There’s no exact formula to guarantee that a marketing campaign will go viral. However, there are certain universal criteria you can use to measure the potential success of your content in terms of virality. In this blog post, I have compiled these key factors into a simple checklist.
These indicators aren’t all-inclusive, but if you are close to most of them, it is likely your content will go viral!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Focus on Emotional Appeal |
| 2. Craft Shareable and Memorable Content |
| 3. Understand Your Target Audience |
| 4. Leverage User-Generated Content |
| 5. Utilize Influencer Collaborations |
| 6. Implement A/B Testing for Optimization |
| 7. Harness the Power of Visuals |
| 8. Tap into Trending Topics |
| 9. Engage with Authentic Storytelling |
| 10. Optimize for Mobile and Cross-Platform |
| 11. Encourage User Participation |
| 12. Incorporate Humor and Entertainment |
| 13. Create a Sense of Urgency |
| 14. Foster a Strong Online Community |
| 15. Measure and Analyze Campaign Performance |
1. Define Who Your Target Audience Is And Create Multiple, Parallel Personas
Defining your target audience is a crucial part of creating a viral marketing strategy. To do this, you’ll need to create multiple, parallel personas for the different segments of your target market. You might want to create three or four personas for each segment of your target market.
This will enable you to create content that speaks directly to each persona and helps them understand why they should buy from you instead of another company.
The most important thing when creating these personas is that they are realistic representations of real people who fit into one or more segments within the overall target audience. The next step is coming up with a name for each persona (preferably something catchy).
Each persona should have its own Facebook page and Twitter handles where it’s easy for people within those segments (and their friends) to interact with them on social media networks like Facebook.
LinkedIn and Twitter by following their updates; liking/favoriting their posts; sharing links back through their followers’ newsfeeds; commenting on posts, etc.
You then use these social media accounts in conjunction with other elements such as email newsletters delivered through MailChimp or Constant Contact along with blog posts published.
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2. Create Strategic Marketing Assets That Are Visual, Interactive And Shareable
You want your content to be interactive and shareable. That’s why you should make sure that it is visually appealing and eye-catching, with more images than text.
Your content should also be genuinely valuable and helpful to people, so they will see it as worth sharing with their friends. Integrate video into all of your social media platforms whenever possible.
You want your marketing assets to work across multiple channels, but especially on mobile devices where users expect them to pop off the page or screen with some kind of visual element that grabs their attention immediately without taking too much time away from what they’re doing.
Whether that’s reading an article through a web browser or watching a full-screen ad before playing a game on their smartphone/tablet device (which can then lead them back through more ads if desired).
3. Create An Emotional Connection Between The Audience And Your Brand
The first step to creating a viral marketing strategy is to make sure that you are connecting with your audience on a personal level. You need to evoke an emotional response from them, and this can be done in many ways.
One way would be by using emotional triggers such as humor, fear, or love. These emotional triggers help create a connection between your brand and the audience’s heart; it gives them something they can relate to on an emotional level.
Examples of brands that have successfully created an emotional connection with their audience:
Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign has been so successful because it appeals directly to men who want to feel manly again after years of being dominated by women who smell like flowers all day long!
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4. Use More Images Than Text In Your Content
Use more images than text in your content. Images are more likely to be shared, they can help make your content more memorable, they can help you convey more information and they can help make your content more visually appealing.
Images also help you connect with your audience on a deeper level by allowing the reader to get a glimpse into the life of someone who has similar interests or experiences as them (and therefore makes them feel like their experience is valid).
Finally, by using images instead of text in your viral marketing strategy you create a personal connection with your audience that allows people to see themselves reflected in them through what you’re saying.
5. Try To Tell A Story With Your Content
If your content is meant to be viral, you need to try and tell a story with it. We’re not talking about the kind of story that makes you want to throw up in your mouth (“The end! Now I know why I got sick!”), but rather something that will keep people engaged with what they are learning.
