Foreword
This week seemed to be a decently light week on TikTok with majorly viral trends, so much so that even TikTok used a month old trend to highlight their newsletter. We knew we were ahead of the curve but TikTok being a full month behind, c’mon guys. That being said there were still of course a bunch of smaller trends for us to take a look into, many of which focused on relatability and simple formats which users can replicate more easily. The platform continues to ebb and flow every week so we can never expect exactly what we’re going to get. Join us as we explore every week through the trends that are infecting the TikTok for you page and how they can align with your brand!
Attitudes & Themes on the Platform
While over the last year or so TikTok has definitely diversified its audiences to include many more millennials and boomers, most of the culture and trends on the platform still stem from the Gen Z audience. This may be because they have a stronger grasp on this new quick content style, but we believe it’s more so from their shared attitudes. Gen Z is a tough generation to understand, as their outlook on the world has been shaped differently than generations prior. Today we want to highlight this video, of one guy explaining to a perfect T the basis of what drives the Gen Z mindset. As a Gen Z myself born in 2001, I can tell you that I haven’t seen anybody more spot on than this guy, and his insights really do reflect how content is shaped through attitudes on the platform. If you can understand this, you will understand the humor that flows through TikTok so we highly suggest you give it a watch.
Audio Based Trends
Now you may be asking yourself, aren’t almost all trends audio based trends? And to that I would tell you yes, yes they are. That being said what we mean by audio based trends specifically are trends that pertain to specific lyrics or wording within sound. This is when the action or meaning behind the trend is correlated with the lines spoken. This week we’ve only got one prominent one but let’s jump in.
Top gun
60.3k videos on the sound
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. Audiences are raving about it, even saying it is better than the first, but more importantly they are talking about it on TikTok. Using the identifiable track from the film, Take My Breath Away, users have started creating content regarding the movie. There isn’t one specific format but there are a few common themes. Mostly, users are referencing how absurdly attractive everyone in the movie is, and are showing how they are trying to reflect the physical styles from the film.
Brand application: As a brand here you want to align your brand to an element of the film. The popular culture and love for it will drive people to associating it positively with your brand, so whether that is having employees shave their facial hair to reflect characters in the film, or joking about how your business has become more Americanized from the patriotism shown in the production, engaging with the content from the movie is the route to go.
Examples:
Dance Trends
TikTok virality was founded upon the back of Musically which was a platform entirely centered around dance trends. As such, dance trends have been an essential and prominent part of content on the platform ever since its inception. These trends are very simple as it just involves a common audio with a common dance applied to it. Brands can utilize these through simple replication form where brand representatives and mascots will do the dance. These are the most fun but also the most simple!
I actually do cuss a little (remix)
523.4k videos on the sound
If your memory serves you well, you’ll remember that a few months ago an audio featuring Miranda Cosgrove in an interview went viral of her saying that she does “cuss a little” and that her favorite cuss word is “f***”. The audio was incredibly funny due to how sheltered she sounded when making the comment. Regardless, that trend had mostly faded into the history books until this last week when a producer remixed the audio into a song. This is actually a pretty common occurrence on TikTok and usually, as with this one, a dance trend is what stems from the new viral remix. Today we have just that and users are having a great time integrating into this new dance trend.
Brand application: As aforementioned, simply find a brand representative or mascot to replicate this dance with the correct audio!
Examples:
Mama got that
21.6k videos on the sound
Admittedly, it’s often tough to write about content on TikTok as much of it is extremely sexualized and out of bounds for what can be discussed in depth when analyzing it. This dance trend falls exactly under that category of content style as it has movements that pertain to comments of sexualized “assets” in the sound. I’ll leave this one at that as dance trends are very simple so check out examples below to get a more in depth idea!
Brand application: As aforementioned, simply find a brand representative or mascot to replicate this dance with the correct audio!
Examples:
Simple Format Trends
This section is a little bit of a catch all for trends that are somewhat nonspecific. They happen on a weekly basis, but with these one generally finds that the trend has a simple audio behind it and creators will utilize a text format on screen to showcase a message. Often these trends tend to be based upon a relatability factor where users will talk about an experience from their own life with extremely relatable undertones that other users can get a good self deprecating laugh at. This week we’ve got a bunch of them so check them out below!
Well that’s my life
17.6k videos on the sound
This trend is a more general representation of common oversharing. Often in our lives we’ll find there are times when we give an entire breakdown of the day to day that we experience, or just generally overshare information. Users are reflecting on those more specific occurrences with this trend, showcasing moments from their own lives when they have or enjoyed putting out info to their peers.
Brand application: With this trend brands will want to joke about pitches or marketing, as these are times where they overshare information about themselves as a brand. This reflects the same sentiment of the trend and is a self deprecating way to engage with users.
Examples:
Bro said he knew a spot
11.4k videos on the sound
Everybody has those secret locations that they love to go to and this trend is a TikTok manifestation of that. Users are qualifying the video with the text “Bro said he knew a spot” and then in the video are showing crazy cool locations, or sarcastically bad locations. The videos either generate high visual interest with interesting scenery or comedic interest from the sarcastic takes so because it is an extremely simply format users are flocking to it.
Brand application: Brands here will jokingly want to have their brand as the “spot” from the videos, so simply showcasing their brand locations is best. This can be amplified even further by making the shots of the business-place featuring cinematic movements and shot types.
Examples:
How did this happen
12.3k videos on the sound
With this trend users are reflecting on times in their lives when a deep rooted desire or important occurrence in their life started with a simple thought. Effectively users using the beat do a before an after where they start with the simple thought that sent them down the rabbit hole and when the beat changes they switch to where they are at with the topic today.
Brand application: Brands will want to utilize this to show how simple ideas led to major developments within the brand or of the brand itself.
Examples:
Ten albums
23.8k videos on the sound
Showing off personal preference is huge on TikTok and nothing seems to be more personal to somebody’s being than their taste in music. With this trend users are prompted via the audio the question that if they were only allowed to listen to ten albums for the rest of their life, what would they be? From this users are showcasing the ten albums that they would choose if they were to be the only music they could listen to.
Brand application: Brands generally won’t have a ton of application for this trend but if you could structure screenshots of songs out to say a secret message that would be a funny and interesting way to draw in users.
Examples:
Time Capsule - Prior Week Trends Still Growing
1855 days
72.5k videos on the sound
Kendrick Lamar is back this week with his first album in over five years. To be exact, it’s been 1855 days. In one of the songs on the album Kendrick says, “I’ve been going through something… 1855 days.” This line references Kendrick going through a lot of growth over the five years, not only in his personal life but in his understanding of the world and artistry. TikTok users have taken this line and applied it to a very common before and after trend where creators show a photo of themselves from five years ago before Kendrick dropped, in contrast to a photo today. These before and after trends are very simple but the clout that Kendrick brings to the equation means this trend is going viral and will continue to do well alongside the album.
Brand application: Brands will want to simply follow the trend where they show where the brand was five years ago vs where it is today.
Examples:
Idealizing
101.2k videos on the sound
With past failed relationships, people often tend to idealize the situations they left in the past as they were somewhat addicted to that person. This TikTok trend is a representation of users’s own down bad experience where they are missing a person from their past who they thought were their soulmate, but actually treated them poorly. This is yet another example of the self deprecation so prevalent on the platform as users are exposing some decently personal experiences at the expense of themselves for comedy.
Brand application: Brands will want to joke here about past partnerships or deals they had which they had to get rid of. They should idealize the situation but then reiterate why it was such a poor circumstance.
Examples: