Making Your Content Go Viral

Going viral is a really good thing when it comes to content that you publish and share online. You want the content to be read by millions and shared by millions more. How does that happen?

What does “viral” mean online?

If content goes viral, it means that it becomes very popular in an extremely short time. The topic of how to make content go viral has found its way into school curricula, conferences, and marketing plans. Viral content happens for a variety of reasons.

• the content is brilliant and very creative.
• The content is very exciting and engaging
• It is something unique that has never been seen before.
• It is something that happens accidentally.

Many businesses have tried and succeeded at coming up with ideas that go viral (as part of their marketing strategy). However, it is uncertain whether businesses that have succeeded at producing viral content have a fool-proof formula that will guarantee a result of viral content over and over again. An extraordinarily important element to content going viral (whether it is written content or video content) is that the audience member forwards it to his or her friends.

Human beings have a need to share what they enjoy with other people who mean something to them. The sharing can be in the form of a movie, a joke, a place that was visited, or dynamic and compelling content online. Another thing to bear in mind when it comes to making content go viral is the timing. If the timing is off, it won’t have the desired effect. You need to make sure that when you share compelling and exciting content, you are using the most appropriate social media channel for your purposes. This is dependent on your niche. If you are in a niche that is interested in books, send them an eBook. If on the other hand, they prefer audio or video media, share that type instead. Make sure that whatever you share, it is easy for them to access, enjoy and share with others.

Why does something go viral?

The one and only reason that a particular online medium will go viral is because of the content. That should always be your main focus. Making something go viral should never be your main focus. It is a bonus if you are creating effective content. Your content should be of the highest quality. If your content is good enough and compelling enough, people will want to share it. Nobody has the power to make people share your content if they don’t want to. It all depends on the quality and the magnetism. As always, you must concentrate your content efforts with WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) in mind. In other words, what are you going to do to solve your readers’ problems? If your content touches them in that way, they will find a great deal of value in it and will want to share it with their friends so that they can reap the benefits also.

The following are tips that will help your content to go viral:

• No hard selling: People don’t appreciate it if you are trying to sell something to them. The most important purpose of your viral online marketing campaign is to entertain your audience. The effective viral campaign is one that tells an interesting story. You should be as creative as you can.
   
• Issue a statement that causes an emotional reaction: You need to demonstrate your commitment to what you are doing through your campaign. If you don’t get some sort of emotional reaction out of your audience members, you are doing something wrong. They will never want to share something that is boring to them. Why would they want to torture other people. It is enough that they were tortured with boredom.
   
• Throw them a curve ball: One of the key ingredients to your content becoming viral is the element of surprise. If you give them something that they didn’t expect, it will get them excited and it will get them thinking. That is exactly what you want to do.
   
• Make them want to interact: It is not nearly enough for you to make a connection with your audience. You need to give them the sense of ownership of your ideas. If they don’t have that sense of ownership, they will never share it with anyone. You should give them open-ended statements that compel them to react and reach out. The more interesting and thought provoking your ideas are, the more interested people will be to get involved in the discussion.

Conclusion

Your online interactions need to constantly be in a state of increasing momentum. Your content must always be fresh, informative, exciting and surprising. A good way to think about the ownership aspect of that content is to consider the idea that once you have written and shared it, it no longer belongs only to you. It is the property of anyone and everyone who want to be a part of it. Before you know it, you and your business will be household names.

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