This is because stories are memorable, engaging, and actionable. They stick with us longer than facts or data do; we can digest them almost subconsciously as our brain processes the information in creative ways.
Stories also have an emotional component they give us context for why we should care about things like facts or ideas being presented and this helps drive engagement even further than just giving information alone could ever accomplish on its own.
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6. Make Sure Your Content Is Visually Appealing And Eye-Catching
To make your content as appealing and easily digestible as possible, it’s important to use visually appealing imagery.
The images you choose can be photos, videos, or infographics. Make sure your content is easy to read and understand by using bold colors and white space throughout the document.
You should also use a unique design that fits with your brand personality so that it stands out from other companies in the industry that may be competing for the same audience.
This will help ensure that readers will not just read your content but also share it with their friends and followers on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter because they find it interesting.
Or entertaining enough for others who don’t know about what you do yet might need more information about it after seeing how fun/interesting/cool looking this particular piece of promotional material looks!
7. Try To Leverage The Power Of Humor In Your Content
Humor is a great way to connect with people and make them feel more comfortable around you. It can also make your content memorable, which is an important element of viral content.
Of course, humor doesn’t always have to be over a small joke at the beginning or end of your video can go a long way toward helping it go viral. One study found that videos that included humor were shared 28 percent more than those without any jokes in them!
The benefit here is simple: More shares mean more exposure for your brand and its products or services.
If they’re good enough, these videos will also drive traffic back to your website where people may sign up for email newsletters or follow other social media accounts related to yours (like Instagram).
8. Find A Way To Help Or Entertain People With Your Content
People are more likely to share content that is helpful or entertaining than just informational or promotional. In other words, if you can create content that’s both helpful and entertaining, it will be much more likely to go viral.
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9. Make Sure Your Content Is Genuinely Valuable And Helpful To People
This is one of the most important factors in creating a viral marketing strategy. If you want to create something that people will share, make sure you have something genuinely interesting, useful, or otherwise worth their time.
Of course, it’s not always possible for any given piece of content to be all three at once (though if you manage it somehow, submit it for an award). But at least one of those things should be true before releasing anything into the wild!
10. Ensure That All Of Your Social Media Profiles Have A Unique Personality & Style, Not Just The Same Generic Stuff Repeated Across Them All
This is a mistake I see all the time. Many companies have multiple social media accounts and they just post the same thing across all of them, or they repost content from one account on another account.
This may seem like an easy way to save time and effort, but it will hurt your brand image in the long run.
If you don’t have time to create unique content for each of your accounts, then hire someone who can help you out with that! Your audience will appreciate seeing posts from their favorite brands that are relevant to them individually instead of generic copy/paste jobbies!
11. Integrate Video Into All Of Your Social Media Platforms Whenever Possible
Video is a great way to engage your audience and make your brand more relatable. It’s also a powerful marketing tool that can be used to tell stories, show off products, educate customers, entertain them, or even all of the above.
Videos are one of the most effective ways to build trust with customers online. That’s because people are naturally drawn towards visuals and they’re very engaging on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram where users scroll through multiple posts every day.”
12. Add Infographics Wherever You Can (Especially On Instagram)
Infographics are a great way to present data in an easy-to-understand format. They’re also a great way to share information on social media and engage your audience, which makes them a great tool for viral marketing.
Infographics are an ideal format because they make it easy for people who aren’t necessarily interested in reading long articles about your product or service to still be able to get the information they need from you.
The more infographics you create, the better chance you have of building brand awareness among people who wouldn’t otherwise be familiar with your business.
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13. Embrace Platforms Like Reddit, Quora, Medium, And So On; Don’t Be Afraid Of Them!
These platforms are great at getting your content in front of a large audience. Reddit, Quora, and Medium are all great places to find people who will be interested in the same topics as you and they’ll also give you feedback on what they like about your work and where it could be improved.
They can also be an excellent resource for finding out what topics are trending among your target audience, so check them out!
