A little something & what they see

How some trending audio to help you relax presents an opportunity for all, while the Fourth of July weekend creates a big reset. Plus, the big battle against AI Slop gets a new opponent: Tik Tok Symphony.

This is the week ahead.

Just a little something to take the edge off

We have a new bit of trending audio by Berlioz, a jazz house artist that is creating quite the vibe for this viral trend. This trend, Just a Little Something to Take the Edge Off, is easy, relatable, and presents a moment for viewers to relax.

Here are two quick examples:

One featuring a restaurant:

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A post shared by Alex Schroeder (@devourdc)

And the original humor behind this trend:

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A post shared by Tiger Rock Games (@tigerrockgames)

For Brands & Businesses

This trend is pretty simple to hop onto, with a huge ability to not only show off your product but motivate your audience into becoming potential customers by reminding them to enjoy a quiet moment in life. Whether it is a new haircut, a night at a bar, or a dress haul, this trend can truly create some buzz without much work.

The set up is pretty simple:

1. Put the product in scene & shoot 1-3 shots
2. Add the text Just a little something to take the edge off
3. Add the trending audio

That's all there is to it. And the great part, is that this trend is instantly relatable to your audience, acting as a subtle reminder to your audience to visit.

We even see it across a couple of different industries as well. Here is an example that car dealerships can use:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLlm0ueJ3DL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

For Individuals & Creators

This trend acts as an opportunity to relate to others in your field or show off a behind the scenes moment that they can relate to. We can see this trend going in one of two directions: nostalgic or humorous.

For nostalgic & relatable, imagine a photographer sitting by their computer doing some color grading. For humorous, imagine a travel influencer packing their bags and filming a trip to the airport.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLYkq4JPISO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Why you should use this

Like most trends started by trending audio, this will not be around forever. However, it presents a great opportunity to relate to your audience and get them in the door. Just be careful whether you want to make a cigarette outline or not.

What They See versus....

Behind the Scenes is content is so hot right now.

This week's trend is something that we have been seeing for a while, but has been picking up steam particularly in the photographer community. We love it because it can spread to any industry, and offers an opportunity to expand outside of reels and go to posts on your grid.

How it works: Consider this like a combination of before / after with some behind the scenes content. Your on screen text should showcase this before and after, using prompts like "What we see vs. what the customer sees" or "What I see vs. what the world sees."

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A post shared by Andrew Wille | LA Photographer (@andrewoptics)

For Businesses & Brands

The goal of this trend is to highlight some of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes with the finished product. It could be scenes from the kitchen to the countless hours of thankless work that goes into securing a real estate deal. The goal of this is to count your wins, all while giving you an opportunity to pad out your grid with some standalone photos so that the almighty algorithm considers you to be a worthy poster.

For individuals & creators

For photographers and image makers, this trend is pretty easy to hop onto. But for other individual business owners, consider this an opportunity to have your caption do the heavy lifting. By juxtaposing these two images (the hard work with the finished product), you have the opportunity to go deep with your caption and either educate your audience or entertain them. Consider a fitness instructor who uses this as an opportunity to talk about commitment and hard work, or the small business owner who uses it as a chance to reflect on how hard you've come – both are sure to get engagement from whoever sees it.

Her or Her

Alright, we admit that it's a bit cheap this week to give two bits of trending audio, but we think you'd be surprised by how far this trend can go. The premise behind this one is pretty simple: it's about making a choice between two equally good products.

Here's an example: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLTgHsbN8i4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

For Brands and Businesses

While this one is pretty simple, we do think that the right amount of twist and personalization can help this reel perform well. On the one hand, this could be an opportunity to really sell your products in a simple & easy way. On the other hand, you can go the extra mile, and add a bit of a story into it; maybe it's a customer trying to make a decision at brunch, or someone choosing between two equally badass cars. The main thing is, you're highlight two equally good choices and putting your best two feet forward.

For individuals & creators

This one now talks to personal preferences— for photographers, maybe it's choosing between two lenses; for fitness influencers, two different workouts; for book-tok, two morally-grey novels. The ability to personalize is endless, and can get some engagement as well.

Why you should use this

This trend is dying down, and with the great reset that is July 4th weekend, all social media sites will be flooded with holiday content. However, one of the nice things about the "This or That" format is that the concept itself is timeless, so while the audio can die down, there is still a chance to market your business or personality in a way that is easy. Remember, the worst performing post is no post at all.

Let's talk about AI slop, a term you've probably heard thrown around a couple of times this week. AI slop is essentially just mindless content made by creators using AI, without any adjustments or deeper intentionality.

