What It Takes To Make Content Go Viral

Going viral is what it’s all about in content marketing terms. When you create something for the web and it rocket launches itself into a million views overnight, you know you’ve got your very own homemade gold dust, in marketing terms. If there was a secret equation for viral marketing, everyone would be after it.

But there’s no way to predict it for certain. After all, a word that was nonsense one day can be at the top of the trends after a celebrity typo Tweet, and until the last few years, who knew that viral cat videos would be a thing? However unpredictable though, some things are consistently viral ingredients.

For example, what’s the story? If you have a personal narrative to tell that others can identify with emotionally – a feel good tale, a complaint case, or a saga of success in solving a problem – you can be pretty sure that will get shared around.

It’s the emotional content in a post that triggers people to take that first look. If it doesn’t grab them as compelling, they’ll let it go by. Why would they bother, when there are plenty of other distractions. But catch their eye and you’re onto something: talk about a feeling they’ve been itching to express, or raise an issue they can’t believe you’ve dared to tackle, or talk about something that is just plain funny, and then – bingo. One click opens the link. That’s half the battle.

Opening a link is one thing. But what gets people sharing your marketing content in viral proportions? Quality. Quality can mean different things. Make the content of your post high spec and glamorous, and that might work. Or imaginative, feel-good, and life enhancing, and that could be a winner. Make it funny, and the chances are you’ll have more eyes seeking out your brand.

The video needs to be directed by Stephen Spielberg, or your web copy written by Stephen Fry. It could be footage filmed on your iPhone, with words scrawled on the back of an envelope while you were on the bus. You might only have taken 20 minutes to come up with it, and it could be genius for your brand. It partly depends on the demographic of your customer base, and the ‘language’ they speak.That’s the native language in which you need to create your viral content. 

Good luck with making viral marketing content. If you have any questions, get in contact and we can help. If you’re successful though, you won’t need to because we’ll already know about it.