The concept of producing content with the potential to go viral and be disseminated in other parts of the world is extremely appealing to everyone. It is awe-inspiring to create that one great piece of content that everyone sees since doing so has the potential to do anything from increase sales to make you something of a superstar. Sadly, not everything has the potential to achieve such a high degree of popularity.
Making anything that has the potential to spread like wildfire is a very subjective endeavor. It depends on various circumstances, not just the production of a post that the author believes to be flawless. Although there are strategies that you can take to fast increase your social interaction, it is ultimately up to you to develop the content.
Following an exhaustive search of the internet, We’ve uncovered 10 tried-and-true methods that are capable of assisting you in producing excellent content that goes viral. Even if there is no assurance that you will achieve Grumpy Cat status, it certainly won’t hurt to give it a shot.
What Is Meant by the Term “Viral Content”?
It is crucial to have a clear understanding of what is meant by the term “viral content” before moving on to examine the helpful hints and best practices that may be used.
“Viral content” refers to information or media rapidly disseminated throughout the Internet. The phrase “viral content” originates in the medical field and refers to the rate at which a virus replicates and spreads.
Yet, for anything to be considered viral, the rate at which it is being shared on the internet must first reach a critical mass.
The content that spreads virally might come in a few different styles:
- A video.
- An article.
- An image.
- A post on social networks.
- A podcast.
- An infographic.
- And this goes on.
No matter what shape it takes, if a piece of material is seen as engaging, pleasant, or fashionable, people will share it in their login areas. Since the emergence of social networks, it has become so common that online marketers have chosen to give it its sub-division and call it ” viral marketing.”
What Are the Chances of Going Viral?
How probable is it that your piece will be shared widely online? Research conducted at Stanford University in 2016 found that the likelihood of something becoming viral is one in one million.
On the other hand, popular platforms such as TikTok provide greater opportunities for businesses to get widely shared on social media. Nevertheless, there are no shortcuts to creating a video that becomes viral. For anything to go viral takes a combination of talent and chance.
What Characteristics Define Viral Content?
Before a piece of material is considered viral, several elements must be present. BuzzSumo did a study on 100 million publications to check for these elements.
According to the findings of this study, content is more likely to be shared if it appeals to emotion, is appealing to a sufficient degree, or contains particularly valuable information.
In addition, the New York Times conducted a survey that polled 2,500 individuals to find out the reasons why they shared a story online.
The following are the primary ones:
- To exchange interesting and useful stuff with one another.
- To establish their identity in the eyes of others by the stuff they provide.
- Maintain your connections and focus on developing your relationships.
- To develop individually while also experiencing a greater sense of engagement with the wider world.
- Discuss your passions with other people.
The Goals of a Viral Marketing Campaign:
Let’s have a look at the many settings in that viral marketing may be implemented:
When launching a new product: It is a common practice to advertise a new product by posting a video on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. A piece of informative and infectious content has the potential to draw the public’s attention to a new product very rapidly.
Raise the brand’s visibility: Your online renown will increase in direct proportion to the frequency with which internet users interact with your website’s content and, therefore, your brand.
Keep your authority: A piece of material is said to be viral when it is disseminated around the internet by many people and referenced in other works within the same area. You will become a reference for your rivals if you consistently produce viral material. They will not be shy about using excerpts of your content to bolster the credibility of their pieces if you allow them to do so.
Develop your customer loyalty: One of the most effective ways to develop customer loyalty is through social networking sites. Your community will expand if you can successfully create material that goes viral on social networks.
Top 10 Ways to Make Your Content Go Viral:
We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 ways to make your content go viral, and here they are:
1. Create Interactive and Personalized Content:
Making material that users can interact with and customize is a very efficient strategy for making that content go viral. A more customized experience may be provided with interactive content, encouraging audience participation with the presented material. This material is more likely to be shared since it offers a unique experience that may be discussed with loved ones and acquaintances.
