How 3 Ethical Ways Brands Leveraged The “It’s Corn” Trend Without Actually Using The Audio

If you were on social lately, you probably noticed that an adorable boy declaring his love for corn going viral on TikTok and Reels.

Brands quickly jumped on it and used the audio to talk about other topics in their business, like one does with TikTok and Reels trends.

But that song was way too busy for any human to be able to read parallel text about a completely different topic simultaneously. And in my opinion, didn't work well for most who were not talking about actual corn.

I also saw big brands re recording the boy's words, my guess is that they were worried about copyright infringement, but copying is my opinion not the ethical things to do!

So I thought about sharing these 3 examples of how to jump into a trend in your content, without actually redoing the trend by using the It’s Corn Song in the corresponding social media platforms.

If at some point you see a trend you want to leverage in your business but re recoding just isn't the best option for you or your client, you can try something similar.

 

3 Ethical Ways Brands Leveraged The “It’s Corn” Trend Without Actually Using The Audio

1) @WORKINSOCIAL MADE A MEME

2) @STRUTTOSUCCESS made a funny Reel about it

3) @yoursocialteam (it me!) started a conversation to see what people thought about the trend


Trends are a fantastic way to connect with your audience. It’s like having an immediate internal joke you and your target leads are both in. But before you jump into a trend and just use the original audio to re record that TikTok or Reel, consider if it’s the right move for you.

You should consider the following:

  1. Could use this trend get me in legal trouble, like infringing someone’s copyright?

  2. Does re recording this trend allows me to deliver my message to my audience effectively?

  3. Is it ethical for me to use this trend?

If you’re in doubt, a fun joke in a Tweet-Style Reel, a Meme or even a beautifully designed quote could be a great way to go!


For more tips and strategies to help you use Instagram to grow your business, follow us on… you guessed it, instagram @yoursocialteam


Need to create engaging Reels without being on camera? Try our Canva Templates For Reels!


Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). 

This year she also launched Your Template Club, a Canva Template subscription to provide social media managers and Instagram savvy business owners with content templates designed for engagement in their inbox.

Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneurs and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.


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