Foreword
On TikTok this week sounds from 2000’s childhood culture have made a reappearance, boyfriends and girlfriends are dunking each other into water bowls, and the old era of TikTok dances is back with the double cup. So much has taken place on the platform and it is as eclectic as ever. As a brand these ongoings may seem odd, if not completely incomprehensible, so join us as we explore how brands can integrate, and gain a grasp about the culture, content, and trends going on in the world of TikTok this week!
Audio Based Trends
Most trends are based around sounds. What we mean specifically by audio based trends 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. These are usually the most prolific of trends on TikTok so let’s dive in.
Patrick that’s a pickle
78.1k videos on the sound
This trend brings us back to the age old Spongebob meme, something that has never lost hilarity or potency on any social platform. Here Spongebob says, “first get a job” and then he notices Patrick completely missing the mark so he comments, “Patrick that’s a pickle.” Users here are applying this to times when they jokingly misunderstand what people are telling them to do. One of the common setups is, “first go to therapy” which is followed with someone’s personal coping mechanism which they replace therapy with, but there are many different setups and examples.
Brand application: Brands can utilize this one to replace functions of their job with menial tasks, joking about not really working during the day. For example one could joke, “First do your job…” and cut to them getting coffee in the break room.
Examples:
I think you might’ve accidentally saved my life
149.1k videos on the sound
For this trend the underlying emotion portrayed may be a little bit hyperbolic, but it’s extremely wholesome so it’s still working on the platform. As you might assume from the title, the audio reads, I think you might’ve accidentally saved my life, and users are posting this with slideshows showing their significant others, or important individuals in their life. The idea is that those important people in their life being there, gave them the purpose to keep going or bring their life back on track in some sense. Again it’s quite wholesome and as such the pure emotion from it is driving this to be a popular trend on the platform.
Brand application: Brands will want to take this trend a bit sarcastically, and from a regular users point of view, post a slideshow of the brand inferring that the company saved their life. This can also be done wholesomely from an employee perspective who was struggling before the company, and the job genuinely helped them out.
Examples:
Interactive Trends
This should be somewhat self explanatory but interactive trends are trends that involve users interacting with others to create videos. Often the hilarity or interest generated by working with loved ones or peers creates incredible laughs or simply fun times. Most importantly though, authenticity shows through with interactive trends as most often they are truly authentic.
Bf asking gf (or vice versa)
35.4k videos on the combined bf vs gf sounds
This week in the realm of interactive trends, couples are testing each other’s knowledge of their partner, and let’s just say things are getting pretty wet. No, not in that way. The idea of the game is that a sound will ask questions about your boyfriend or girlfriend’s favorite things, and if you get it right, you’re safe, but if you get it wrong, your significant other dunks your head in a bowl of water. Some might call if waterboarding, but most on TikTok call it the consequences being in a relationship and the videos are hilarious so we’re seeing a bunch of them out there.
Brand application: Brands can have employees do this, but instead asking questions about job functions. Just don’t tell HR lol.
Examples:
Movement Trends
TikTok virality was founded upon the back of Musically, a platform entirely centered around dance trends. Dance trends have been an essential and prominent part of content on the platform ever since its inception. These trends are very simple as they just involve a common audio with a replicable dance or movement applied to it. Brands can utilize these through simple replication form where brand representatives and mascots will do the dance. They are the most fun but also the most simple!
Double cup
281.9k videos on the sound
Viral dances are always around TikTok but with the double cup dance this week, it feels like we’re going back to the era of the renegade with the style of this one. No seriously, I don’t know if it’s just the similar movements to the Renegade, but this dance has everyone and their mom (literally) creating videos under the sound. Like most dance trends this is a very simple set of movements and users are having a good time learning the dance and replicating it with their friends or family.
Brand application: Simply replicate with a brand representative or mascot! Preferably two people here.
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.
Lil miss
60.1k videos on the sound
Childhood references continue to be a huge lasting trend on TikTok, and this week users have pulled back into prominence the little miss and little mr. characters except with a twist. Users are creating largely generalized stereotypes of people they have interacted with and are applying it to the little characters. One might describe the people they have hooked up with as Little Mr. anger issues, or Little Miss toxic, but there is something extremely funny about these unassuming characters being aligned with not so nice descriptions.
