One “scary” Halloween costume has the made the City of Boise the talk of the town, and the internet.
Elizabeth Kidd, social media manager for the city, had been trying to figure out a way to create content for TikTok for years, but it didn’t start to click until earlier this summer, when she noticed that there were a lot of people talking about Boise, a lot of videos being made in Boise and a lot of people from Boise on the platform.
“We should be there and we should be making sure that our message and our value are part of the conversation about Boise that’s happening on TikTok,” Kidd told USA TODAY on Friday.
She ended up striking gold with the city’s first TikTok: a skit in which she scares city leaders by dressing up as a “fatberg,” or an accumulation of oil and grease that, when been poured down the drain, congeals with other waste flushed down the toilet. The video includes the city’s mayor and some noteworthy performances.
“The way we did the specific video is something that I’ve also been thinking for a while now, which is, ‘How do we as local government break through on social media?’” Kidd explained. “Because I’m trying to talk about the water renewal system while I’m competing with Moo Deng .”