Foreword
LINK takes a stab at creating trends, dental hygiene becomes a popular topic on the platform, and Miranda Cosgrove goes viral for saying a curse word. TikTok this week has had an incredibly eclectic town square of content and viral presences continue to be made on a scale not seen by other platforms. Don’t let the extreme self deprecation and nuanced inside jokes fool you, as TikTok is becoming a more mature place for content on the internet week by week. 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.
LINK Case Study
As it turns out, LINK is not just your beloved weekly newsletter as some may think. We provide this to brands to take a peek into the world of TikTok and show off the exciting possibilities that the platforms to provides. However, we do function as an agency and execute campaigns for brands spanning multitudes of topics, markets, and disciplines. We don’t like to brag to often, but recently some of our work won Muse’s social media consumer campaign award and we wanted to highlight the unique campaign strategy. You can read more into the details here, but effectively LINK was able to harness the power of sounds on TikTok in combination with Pura Vida and Charli D’amelio to inspire users to create their own content with a generated trend format. The Show us Your Happy campaign was seen by millions of people across Charli and many large creator’s profiles, and asked users the question what makes them happy. From there users were able to create their own videos under the same sound as the influencers, posting about what it is that makes them happy. There’s many nuances and decisions we made to drive more engagement from users but on the whole the campaign very successfully motivated users on the platform to engage with the Pura Vida positivity and to create their own content, under their own auspices. This is just one of the many exciting projects we have been working on and we’ll make sure to reveal more soon!
The Trends
#1 I actually do cuss a little
332.1k videos on the sound
Miranda Cosgrove has been back in the media recently after the reboot of iCarly and a few weeks ago she went on a podcast for an interview which yielded this viral clip. It’s incredibly funny how the video contrasts the more vulgar topic of swearing with Miranda’s bubbly and PC personality that we have seen on TV and the internet for years. Users have taken the audio and applied it to times in their own life when they are very slightly vulgar, but in a very coy fashion. Everybody is hopping on lip syncing this audio so we suggest you don’t miss out.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to replicate the trend format as it automatically integrates with the culture of the trend and makes the brand appear down to earth but still professional for being slow to cuss.
#2 This rainy day is temporary
247.7k videos on the sound
This trend has appeared out of the undertones of the audio creators are using for it. The sound reads, “this rainy day is temporary” and users have applied it to times in their lives when circumstances have been not the best, but have shifted to be positive. For example a user could be interested in dating somebody but they already have a significant other, but this rainy day is temporary because they just broke up. On the beat switch users will reveal the new improved circumstance to their initial dilemma and the videos we’ve seen thus far are amazing so we highly suggest you check them out below.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to contrast good to bad brand moments where circumstances have cause them strife, but in the end yield a positive outcome.
#3 World revolving around you
228.1k videos on the sound
I’m sure most of us have heard the phrase, “the world doesn’t revolve around you,” but as it turns out that TikTok users never believed that statement. Creators have brought the phrase into a trend format where they have a friend with a camera spin around them as if the world is quite literally revolving around them. The videos play into the sarcastic narcissism often present within content on the platform, and a few users have even adapted the format to include specific moments when they have jokingly acted as the center of attention. This one is incredibly simple and funny so hoards of users are jumping on board to the trend.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will simply want to replicate the trend with a brand representative or mascot. They can add a fun twist with the environment this takes place in or funny interactions happening in the background.
#4 Face switch
291.2k videos on the sound
If you ever grew up with multiple siblings, you were probably once told that you look similar to one of them. This trend on TikTok puts that theory to the test as users are able to do a face swapping effect which compares two individuals back and forth. Users are posing the question in text whether or not they look like their sibling/friend/etc. and the result are tons of videos showing off just how alike we do look with those close to us. This trend just highlights more and more how much of a wonder FaceID really is.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to find coworkers that look alike for this trend, or to take it sarcastically they can compare brand mascots to workers, having them look completely different.
#5 Slide dance
135.5k videos on the sound
Another new dance trend has appeared on the platform this week, and we expect this one to gain a lot of traction shortly. Very similar to the griddy move which went viral a few weeks back, the new move, dubbed the slide, is a simple dance that anyone can try out. It creates a cool effect of almost floating as you are moving to the slide and users have started to replicate past dance challenges with the updated movement.
Examples:
Applicability:
For dance trends brands should simply have a brand rep or mascot participate in the dance in an applicable environment
#6 Shlatt shlatt shlatt shlatt shlattt
50.3k videos on the sound
All of a sudden dental hygiene has become a popular topic on TikTok, and this trend has arisen as a way for users to show off their pearly whites. This format is extremely simple as users are simply keeping their mouth closed during the audio until the last moment Carti sings “Shlatt shlatt shlatt shlatt shlattt” where they will lipsync along to show off their teeth.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will simply want to replicate the trend with a brand representative or mascot.
Trends from last week that keep climbing
#7 I’m just thinking with my…
512k videos on the sound
Sometimes we think with our head, sometimes we think with our heart, and sometimes we think with… well… you know what. Users have taken this audio on TikTok which depicts someone “just thinking with my d*ck” and they have applied it to times in their life when they have made a decision, whether poor or not, based on amorous motivations. All logic flys out the window under this type of thinking and the scenarios it has yielded, as told through TikTok, are hilarious. Check out examples down below for a better idea of what actions TikTok users are taking when they think with their…
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to associate a brand action or decision with this style of non-rational thinking. The action/decision should be related to aesthetics or relationships if possible to emphasize the nature of the trend.
#8 No no no
864.2k videos on the sound
This trend is if the phrase “not so fast” were to be a format. The trending sound depicts a person frantically trying to shut down another from revealing something that embarrasses them. Often this other person is bringing up weak moments or times when the user was not at their peak. Creators will place the scenario in a text format for the video while the audio plays in the background. Embarrassing times are endless and thus so is this trend, with hilarious self deprecating stories popping up left and right.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to portray poor brand moments and times when they struggled as a company, yet moved forward.
For example Pepsi could reference their Kendall Jenner commercial from a few years ago which got horrible feedback.
#9 Trying to figure out…
335k videos on the sound
TikTok has released another new filter this week which has taken over as its own massive trend. The filter places users’ faces floating through space alongside random math symbols to create an aura of confusion and questioning. The joke is that it makes the creator look as if they have no idea what is going on. Users have taken this and positioned it against very relatable dilemmas that people face and have a hard time figuring out. The trend once again comes off as self deprecating and because it is so easy to create, tons of users are hopping on.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to place workplace dilemmas into the same format users are working with in the examples.
Bonus
Recently a small clothing brand has done some promotion across TikTok towards the younger generation. Their products are graphic t shirts with funny and ironic sayings on them. The brand is built for TikTok era self deprecation and attitudes, and in their ad strategy it seems they have nailed that theme. This ad specifically is a popular format, adapted to center around another viral meme, and both elements are near entirely unrelated to the brand. Asking strangers what they are listening to has been a popular format over the past few weeks and that combined with the joke that he wasn’t listening to the Amber alert sound for the car he was stealing makes it that much funnier. The shirt stands out on its own and because the video is promoted users understand that it is a product that they can go and buy, despite no mention of if being made in the video. This is the perfect strategy for TikTok as users don’t feel like they are being force fed products and have positive attitudes towards the brand because of the comedy and nuanced humor.