Brand application: Brands will want to apply the little characters to types of workers they have, or customers they deal with.
Examples:
Oh sorry.… gen Z terminology
73.5k videos on the sound
This trend leans into the joke that Gen Z’s don’t take anything seriously, by allowing users to be self deprecating about not understanding depth of emotion. Basically the video will start with one user telling another something deeply emotional or with significant importance. The second user will look confused, and then the first user says, “Oh I’m sorry, ____” and will represent their emotional statement with basic Gen Z slang. An example might go like, “Baby, you’re the most beautiful and intelligent individual I’ve ever met… *no response*… Oh sorry, shawty bad ong.”
Brand application: Brands will want to use Gen Z slang to describe brand interactions or ongoings in a similar sense.
Examples:
Watch this
11.1k videos on the sound
We’ve all got tricks up our sleeve, and this trend represents when we get to feel like we are Houdini in our lives. The idea of this trend is that there is a setup, where the other person is unassuming to a premise, and when the beat in the sound changes, it cuts to the user doing their trick. For example one might set the video up with “my friend placing down his second to last card and saying uno” then it cuts to him with a +4 card waiting to send him back to the dark ages.
Brand application: Brands will want to use this to highlight their special abilities or tricks that they are able to show. Often this can be as simple as the way they immediately appease a customer.
Examples:
Case Study
A few weeks ago we highlighted the insanely effective strategy that four time world kickboxing champion Andrew Tate has been taking to conquer TikTok. For a little recap, basically Andrew has a school where he teaches people how to invest strategically and make money or something along those lines. But one of the aspects of the school is that the students get a cut of Tate’s social media earnings based on how successfully they are able to promote him. So effectively he has thousands of accounts just spam posting podcast clips and content from him on an hourly basis and it’s overwhelming the for you page. It’s a super interesting strategy but what makes it more interesting this week is that because of this strategy Andrew has become so popular that he has hit the mainstream. People like Adin Ross, Andrew Schultz, Tom Segura, and the Bff’s Podcast have all had Andrew on to do shows in the past week or so and it goes to show how this newfound virality is trickling over to other audiences so quickly.
Time Capsule - Prior Week Trends Still Growing
City boysssss
20.6k videos on the sound
Oh boy, where do I even start with this one. You may have already been able to put it together, but city boys this summer are the equivalent to hot girls last summer. Urban dictionary defines them as males who are living their very best life and chasing the bag at all times without letting Hot Girls or any female get in the way. As far as this goes for TikTok, there are a few different formats that center around the trend, but one mashup is superseding them all. Users will start the video with a clip of a guy showcasing city boy tendencies, (i.e. not being pushed around by a girl) and then they will cut to a meme clip mashup of notorious city boys hyping them up.
Brand application: Brands will want to highlight brand moments when they have sold really well, or just generally done something incredibly cool. Within the format they should first display this happening, and then follow it up with the meme mashup shown in the examples.
Examples:
Gravy train
293.4k videos on the sound
Hopefully you have already heard of Yung Gravy, but if you haven’t, you might want to ask your mom. Gravy started out around 2016 as a meme rapper creating songs like “One Thot Two Thot” a parody on Dr. Suess’s One Fish Two Fish. Not to brag, but I did go to one of his concerts in 2016 with about 50 people there so I can say I’m an OG fan. Since then Gravy has continued to release music, but more importantly he has established himself as the preeminent milf hunter of TikTok by commenting on nearly every milf post you can find on the platform. Now this trend is mainly a trend because of the dance that has been created from it. You can check out examples below to see the simple movement which has gone viral. Yet we highlight this in detail because Gravy himself has become a trend on the platforsm. Under the same sound many users are asking their mom’s if they think Yung Gravy is attractive over text, often receiving hilarious reactions due to him being so fond of moms. There’s honestly so much more to Gravy that we can’t even describe but we hope you got an idea of the nuclear force that this man has had on the platform in recent weeks.
Brand application: Hire Yung Gravy.
Examples: