One of the biggest questions on every marketers mind lately is, “How do I get my content to go viral?”
It seems as if everyone wants to create that one piece of gold that is shared by everyone all over the world. Maybe it’s a meme, maybe it’s a video, or maybe it’s content. Either way, they want this item to hit viral status.
Having something go viral can be extremely beneficial to your business. It will put your company name in front of millions (if not billions) of people. It will make your company top of mind. And it can even increase website traffic or even increase profitability.
If you truly want to increase your chances of having something go viral, the following are six keys to creating shareable content.
1. Make yourself (and your audience) look good.
People care about their own images, so it’s important that you create content that is going to make your business and your audience look good. For example, people are more likely to share content that is going to make them look a certain way. People will share content that follows their beliefs or something that makes them laugh because they know pushing this information out will make others think a certain way about them. The more you can make yourself and your audience look good, the more viral your content will be.
2. Play off of triggers.
There are certain things that trigger others. For example, when most people think of cows, they think of milk. If you’re trying to market milk, use a trigger, such as a cow, to help boost your content. You can also use current events as triggers. For example, Oreo came out with a tweet that went viral after the power outage at the Super Bowl by talking about how you can eat Oreos even when the lights are off. This tweet went viral because it triggered off a popular event.
3. Make your audience care.
When you create content that will have an impact on your audience’s emotions, they will be more willing to share the content. Make sure that your content reaches the emotions of your audience. It can make them laugh, it can make them cry, or it can make them think. It doesn’t matter as long as it reaches an emotion.
4. Create a story.
Make sure that you’re sharing a story with your audience. Don’t just give away the ending. Instead, tell them the details about the story and make them invest in it. People today care about he stories that are shared, not just the end result.
5. Appeal to the masses.
People love to imitate other people, so it’s important to make your content appeal to the masses. People are more likely to share or retweet something that they see others share or retweet. Nobody wants to be that first person, so you should strengthen the pot a bit. For example, if you place something on your social media account, have your employees share the content first. Because the content has already been shared or commented on, others will soon follow.
6. Create practical value.
You can’t hope something will go viral if it doesn’t add value to your audience, so be sure there’s practical value to your audience or even to yourself. Don’t create a campaign that won’t value your audience in some way, or it won’t work.
Creating viral content is much more likely to happen if you ensure these six keys are implemented into your campaigns.
Jade Biggs is a marketing professional who works with her clients to provide multiple forms of content to customers. Jade knows the value of offering a mix of multimedia products like video, podcasts and a transcribed copy as well as strong customer interaction on social media.