One approach is using polls and quizzes to generate interactive material. These interactive elements are a wonderful method for getting your audience involved and engaged with the material you provide them. Your audience’s interests may be used to create engaging and entertaining quizzes and polls that allow customers to have fun while interacting with your company.
Using user-generated material is another efficient method for producing tailored content (UGC). User-generated content, often known as UGC, includes comments, reviews, and posts made on social networking platforms. You can provide your audience with a more personalized experience and encourage them to share their experiences with others if you use user-generated content (UGC).
Using data and analytics to customize content for specific consumers is another method for producing personalized content that may be used. This may be accomplished using targeted advertisements, tailored emails, or customized landing sites. You can create a more personalized experience for each user and enhance engagement by customizing your content to meet their specific needs.
Experiences in virtual or augmented reality may also be used to produce interactive material tailored to the user’s preferences. These events provide a unique opportunity to interact with your audience while giving them an experience that will stick with them. Experiences that combine virtual and augmented reality elements are particularly useful for promoting businesses in the entertainment and tourist industries.
2. Employ a Rich Visual Representation:
Visuals are essential and crucial in constructing that all-important “first impression,” founded on the adage that “the first impression is the last.”
The following is what we mean when we talk about the graphics of your content:
- Making a smart selection for your color palette.
- The optimal mix of the available typefaces.
- The use of color.
- Using infographics, photos, videos, and drawings to break up predominantly text-based material.
Instead of relying just on text descriptions to promote your content across social media platforms, you should always prioritize creating an eye-catching thumbnail design. For instance, publications that include a Facebook preview image have a greater probability of receiving more shares than similar articles that do not have the image.
According to research conducted by Buzzsumo, a business specializing in content analytics and analyzing more than 100 million articles, consumers are thirty percent more likely to view an infographic than read text-based material.
In addition, your website’s approval rating depends on its color scheme to the extent of 60%.
Look at this fantastic example of a graphic advertisement that Starbucks created.
3. Make an Emotional Connection:
Building an engaged community around your company entails establishing an emotional connection with your followers. You may do this by tugging at their heartstrings or making them laugh until they weep. Get in touch with the feelings that you want the people who interact with your brand to associate with it.
Make use of the stuff you create so that they feel as though they can trust you and that you understand who they are. According to a 2022 study, consumers place 74% more importance on aligning a company’s values with their own than in 2021.
You may drive individuals to take action by cultivating an emotional connection with them, which can range from following you on social media to purchasing at your businesses to having a beneficial effect on the globe.
Nike’s “Dream Crazy” campaign, which featured former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, was a risky and divisive marketing decision that successfully evoked strong feelings in viewers.
The advertisement stirred up various feelings in the audience, such as adoration, pride, and even disagreement, significantly increasing the number of viral responses. The campaign aimed to challenge social and racial inequalities while encouraging and motivating individuals to pursue their goals and positively affect the world.
The campaign featured a video ad with Kaepernick that features a montage of players overcoming challenges, pushing the envelope, and having great dreams. The voiceover by Kaepernick exhorts listeners to go for their aspirations, even if doing so requires taking a chance or giving up everything. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” reads the slogan at the end of the advertisement.
4. Get Influencers to Promote Your Content:
Increasing the exposure and credibility of your business or message may be accomplished very efficiently by soliciting the promotion of your content by influencers. Influencers have a significant amount of followers on social media or other online platforms, and they can assist in spreading your message to a larger audience by amplifying it.
Here are some suggestions that might help you convince influential people to endorse your content:
Find relevant influencers: Search for people with a sizable fan base in the business sector you operate in or the specialty you specialize in. They need an active audience that aligns with your brand and the message you want to convey.
Establish connections with influential people: Before you ask influential people to endorse your work, you should try to establish connections with them and form relationships with them. Interact with the content they provide, provide something of worth, and demonstrate that you respect their job.
Provide Incentives: If you want influencers to promote your business or message, you should offer them some incentive, such as free items, discounts, or exclusive content. This will raise their level of engagement with your business and drive them to share the material they see on your website.
Collaborate on the material: Work with influencers to produce content congruent with your brand and the message you want to convey. This can be sponsored content, guest blogging, or even collaborative video projects.
Continue to monitor and evaluate the results: Monitor the effectiveness of promotions carried out by influencers by utilizing measures like engagement, reach, and conversions. You can optimize your influencer marketing plan and determine the most successful influencers.
Increasing your business’s exposure and reputation may be accomplished extremely efficiently by getting influencers to support your content. You can create a successful influencer marketing campaign that drives a viral response by identifying relevant influencers, building relationships, offering incentives, collaborating on content, and monitoring results.
5. Post at the Right Place and Time
Every social media site is home to a specific type of user and fulfills a particular function. Facebook is essential for providing support to customers. Discoverability is one of TikTok’s most recognizable selling points. Instagram has become a central location for forming influencer connections. And this is just skimming the surface of the issue.
Every platform contributes significantly to the functioning of the social media ecosystem. When you have honed in on your target demographic, the next step is determining which social media channels they frequent the most and why. Create a map of the customer’s digital experience with your brand.
When you have determined where your audience is, the next step is to find out when they are the most engaged. If you post at the right times, your information will be more noticeable in the increasingly crowded newsfeed.
According to the data collected by Sprout, the following are the optimal posting times across all platforms:
Facebook: every Monday through Friday at 3 in the morning and every Tuesday at 10 in the morning and noon.
TikTok: Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Instagram: every Monday at 11 a.m., every Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and every Thursday and Friday at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Twitter: at nine in the morning on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
LinkedIn: Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
In the end, the behavior of your target audience will determine the optimal time for you to post content because it depends on that behavior. Try different things out and see what works best.
As soon as Google joined the #NationalCoffeeDay craze, it became evident that their ideal customers were most engaged on LinkedIn. An astounding number of people enjoyed the message, as seen by the over 45,000 likes and more than 560 shares it garnered throughout the network.
6. Make Your Content Useful Enough to Share:
Developing viral content that is beneficial enough to be shared is crucial. Individuals tend to share things they consider helpful, interesting, or amusing. The following are some of how you may make your information beneficial enough that it is worth sharing:
Solve a problem: Provide material that solves an issue your target audience is experiencing or solves a common problem that people experience in general. For instance, a how-to guide or tutorial that details the activities that need to be carried out sequentially to accomplish a goal can be extremely helpful and shareable.
Provide insights and analysis: Share your knowledge and offer important insights and analysis on a specific issue, and do it in the context of providing those insights and that analysis. For instance, a study or whitepaper that presents insights supported by data might greatly benefit experts working in your field.
Provide advice and suggestions: As you create material, include suggestions for improving a procedure or working towards a specific objective. For instance, a list of tips and tricks for increasing productivity or culinary skills might be helpful and shared.
Entertain and engage: Develop content that engages and entertains your readers to maintain their interest. For instance, a humorous meme or a movie that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside might significantly boost the number of people aware of a company.
Offer original or exclusive material: Generate content that is distinctive or exclusive to your brand. For instance, a sneak glimpse at a new product or a behind-the-scenes look at your organization is two highly shareable pieces of content that may also help build interest.
If you want your material to become viral, you must make it valuable enough that others will want to share it. You may develop valuable and shareable content that creates a viral reaction by addressing a problem, providing insights, offering tips and techniques, amusing and engaging your audience, and delivering unique or exclusive material.
7. Be Aware of Your Target Market:
If you want your material to become viral, you need to understand your target demographic. After all, it is the people that are watching you that will assist you in achieving that goal. Research further information on them, such as their demographics and location, the types of content and topics they enjoy, their hobbies, and so on.
It would be best to look into ways to build a solid connection with your audience. Participate in conversations with your audience, listen to what they say, assess what they tell you, and use what you learn to better the material you provide.
After you better understand their passions, you can produce content that speaks directly to them. You won’t get the hang of it immediately without doing some work and trying a few different things, but in due time, you will.
