How to Go Viral (or Virality is a Vanity Metric)
Social media content is essential to your content marketing plan, but what does it take to go viral?
We get asked all the time about how to go viral on Twitter or how to go viral on YouTube. Many business owners see content racking up millions of views on social media and want in on the action. This, of course, makes sense since views equal dollars, right?
Well, not so fast. The truth is that virality is a vanity metric on its own, and going viral on social media doesn’t mean anything if you can’t leverage viral content to attract customers. At the end of the day, going viral serves no purpose if it doesn’t support your goals and your company’s bottom line.
Case Study: Storm Area 51 (aka Alienstock)
To demonstrate the point above, let’s take a look at a recent example of a viral sensation that fell flat: Storm Area 51. This was “started as a joke, but the meme went viral. Matty Roberts posted the event on Facebook, calling for people to “storm Area 51” to “see them aliens.” The event received international attention, and millions of people affirmed that they would be in attendance.
Now, what business owner wouldn’t love to receive attention like this? Millions of potential customers talking about your brand and sharing your event? Sign us up!
This is the kind of attention you’d typically have to pay a massive chunk of change to receive, and all it took was a clever joke that resonated with the average person.
Alienstock was a viral sensation - but did it make any money?
So, what happened? Well, when the date of the “storming” came, only a relative handful of people showed up. On top of that, the event ended up fractured, with one part being held at the gate of Area 51 and the other in nearby Las Vegas.
Both events fell flat, and the viral meme that was Alienstock will go down in history as just another piece of Internet meme lore.
Did anyone make any money from this? Probably. But plenty of money was lost money on it too. The original event held at Area 51 allegedly cost nearly $20,000 from one of the organizers, and the event in Las Vegas also cost organizers and promotional brands.
This outcome is nowhere near the millions of dollars in profit one would expect to gain from an event that had over two million “confirmed” attendees.
Does Viral Content Matter?
Of course, viral content does matter, and having your brand’s content go viral can potentially make a lot of money and establish your name as an authority; the important thing is what you do with the content.
Often, maximizing the impact of viral content requires a plan. What will you do if your content goes viral? Instead of worrying about “making” your content go viral, worry more about what you will do “if” your content goes viral.
And that’s a big “if.” Our research shows nearly a million hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every 24 hours, and over a billion TikToks are viewed daily.
So you’re competing in an ocean of digital content. Trying to make something happen is often a losing proposition that will suck your marketing budget dry and leave nothing behind. On top of competing against other brands in your industry and niche, you’re competing against the average Joe.
Kids uploading video game clips, some guy uploading his take on politics, cute cat videos - all competing with your marketing message for eyeballs.
What Data-Driven Insights Tell Us About Viral Content
Something else to consider is what the data tells us about viral content. If you want to try to make something go viral, there are steps you can take, but there’s no guarantee any of your efforts will pay off.
For instance, according to HootSuite, Monday is the best day of the week to post on social media. Beyond that, different platforms have different times that seem to work best, but you could post on Facebook at 1 pm EST for greater traction. LinkedIn typically garners more attention around 4 pm EST on Mondays, and Twitter usually gets more on Fridays around noon EST.
With this knowledge, you can post at popular times to try to get content seen by more people and increase the odds of going viral. Unfortunately, these data insights are easy to look up, so anyone else seeking to make content go viral will likely know this too.
But, once again, you’re competing for eyeballs, so posting at a specific time doesn’t mean you’ll gain a huge audience.
Viral Content Should Not Be Your Goal
Getting the gift of viral content typically only requires consistency in branding and messaging and a bit of luck.
You can help your chances of achieving viral status by creating engaging content and posting regularly while encouraging people to share. Still, in most cases, you’re left with being in the right place at the right time.
Why did the Harlem Shake videos blow up like they did? Why did Gangnam Style become a hit? They were unique, catchy, and fun, but so were millions of other videos. So why does one piece of content on Twitter catch fire, and millions of other posts are ignored? Perhaps the content is good, but, likely, there was also a strong network in place first.
Your Content Needs a Value-First Approach
Social media marketing can be a fickle beast. Having and maintaining a solid presence on social media is essential, but if virality is your goal, you may be missing the bigger picture.
The content you post on social media needs to be engaging and valuable to create a connection with your audience, not to go viral. Focus on creating engaging content that people want to read or watch. Look for opportunities to include your branding in each piece of content.
You can post cute cat videos all day, and there’s a good chance those will get liked and shared – but will they benefit your business? Will they get people interested in your company, or are people interested in the cute cats? Will you get attention on social media for posting something funny, even if it’s off-brand?
Probably, but what will people remember your brand for in that case? Your products and services, or the funny content? If it’s funny content, does this help your branding?
Most importantly, does it bring in revenue in the long run?
Quality should always be your top priority when creating content
Tips for Creating Quality Content
Instead of worrying about how to go viral on Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, or some other social site, focus on the quality of your content.
It’s OK to make things funny, emotional, intriguing, entertaining, and so on, but stick to your branding guidelines. Use a consistent brand voice across all content channels. Your goal is never to stray too far from your branding, even if you branch out into different areas of exploration in your content.
Be Authentic and Genuine (Be Yourself)
Also, research what your customers want to see.
How do they speak? What are the cultures they share? What do those cultures have that separates them from others? Can you emulate that culture without seeming like an impostor?
The last thing you want is to come off as some cringy “how-do-you-do-fellow-kids” type of company. Be genuine in your marketing because, just like in dating, sooner or later, the real you is going to come out. Make sure you’re authentic from the get-go.
Working with a creative marketing agency that specializes in content can reduce your stress
Work With a Content Marketing Agency
Today’s business owners are struggling to stay ahead because so much is happening. You need to invest a lot of time and energy into these processes to create and run successful content marketing campaigns that ultimately convert website visitors and social media followers.
Unfortunately, you’re already struggling to keep up with all that your business needs to do each day. You likely don’t have time to:
invest in keyword research
content development
off-site SEO
setting up analytics accounts to monitor traffic and conversions
performing audits of content
analyzing competitor efforts in digital marketing
everything else that comes along with content marketing
A content marketing agency partner can handle all of this for you to alleviate your stress and drive more customers to your business.
Focus on Quality Instead of Quantity
Regularly posting content on the web is going to give you the best shot at going viral. After all, the more you produce, the more chances you have that something will take off; however, you should always focus on quality over quantity. Quality content forgoes the shotgun approach and uses a scalpel to craft individual pieces of content that serve specific purposes. You certainly want to post content consistently, but each piece you publish should have a goal (and that goal should not be to go viral.)
Contact Charlotte Content Marketing to Learn More
If you’re feeling stuck in developing a content strategy and feel like your business is missing out on marketing opportunities, Charlotte Content Marketing can help. We specialize in helping business owners get the right content to increase visibility in search results, boost industry authority, and convert more leads digitally.
Contact CCM at (704) 323-6762 to have a discussion about your needs, or contact us online using our convenient contact form right now.
