Hey readers! Here’s our hot take: TikTok photo carousel posts are for the people— for the girlies if you will. Maybe it’s our collective nostalgia for a friend-driven IG feed being satisfied by the TikTok algorithm/our TikTok overlords, but more often than not photo posts have the feeling of a friend showing you what they’ve been up to. Maybe that’s why brands like Duolingo have taken to posting so many photo carousels on TikTok (43% of all their content in February). I think photo slides are a good thing to integrate into social strategy and commission from influencers given the ‘organic’ feel. It doesn’t hurt that TikTok is about to launch TikTok Notes, an app just for photo posts.
🎵 Top Sounds 🎵
Our curated picks of the top sounds on TikTok
Don’t Ask Me How I Did It 😌
This sound lets you brag about what you rightfully should be able to.This song, from Lauryn Hill’s son and Bob Marley’s grandson YG Marley, is all over TikTok. There’s no set trend, but it’s good for a wide range of content.
You Think You Just Fell Out Of A Coconut Tree? 🌴
Let’s get real: you live in the context of all in which you live and what came before you. This Kamala Harris quote is trending to express confusion and philosophical posturing.
Garfield, What Happened? 😐
Creators are using this Garfield sound to express how little they care (or admire how little Garfield does).This sound is nostalgia bait. Creators are using it to show their past and present selves, along with the growth and loss they’ve experienced along the way.
Blonde? 👱🏻♀️
Look, I’ll be honest: I have no idea what this trend is and it seems like a lot of other people are confused too! Here’s what we do know: there’s a lot of blonde women under it talking about whether blonde hair suits everyone better.
Did Your Boots Stop Working? 🤠
This sound trending amidst so much Cowboy Carter discourse is… interesting. But let me stay silent…
🔉Sound Highlight 🔉
What’s The Most Expensive Thing You’re Wearing?
Mood: 👩🏻🏫
Women on TikTok are using this sound to celebrate their academic accomplishments (and maybe bemoan the cost of higher education). Sometimes, TikTok can feel a little behind the second wave with all the trad-wife/soft-life content so it’s refreshing to see an original sound like this takeoff. Organizations could easily replicate this kind of ‘easy to copy’ sound trend.
🌟Trend Highlight 🌟
I don’t usually feature dance trends but I’m making an exception for the ‘Hot To Go’ dance. It’s essentially Gen Z’s YMCA and I have no choice but to support it.
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The Street Fighter trend is a fun way of showing an internal conflict you experience.
💫 Post Highlight 💫
This might be one of the few good April Fool’s Day posts a brand has done. It’s not quite up there with NPR testing whether people read beyond titles when they see articles on social media, but it carries some of the same wry spirit. Sol De Janeiro bided their time and delightfully confronted the spider-attraction theories in this post. It’s a good reminder that content doesn’t need to be timely to be well-timed.
Additional shout-out: this fantastically clickbait-y ad from Hyundai
☕ The Zeitgeist ☕
Hot topics and discourse from across the internet
Parts of the United States experienced a total solar eclipse. This is the first since August 2017. You may recall this happening last time.
What annoys you in movies? TikTok creators are weighing in on what annoys them.
NYT Connections players were angry after an emoji version of Connections was released on April Fools’ Day. Speaking of April Fools’…
Club Chalamet warned us of wicked fabrications on April Fools’ Day. The word choice lives rent-free in my head now.
🥡 The Takeaway 🥡
What marketers are taking away from trends
LinkedIn really wants to be TikTok— or at least that’s what it looks like. But is that what the networking app is going for?
LinkedIn announced a host of new features, including DM’s for brands and a short-form video feed, which makes the networking platform seem a lot more social.
LinkedIn is an interesting platform. You can build a brand there, position yourself as a thought leader, find some good articles, and read some not-so-great (largely fictitious) ‘inspirational’ posts. It’s a useful site, but is it somewhere any of us want to spend hours on each week?
LinkedIn following TikTok’s lead in introducing short-form video content feels less like they’re becoming the new Reels and more like they’re trying to carve out a space of their own for businesses and professionals— just using a medium we’re all now accustomed to.
Even LinkedIn’s marketing of the new video feature seems geared toward B2B advertising. The move to video makes sense. It might even be useful for B2B advertisers who are trying to redefine B2B advertising, inspired by creator marketing on the B2C side.
While there’s definitely a chance we’ll get our share of inspirational hustle grifters using LinkedIn’s video features, I think the move to integrate more elements from traditional social onto the site is a good thing for everyone— especially for marketers who want to diversify their digital presence.