8. Consider current trends:
You will be better positioned to profit from viral moments if you remain involved in internet culture and keep up to speed on current trends. Caution is warranted here: don’t make the mistake of attempting to follow every trend.
Use social listening to learn about the conversations around your brand and industry.
If the conversations inside your community coincide with a viral post or campaign, you have successfully trapped lightning in a bottle. Quick action is required to give the trend your unique spin.
For instance, Chipotle’s interpretation of the trend of using #corn resulted in a viral masterpiece thanks to the participation of the corn child himself.
Their video has racked up 7.8 million likes, 250,000 shares, and 40,000 comments (and growing), making it the undisputed internet champion.
9. Assess Your Performance:
Imagine that you have produced and distributed some material to your audience. The material appears to be doing well, but the concern is whether or not it can achieve the established standards. It is necessary to have tools and procedures available to monitor the development and performance of your content.
The following are some examples of well-known and widely used instruments for evaluating one’s performance:
- Google analytics.
- Social media analytics.
- Content marketing tools.
Whatever technique you should go with depends on where you want to share the information and which platform you are most familiar with using at this point.
You may make decisions about the performance of your material and track it using the many available elements and segments. For instance, you might post your blog through various social networking channels. In this scenario, you would need to alter the following components to keep track of and evaluate the success of your blog:
How frequently do people share the stuff that you create?
What percentage of people visit your blog and interact with it by leaving comments or “liking” posts?
What is the average number of views per day that your material receives?
10. Be Consistent With Your Content And Keep Trying:
One of the key strategies for making your content go viral is to be persistent and consistent with it. It takes time and effort to create viral content. Therefore, it’s crucial to be persistent and devoted to your work. To produce material that becomes viral, consistency is essential for the following reasons:
Sets brand identity: Producing material regularly that represents the values, voice, and identity of your company aids in the development of a strong brand identity. This raises the likelihood that your content will go viral by assisting your audience in recognizing and empathizing with your brand.
Builds audience trust: Establish credibility with your audience by consistently producing high-quality material that is beneficial to them. This increases the likelihood that your audience will spread your material, extending its virality.
Increases visibility: Visibility is increased by consistently posting material to your website and social media accounts. Doing this makes it simpler for your audience to find and share your material with their networks.
Encourages engagement: Engaging your audience often on social media, email marketing, and through comments encourages them to interact with your company and promote your content with their networks.
Improves search engine ranking: Your search engine rating will increase if you consistently create high-quality content optimized for search engines. Your material will be seen more often, increasing its likelihood of going viral.
Perseverance and consistency with your content are essential for producing viral content. Consistency may help your content reach a broader audience and boost virality by establishing a strong brand identity, creating audience trust, growing exposure, promoting interaction, and enhancing search engine ranking.
Keep in mind that developing content that goes viral is a continual process that demands time and effort. You may produce content that connects with your audience and sparks a viral response by being persistent and consistent.
How can I gauge the virality of my content’s success?
Metrics like views, shares, likes, comments, and backlinks can be used to gauge how well your material will go viral. Moreover, you may keep track of the distribution of your content across other web channels and examine user sentiment and interaction. You may improve your approach to developing viral content by using these metrics to evaluate the efficacy of your content.
What are some pointers for generating viral content?
Creating high-quality and engaging content, optimizing it for search engines and social media, taking advantage of influencers and user-generated content, using humor, emotion, or controversy to draw attention, and being consistent with your content and keep trying are some strategies for making content go viral.
Conclusion
Making material go viral is difficult, but with the right ideas and approaches, you may raise the likelihood that your content will do so. You can produce content that connects with your audience and generates a viral response by concentrating on producing high-quality and engaging content, optimizing for search engines and social media, utilizing influencers and user-generated content, using humor, emotion, or controversy, making an emotional connection, being consistent with your content, and never giving up.
You can enhance brand exposure, engagement, and reach with these 10 methods for making your content go viral and eventually accomplish your content marketing objectives. To stay competitive and produce content that stands out and generates a viral reaction, keep in mind to experiment, assess outcomes, and continually improve your content strategy.