Foreword
Formats on TikTok continue to evolve with the platform expanding creation ability and usage for unique filters in addition to the multitude of sound based trends that appear every week. Whether it be becoming Britney via the new eye filter or being self deprecating through the “no but it’s not funny” and “smash or pass” trends, users are positioning themselves in more funny videos for the world to see. Join us as we explore through the trends and popular culture that surround the app every week, and how you can utilize it to best engage with your audience.
The Trends
#1 Eye filters
Millions of videos on the sounds
TikTok has started to allow users to generate filters more easily and a popular trend has appeared in this new realm of content on the platform. Many people are creating filters positioning user’s eyes on top of famous figures. The figures usually allude to some sort of funny context so there are a multitude of reasons or underlying meanings to each figure, but users on the whole are having a great time using the new features.
Examples:
Applicability:
Context will depend on the figurehead so brands will want to align with figures that meet their brand message in some way.
#2 No but it’s not funny
42.2k videos on the sound
TikTok is the home of self deprecation and this trend has been a fourth wall break in that field of play. Users are essentially reflecting upon their self deprecating jokes as being actually serious and having real world consequences, yet they are doing it from a perspective of being self deprecating. Like I said, it’s effectively a fourth wall break for self deprecating jokes. The moral of the story, however, is that nobody can or should take anyone seriously on TikTok and all content on the platform comes with a grain of salt.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands here will want to play into the same self deprecating commentary, pointing out semi-serious issues but neglecting them nonetheless.
#3 Smash or pass
35.4k videos on the sound
This trend is another example of trends where users present what they find attractive. The audio goes, “smash…. Suzie!… wait what was the game?” implying that the initial person pointed out another person as someone they would smash (have sexual relations) when nobody was playing the smash or pass game. The joke lies in users being self deprecating about being distracted by an attractive person in the face of a conversation or game that is entirely unrelated.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to associate positive brand icons and people as the objects they want to smash.
#4 I’m like Batman except
35.4k videos on the sound
I’ve been writing for nearly a year now about the extreme culture of self deprecation that takes place on TikTok but I don’t think another trend has been so straight to the point with it. This trend centers around users portraying them as a superhero, with just one exception. These exceptions are usually pretty hilarious character flaws, often correlating with weakness and everything in opposition of what a superhero would have. The results are hilarious and users are finding the trend very relatable to their own struggles in a comedic fashion.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands here will want to use their brand function as the “exception” so X brand could be like Batman except they sell X product. the misalignment here is hilarious in and of itself and can be seen as self deprecating as a task in comparison to what a superhero does.
#5 Stuff she knows
48.4k videos on the sound
You know how if an officer asks someone to say the alphabet backwards to verify that they are sober is a terrible measure because most people couldn’t answer that regardless? Well this is the TikTok version of that same dilema. In text users are presenting complicated questions which they haven’t been able to ever answer. Usually they are self deprecating, implying that the user can’t overcome answering such a simple question or they refuse to answer it because of drama complications.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands can harness this trend by joking about mixtures, ingredients, or processes that are secret to their brand implying that they are questions the average user would not have an answer to.
#6 Sensational
38.1k videos on the sound
There really is not too much nuance to this trend as it is simple an audio of someone saying “sensational” in a funny almost sexual manner. Users are correlating the audio with moments in their own lives when they are extremely at peace with a decision or circumstance and it’s pretty much as simple as that.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands can correlate their own brand product or service with being sensational for this trend, it’s very straightforward so extremely nuanced creativity is not needed here.
Trends from last week that keep climbing
#7 Nostalgic moment
1.9m videos on the sound
In the movie Interstellar, there are a few scenes which act as flashbacks to the main characters life before traveling into deep space, but more importantly they portray the scenes from his memory as nostalgic moments. These scenes have echo effects on the clips with Hans Zimmer’s incredible score overlayed and combine together to create the effect. This week on TikTok users have figured out how to replicate this using the echo voice filter in combination with the same music from the scene. Creators are mostly showing wholesome nostalgic moments from their own past, but as always there are a few more sarcastic videos which we would be less quick to define as wholesome.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands can use moments from their brand past to create the effect of showing how a small company or brand has come from nothing to being something.
#8 Bag alert
380.3k videos on the sound
To preface this, the slang “bag” is used when someone earns or somehow acquires a large amount of money, referring to bank bags which hold large sums of cash. DJ Khaled and the Migos released a song called major bag alert and users have been using the audio of “bag alert” to describe stereotypes of people who love specific products. For example there is a stereotype that the LGBTQ+ community loves Subaru, so a user might create a video with the premise of “When the Subaru executives find out the LGBTQ+ community exists” with the major bag alert audio playing in the background. This essentially means that because a certain demographic exists, they are going to spend a lot of money collectively on a certain product.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to joke about stereotypes of their own buyer demographic. The format should reflect the other videos where it is when their brand finds out about X type of buyer.
Bonus
Super Bowl ads have for a long time been seen as the pinnacle of advertising. Over 40% of the United States is watching and often times for the purpose just of seeing the humorous commercials. Every once in a while a certain brand will come along with an ad that is so unique that it rewrites the game and this year that award goes to Coinbase. Coinbase created a simple ad which depicts a QR code that bounces around the screen until it hits the corner. One might ask what this even means and it’s important to note the context. Most US viewers have in their past seen a similar effect of the DVD icon bouncing around screens when the DVD player was empty and waiting upon a CD. Especially for the youth, this scene was wildly relatable because when we were little there was nothing better to do than to wait endlessly for the icon to hit the corner perfectly. Users watching lost it when it happened. Coinbase capitalized on this idea and embedded their QR code into the icon such that people would be redirected back to its site. The ad was so successful that it actually crashed their website with the amount of people that tried to log on at one time, so moral of the story here is to not be afraid to tap into what seems very niche commonalities.
Summary
The trends on TikTok this week cover a wide variety of content styles and themes, showing the diversity of content for brands to engage with. The underlying themes of sarcasm and self deprecation live on through the past and these current trends of the platform and we expect to see more to come with future content innovation. Stick along for the ride and we’ll make sure to guide you through the tumultuous world that is culture on TikTok, and how to navigate it with your brand in the coming year!