Want to make your social media content go viral? The secret is to get contagious!
“Viral” has definitely become a bit of a buzz word lately, but that doesn’t mean it should be dismissed as just a passing fad.
What people tend to be referring to nowadays when they talk about something going “viral” isn't necessarily covid19, but a piece of social media content that is seen by millions of people around the world. It’s the kind of content that gets talked about at your workplace or at the dinner table and usually ends up on breakfast TV. Usually it has something to do with cats or a crazy dance craze, Gangnam Style anyone?
But understanding the elements of good viral content, and realistically adjusting your expectations of what it can do for your social media marketing and public image plan, you can actually employ it with a degree of success.
“Viral” is content that’s designed to be shared — content that an audience will want to distribute among its own audience. People are also more likely to share something if they have a strong, positive emotional response to it.
It’s perfectly natural that we should approach our social media marketing with an eye toward the sharing of content, how else do we expect people to know about our next Bunnings barbecue?
The main objective for your Facebook page be it a business or a community group should simply be to create content that is regularly shared by other people. End of story. And this is probably the most important element of good viral material. To be successful, you really have to create your own content. It needs to be personal and it needs to reflect you and your organisation or business and what you do in the community. Showcase your own employees or club members and how you are still relevant.
Very few people have ever had viral success by simply sharing other people’s material.
So experiment. See what works and what doesn’t. Make some adjustments and tweak a few things. And be prepared to fail. Some things will be successful, other things won’t be, but if you follow a sort of viral best-practice approach, you will ultimately be building towards a larger audience reach, which will hopefully lead to direct enquiries about membership of your club.
By approaching your viral content with more reasonable expectations and implementing the elements listed above, you’ll have a much better chance of achieving meaningful, more consistent success in the long run.
So focus on creating shareable content, not winning the viral “lottery”.
Article by Evan Burrell