From captions to full blog posts to carousels that all somehow sound like they were written by the same LinkedIn influencer with a ChatGPT prompt and a dream, to videos and ads that make no physical sense but to outrage or entertain, slop has entered our feeds.

And AI slop is a problem. It’s vague. It’s repetitive. It’s both hard and easy to spot. And while AI can absolutely be a powerful tool, using it without intention is what leads to the pile of forgettable, flavorless content that’s flooding everyone’s feed.

So let's talk about how to stand out in a world where “good enough” content can be generated in five seconds, and being the shiny object in a pile of trash.

Why AI Isn’t the Problem—You Are (Sort Of)

First, let's tackle the issue of using AI. Personally, we are all for using AI selectively; the use of AI can elevate the creative process by acting as a sounding board, editor, and creative partner. It can generate images and sound effects, can be incredibly useful for the right creative context.

But the issue isn’t that creators are using AI. It’s that they’re handing the entire process over to AI like it’s a ghostwriter who understands tone, audience, and creative strategy. And without the guiding hand —or at the very least, someone to read over and update what is copy-pasted – it's just word salad devoid of authenticity. Empty tips devoid of meaning. It's more soulless corporate jargon. So how do we fix it?

1) How to not be AI.

Be human. Nice work.

2) How to not be AI in your content.

Use humans. Authenticity and soul come from people who are authentic. Consider for a moment that social media is putting us all back in the world of middle school: we can all tell when people are fake.

Real people make mistakes, use clunky language, and occasionally write things out of order without the use of emojis or bullet points. Real people, even when they are acting towards a goal, still sound like real people and talk like real people and walk like real people too. Even when we were all just faking it, there was still a sense of intention to our lies, and a sense of meaning to the words we were saying.

3) Why you should Use This

It's been researched that more and more of the Millennial & Gen Z audience is gravitating towards creators who are perceived as authentic. It's been seen in changes to the algorithm, where Youtube videos have gotten longer & so have the reels you've watched. But instead of research, let's use logic.

The world is adapting to a new technology that is pushing the realms of what it means to be human. Businesses are adapting to this as well, to the point that we are not only unable to distinguish if content was made by a human, but if we even are speaking to one.

A dozen or so phone calls with customer service have been AI in disguise; all my chat prompts are down with AI service agents; more and more AI influencers are being unmasked and recreated and unmasked and recreated. And all the while, more and more AI videos and AI images are flooding into our feeds, being pushed by the algorithm by social media companies with stakes in the AI future. And all of it will continue to become common place and get more and more realistic until AI becomes invisible.

And if you are repeating verbatim AI, you are AI, and you are invisible.

Real people will gravitate to real people. Because if the only effort you're going ot use is to ask ChatGPT, I'd much rather just ask ChatGPT myself.

4) How to use AI selectively

Well shit. You're still wanting to use AI. Well, here you go.

If you’re stuck on what angle to take or how to structure a caption, AI can help. Use it like an intern—not a creative director. Let it give you rough options, then you add the seasoning.

For example: Ask AI to give you 5 hook options for a Reel. Then take the best one and rewrite it in your tone of voice.

Rewrite everything it gives you

Even if it’s 90% there, that last 10%—your POV, your sarcasm, your edge—that’s what separates slop from something scroll-stopping.

Use AI for expansion, not expression

AI is great for helping you build out ideas, not replace your unique way of expressing them. Have a solid concept? Use AI to brainstorm variations, expand bullet points, or repackage content for other platforms.

Only publish what you’d say

If it doesn’t sound like you, or doesn’t sound like anyone, don’t post it. Simple as that. Your audience is following you, not a generic brand voice with too many adjectives.

You don’t need more content. You need better content.

The temptation with AI is volume: more posts, more blogs, more videos, more captions. But the best creators right now aren’t flooding the zone—they’re making selective, strategic, and sharp content that cuts through the noise.

Because the truth is, people aren’t burned out on content. They’re burned out on content that feels like it’s trying to check a box.

Let's talk about a creator who has absolutely mastered the art of the gram: @CineDailies.

CineDailies is a DP & photographer who not only consistently posts beautiful photos, but also makes additional content to give people a reason to follow. He's a camera aficionado, and one of my favorite artists out there. Give him a follow.

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A post shared by Joshua Kendell Martin (@cinedailies)

That's all for this week. And also, let me know if you want to turn this into a carousel, LinkedIn post, or email—happy to help with that next step too...