So, you want to go viral… I don’t blame you. It’s the holy grail and ultimate buzz of content marketing. After all, why wouldn’t businesses and content creators want to get in front of as many people as possible?

I have experienced viral success a number of times in my career, on behalf of clients and with my own content. It’s an incredible experience; particularly when it comes out of the blue. That sudden surge of notifications, and the spiralling lack of control over how and where your content gets shared, is as exciting as it is terrifying.

But how do you go viral? Is there a formula to viral marketing? Should businesses be actively chasing social media virality, or just putting out good content and hoping that it happens?

Let’s start at the beginning…

What is viral content, and what is viral marketing?

Viral content is online content that achieves a high level of awareness due to rapid shares and exposure outside of its intended audience.

As you may have probably guessed from the ‘viral’, the term was inspired by what happens during the spread of disease. A viral illness spreads from one person passing it to another other, increasing in rate as the ‘carrier’ numbers get higher, and… well, it’s something we’re all too familiar with right now, but hey!

Viral marketing is a strategy used by businesses to economically propel messaging around their product or service over social networks. The idea is to trigger the explosive spread of marketing content by creating something appealing enough for your followers to organically and enthusiastically share with their own networks, and with enough universal appeal for those wider networks to then share, and so on and so on.

Viral marketing typically supplies its audience with something of value for free. This can be something as simple as an amusing and entertaining song or game, right up to a cleverly creative sketch, challenge, or short film. But whatever the viral content is, it must encourage people to share with others, so as many people as possible receive the content's message.

Why do people share content?

Understanding why people share some things and not others is important as it helps us to humanise our objectives. A recent study done by the New York Times unearthed the motivation behind sharing online content, and found that it basically came down to 5 key reasons:

People want to better the lives of others (94%)
People want to spread the word about something that they believe in (84%)
People share content because they like the feeling of then having others comment on it and engage (81%)
People want to grow and nourish relationships (80%)
People want to spread content that reflects their online identity (68%)

Tips for going viral

Know your audience

Going viral isn’t just about getting your content in front of people, it’s about initially getting it in front of the right people, and knowing how they will respond to it. By knowing your target demographic, and having a deep understanding of what they want to consume online, you can craft a piece of content that your target audience will connect with.

Get emotional

Striking an emotional connection with somebody can significantly influence their behaviour. Watching the inspirational recovery story of an injured athlete can compel some people to join a gym or go for a run. Some people will commit £10 per month to a donkey charity because they saw a sad advert on TV (hello to my cousin).

To go viral, you almost always have to strike an emotional connection with your audience in order for them to take an action.

Psychologist Robert Plutchik created the wheel of emotions concept (pictured above). It highlights the eight primary emotions that trigger reactions from us.

By tapping into one or more of these emotions, you will give your content a much better chance of being shared. One of the most effective ways to do this as a business is to build your thinking around the stories of your customers, not your products. How does your product really fit into their lives, and how can you tap that story in an emotional, relatable, and compelling way? Start by thinking of your customer as the protagonist of your story. Because they are.

Partner With Influencers

Once you’ve defined your target audience and established the emotional tone of your message, you can use that to select the best influencers to work with in order to significantly increase your chances of virality. As established personalities with large and loyal followings of their own, influencer partners are some of the loudest amplifiers you can leverage in gaining that initial burst of volume required to go viral.

The time of influencers sharing heavily edited content depicting shallow, unrealistic lifestyles has (thankfully) started to fizzle out, due to increasing backlash and audiences becoming more concerned with honest, authentic content they can identify with. This means that, whether looking to work with YouTube influencers, TikTok influencers, Instagrammers, or influencers working on any other platform, brands can now find a broader range of truly worthwhile influencers to confidently partner with, for the natural and organic extension of their online reach.

I have spoken previously about the importance of building long-term relationships with influencers, and kickstarting the spread of viral content is one area where that strategy can pay dividends. If you’ve previously spent time nurturing friendships with key influencers within your niche, you’ll have an army of advocates and allies that you can build into your initial seeding strategy.

Speaking of which...

Seed your content

Content seeding is a strategy whereby you ‘plant’ your content into other relevant platforms and interest groups.

Knowing your difference audiences and where they hangout online is the first step to establishing where to seed your content. Facebook groups, Linkedin groups, twitter hashtags and reddit subgroups are all primed with niche, relevant communities that can significantly boost the reach of your content if seeded.

A great example of this is Yes Theory when they did their ‘Justin Bieber eating a burrito’ prank. Publishing it initially on YouTube with little traction, they started to ‘seed’ the content into different groups. Eventually they found a subgroup on reddit called ‘things that mildly annoy you’, dropped the video in there and within hours it was all across the world in every major publisher.

We work with brands to create high-impact influencer marketing campaigns across all social platforms. We help you to get under the skin of your audiences, understand who and where they are, and collaborate with respected influencers to get your message to them. If you’d like to chat about working together, get in touch.