14. Consider Expanding Into Youtube If You Haven’t Already Started Doing So
Perhaps you’re asking yourself, “Why should I be on YouTube? I feel like my business doesn’t fit into the mold of what many would consider a ‘YouTube channel.’”
Well, first of all, everything is changing so quickly and rapidly in marketing right now that it can be hard to keep up with everything going on.
If you want to try something new or different than what you may have been doing in the past, then don’t let this idea stop you!
Consider expanding into YouTube if you haven’t already started doing so. The platform itself has changed dramatically over time; it now offers an array of opportunities for marketers looking to spread their message through video content creation and sharing.
There are many reasons why your business should invest more time into creating video content for distribution through YouTube:
YouTube is a great platform for creating content that is visual and interactive (like videos). This makes sense because one important aspect of viral marketing strategies is being able to visually represent them for people to understand them better (and share them more).
Videos can help illustrate your ideas better than static images alone could ever do–and they’ll also show off any personality traits associated with your brand’s voice too!
15. A Great Content Strategy Is Key For Designing A Viral Marketing Strategy!
A content strategy is a foundation for your entire marketing strategy. It’s an umbrella term for all the content you create, whether it be ebooks, infographics, videos, or anything else that helps get your message across to audiences online.
Content strategies help you organize and prioritize the content you create so it’s relevant to your audience and meets their needs. You can use different types of media like Facebook Live videos or podcasts depending on how they will benefit your audience most.
A good way to think about this is using a funnel as an analogy: you’re trying to get people in at the top of the funnel by creating compelling introductory material for them so they’ll stick around long enough for learning more about what matters most (like a sale).
Once that happens, then it’s time for conversion tactics like sales pages or calls-to-action which means driving traffic back through channels like paid advertising platforms like Google AdWords or Bing Ads (or any others).
Conclusion
We’re excited to help you create your viral content strategy, but we just wanted to round this article off with a bit of truth. The whole point of creating a viral marketing strategy is that it doesn’t last forever; in fact, it has an expiration date.
You can do everything right and follow all 32 criteria in this article to a T, and there will still be no guarantee that your campaign will go viral. What we CAN guarantee is that if you hit the right chords in at least one of those criteria, you’ll have a chance at hitting the jackpot.
And even if your content does spread like wildfire for a while, it’s only temporary! Instead of focusing on trying to keep the flame alive once you think you have it going, focus on creating new content that can spark its fire.
That way, when one piece of viral content starts to die down (which is inevitable), you already have another one ready to go!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources to explore for further insights on creating viral marketing strategies:
How to Go Viral: A Guide to Viral Marketing Learn the key principles and strategies to make your content go viral, including understanding your audience, crafting shareable content, and leveraging social media platforms.
Mastering the Art of Viral Marketing Delve into the world of viral marketing with this comprehensive guide, covering tactics, case studies, and practical tips for creating viral campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
The Science of Viral Marketing Explore the science behind viral marketing and discover how psychology, emotions, and storytelling play a crucial role in creating content that spreads like wildfire.
FAQs
How can I increase the chances of my content going viral?
Creating viral content involves understanding your audience, tapping into emotions, and crafting shareable content that resonates. Consistency in delivering high-quality content also contributes to increasing your content’s virality.
Are there specific platforms that are more conducive to viral marketing?
Yes, platforms like social media networks (such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter) are often effective for viral marketing due to their wide reach and shareability features.
Can viral marketing be planned, or is it mostly luck?
While there’s an element of unpredictability, viral marketing can be planned to some extent. By understanding your target audience, using data-driven insights, and employing proven viral marketing strategies, you can increase your chances of success.
What role does storytelling play in viral marketing?
Storytelling is a powerful tool in viral marketing as it helps create emotional connections with your audience. A compelling story can evoke emotions, increase engagement, and encourage users to share your content with others.
How do I measure the success of a viral marketing campaign?
Success can be measured through various metrics such as reach, engagement, shares, and conversions. Analyzing the impact of your campaign on brand awareness and user engagement will provide insights into its effectiveness.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.