Read Time: 4 minutes
It’s lunchtime. You open TikTok to recharge your brain and treat yourself to some bite-sized videos. You’ve heard Spongebob AI covers of songs from the early 2000s, devoured playbacks of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and learned all there is to know about submarine engineering within ten minutes.
By the time you’ve read this very sentence, all of those trends have become irrelevant (except for Taylor, of course!) and new trends have emerged, taking over 150 million users in the United States on a visual ride with them.
By jumping in on evergreen trends, your organization’s content could become part of the ride.
Data from this year’s Benchmarks made it clear that TikTok is being used by many nonprofits—30% of Benchmarks participants were active on the platform in 2022. While nonprofits have far more followers on Facebook and Twitter, TikTok continues to grow in popularity across the country.
We know that hopping on a social media trend can increase engagement no matter the platform. And while most TikTok trends change daily, sometimes even hourly, there are some evergreen trends that have graced For You Pages for months and sometimes years! How nonprofit organizations choose to utilize trends can bring awareness to their organization, aid in calls to action, and even fundraising (we’ll save that for another day).
If you’re looking to boost engagement (and who isn’t?), here are some of our favorite long-lasting TikTok tactics for your organization to try.
Get Ready With Me (GRWM)/A Day in the Life
TikTok is the social media platform of choice for influencers showing their day-to-day life. The “Get Ready With Me” trend shows the start of the influencer’s day while they talk about their goals for that day or whatever may be on their mind. “A Day In The Life” content begins similarly but takes viewers throughout the influencer’s whole day. While these trends are often used to sell makeup ‘glamorize’ lifestyles, they can also be used to give viewers a very personal, relatable look into how your nonprofit functions day to day. This can be done by showcasing some of your dedicated staff, giving a casual glimpse into your company culture, or helping supporters experience the impact of your mission on the ground.
Here’s an example from our friends at the International Rescue Committee:
CapCuts
CapCut is a video editing app where users can create content using pre-made templates. Content created within the app is easily shared on TikTok through the app itself. Further edits to the content, such as adding locations, hashtags, or sounds, can be done within the TikTok app.
CapCuts are currently dominating the TikTok algorithm, most notably the Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal scene from the film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. CapCuts can be used humorously to show (or emphasize) a mission statement or encourage people to take a call to action.
If you haven’t seen the movie, go do that (really). And if you haven’t seen the trend, here’s an example from our colleagues at Planned Parenthood Action:
Photos With Sound
It’s easy to create carousel posts within TikTok by uploading photos and pairing them to a trending sound, usually an ‘aesthetic’ sound without vocals. These carousels are often used to share memes, be a meme, or take a viewer on a visual journey. Any images within this carousel can also be downloaded by viewers to save and/or share. This is a great way for your nonprofit to share facts, policy information, and “Did You Know” slides!
Here’s an example from our pals at the Human Rights Campaign:
Secret Sounds
Using sounds to create content is one of the most appealing features of TikTok—including popular songs, songs from emerging artists, and sound clips from memorable (or meme-able) moments. Pairing content with viral sounds helps push your content to the forefront and makes the content searchable with the sound.
Here’s the sneaky part: you don’t need the sound to be audible to trick the algorithm. Choose a trending sound and turn the volume down to zero—this allows you to use your organic sound to allow more users to see your content without those users hearing the secret sound. While trending sounds change often, Taylor Swift’s songs and mashups have remained some of the most popular sounds in recent months.
One quick note: Not all sounds may be available on a business account, but there are plenty of non-licensed trending sounds that can be used!
An example from the great folks at SEIU:
While it will take a while for your following to grow, consistently keeping your pulse on trends can easily speed up the process and boost engagement along the way!
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Samantha Litchford is a Social Media Account Executive at M+R. When not following the latest social trends and cursing at El*n M*sk, you can find her traveling the country attending metal concerts, drinking a Diet Coke, or watching true crime documentaries. Her favorite Taylor Swift era is “Reputation.”