal in powerful moments – absolutely owning someone in a hearing, walking into an event where they lay down the law, dropping bars at a press  conference, etc. The goal of the edit would be to show the principal not giving a shit about the misogynistic bs that’s put on them and focusing on the work ahead of them [and for the people they represent].

→ “Quick cry, pilates, coffee, go” Audio: This audio is going viral amongst the pilates aficionados as an anthem for 2025, like this. It pairs vlog-style clips of being at pilates, crying, and grabbing a coffee in line with the audio. The typical video with this trend has text added that describes the larger theme or sentiment the video is trying to convey – ex: “2025 in a nutshell” or “DC under Trump’s militarization.” The trend, and its variations certainly lends itself to the content style of a traditional creator, political creator, or thought leader that creates content across niches.

→ “I like your pride flags, when did you come out as racist” Audio: For the seemingly frequent moments these days when someone in the political sphere is found to be flying a racist flag [white nationalist etc] at their house [certain supreme court justice] or wearing their views in the form of clothing, tattoos or so on, there’s this audio. Use the audio with b-roll video or images of the heinous flags/clothing/tats, etc and add context of who is in the video via text on the video – or go this route with a little commentary. The caption can be used to call the person out further.

→ “Jefferson & Liberty” Audio: This classic military march audio can be easily used to make edits of troops sitting around D.C. or picking up trash – you know putting tax dollars to great use… Use b-roll or film your own footage if you’re in D.C., and add the audio. Playing with the speed of the video and other effects could add another layer.

TikTok Audios

TikTok audios for BTS and b-roll vids

AUDIO → Gabrielle

AUDIO → Can’t Seem to Make You Mine

AUDIO → original sound Leo Walt

AUDIO → tower of memories

AUDIO → son original - trendformusic

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IG Reels Audios

Background audios that make Reels move

AUDIO → So High School

AUDIO → Humming for myself

AUDIO → The Alchemy

AUDIO → Ride

Instagram Trends

Creative content concepts to try

→ “I like your plan, except it sucks” Audio: This audio goes: “Yes, I like your plan, except it sucks, so let me do the plan and that way it might be really good.” And said audio is being used to create POV videos like this, sharing the realities of being an eldest daughter, or simply being a person with expertise and a better plan than the one that’s coming across your desk. The content concept would fit particularly well for a scenario where a colleague introduces a bill or a solution of any sort that’s well intentioned, but sucks; in other words, use the trend to share your critique – ex: “POV: when XYZ introduces a bill to do XYZ but forgets an amendment that would help XYZ people.”

→ “I heard the owner is pretty cool” Trend: As seen here, this is an absolute dad-joke of a trend, having an owner/boss of a business take part in a skit where they say to an employee “I heard the owner of this place is pretty cool.” Again, emphasis on dad joke energy with this one. So, for the elected or candidate who brings dad joke energy to the function, this is a fun mini skit meets Reel to try out [obvs swap in different language like “I heard the guy who runs this office is pretty cool”].

→ “Official merchandise” Trend: This trend is also a two-person skit, using this audio. The plot of the skit is all about one of the two people wearing new, official merchandise from the place they work, and the other person [fellow employee] taking notice. The trend can be adopted to show off campaign merch, org merch, and so on.

 Threads to Thread

Reply or Repost to these digital notes on Threads

The Thread → Reply OR repost by discussing the long-term impacts that experiencing a mass shooting causes.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by elaborating on what’s transpiring at the CDC and what people should know.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by adding another diabolically stupid political happening or idea being thrown around to the list.

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing how nationwide gun reform would save lives [outline what these policies look like].

The Thread → Reply OR repost by sharing details on who Heather Honey is and why people need to know what she’s up to.

Skies Are Blue

Trending topics ATM on Bluesky

Big Brother 27

Manchester United

Gavin Newsom

FDA

School Shooting

Subway Jury

BEFORE YOU GO…

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