I go on vacation, then VidCon, and y’all let ‘Hawk Tuah girl’ break the internet…

Did I leave an X-rated sledgehammer in my drafts or something?

But enough about ‘parts of my job I never want to explain to my parents’.

I do, however, want to dedicate this edition to trends: how Hawk Tua builds her career (or doesn’t), what creator reps should think about when 'signing a meme’, and resources to keep you ahead of your competitive set.

The past few weeks were also huge for streamers, with Kai Cenat and MrBeast blowing up a new stream, Fixated client Sketch partnering with the Sidemen for a new commercial cementing him as a multi-hyphenate, and xQc actually saying something nice about Twitch monetization!

Let’s get into it.

NEWS:

Hawk Tuah Girl becomes ‘a thing’.

If you know what the phrase ‘Hawk Tuah’ means, I now know two things about you:

1. You’re a fellow short-form content fiend who happens to be a white, straight male.

2. You are not shy about ‘adult themes’ in your content.

I won’t describe the phenomenon for sensitive ears. Just know it’s rated both NC-17 for sexual discussions and W for ‘weird enthusiasm.’

Click on the meme to watch the original video.

But unlike Chewbacca Mom or Damn Daniel, we are three weeks into the viral moment, and there are no signs of slowing.

The Penthouse now reps Hailey Welch. Her video inspired a rap song. She’s partying with Shaq. There is a rumor mill spanning topics from not launching an OnlyFans to losing her job as a teacher (she was never a teacher) to being a preacher’s daughter (she isn’t).

So what did she do so right that others did so wrong, and what can creator reps learn from this?

My point of view: for a meme creator to have longevity, their story has to evolve fast.

A good story has conflict, stakes, mystery, villains, resolution and more.

If you do interviews about that one viral moment repeatedly, make videos with the same structure, and print T-shirts with your catchphrase, you’ll disappear in a month.

Create new awesome stories that feed into the meme’s brand, and you’ll have staying power.

Hailey could have given her first interview to Jimmy Fallon, but instead, she went on the PlanBri’s podcast, an infamous Barstool Sports show.

She addressed rumors about her personal life head-on. She showed her internet savvy.

She let her personality shine. She shows she can be edgy and exciting in a longer format. She’s ‘in on the joke’.

And now she’s signaling her desire to pursue a comedy career. This is a great way to keep an eye on her as fans hope she succeeds or fails spectacularly.

If you sign a meme creator, don’t forget the importance of creating a narrative that has more staying power quickly!

NEW OPPORTUNITIES:

Prime Day, TikTok Shop July Sale, and Ecomm Holidays

Internet trends aren’t always drunken bar interviews. Sometimes they happen every year like clockwork like Amazon’s sales bonanza Prime Day.

You don’t need to be a ‘shopping creator’ to cash in on tentpole shopping events.

You don’t need to do affiliate deals all of the time to do videos with affiliate monetization.

The best creators know how to tap into the zeitgeist and funnel information and entertainment through the lens of their brand.

And on July 9, TikTok Shop will do their version of ‘Prime Day’.

Then, on July 16 and 17, Amazon will hold its popular Prime Day event, which drove $12.7b in US sales in 2023.

So take advantage of all of that search traffic!

If you’re a beauty / fashion / lifestyle creator, why not talk about the best deals from these events with links?

If you’re a comedy creator, why not highlight the weirdest deals?

Finance creator? Talk about average annual household budgets for spending categories and how much can be saved with a few Prime purchases.

Then you’re optimized for search, driving top-of-mind clicks, making money, and proving out conversion metrics that can be used to pitch other brand deals.

If you’re down, the clock is ticking! Sign up for TikTok Shop and Amazon Affiliates ASAP!

SOCIAL OPTIMIZATION:

Google Trends Still Matter

Okay, so trends are a great way to capture new audiences as long as you still respect your brand.

How do I know what’s trending without watching ten hours of TikTok per day?

I know it’s deeply uncool to say, but the answer is Google Trends.

Everyone over 30 is now yelling, “WELL DUH!”

Everyone under 30 has labeled me a boomer and returned to their romantic evening with their thruple.

But if neither of those describes you, Google Trends was the hottest tech from 20 years ago for SEO optimization when blogs were king.

It’s an incredible resource to see all of the top searches on YouTube and how search terms have risen and fallen in recent history.

If you haven’t Google searched for something recently, do it now. You’ll notice a few things:

• AI trying to answer your query first, if it’s a question

• A summary on the right side of the page

• Related searches

• And, if the search has YouTube matches, three YouTube links right near the top.

When they check their analytics, many channels get very little traffic from ‘Google Search’, but for more factual or evergreen channels, I’ve seen that percentage as high as 25%.

So if you’re planning to create content with the hopes of reaching new audiences through search, don’t sleep on Google Trends!

INDUSTRY HIRING:

Opus Clip needs an Influencer Partnerships Manager to manage humans for a year, and then, likely, robots for the rest of the time.

Van Leeuwen Ice Cream wants a Content Creator. Lactose intolerants need not apply.

Joan Creative wants a Director, Talent and Creator Marketing. Then you can spend hours explaining to MFA designers how CapCut works!

MEME ZONE:

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this edition, give it a share and if you get someone to sign up, I’ll send you my ‘10 Rep-Friendly Ways to Monetize Today!’ deck!

Until next time, protect yo rep.