Is There a Way to Go Viral on the Internet?

There is no magic ingredient to make your content go viral, so it’s better to incorporate time tested practices. Tap into all the social media platforms to understand its algorithm. To go viral on the internet, keep a planned approach in terms of content backed by research. 

5 Minute Read

Today everyone on the internet wants their content to become viral. But how do things go viral on the internet?

More importantly, how to get viral on the internet?

Is one of the most common questions asked. Well, there is no magic formula for making something viral. If virality experts are to be believed, there is a method to the madness, which is called the science of virality.

The most viral ones share certain characteristics between them such as short runtime, a short and catchy title, an element of surprise, irony or laughter with musical qualities. Easily relatable and digestible content is what makes the base for virality.

Let the content truly connect with other human beings. Focus on the content and put that in a visual form that is preferably useful to your audience and voila: there are higher chances for your content to go viral. Originality is not necessary for virality, figure out creative ideas irrespective of how that happens, you will continue to have the opportunity to make it viral.

Here are some more points of consideration: 

1. Know Your Audience

Understand why your followers follow you, understand their background and what they are looking for accordingly deliver posts that fulfil. You cannot build your audience until you have built your brand. Determine what niche or area of expertise you want to occupy, such as an industry expert, social media maven or brand influencer. With some experiments, get to know some actionable insights, and you will start pushing highly engaging content. Start attracting your audience by cultivating posts of audience interests. 

2. Do Your Research 

The wise thing to do here is to focus on a few selected platforms where most of their target audiences interact and engage in content marketing activities. Tap into all the social media channels like Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. Look for your target market and what type of content works the most on each platform. In-depth research would help you create a roadmap to roll out your viral content. 

3. Consider Current Trends & News

If something is happening currently, you better take a chance and pick that particular topic to create some new content. People are constantly active everywhere, and your content could be viewed easily. Analyse if incorporating this newsworthy trend into your viral content is worthwhile.

People are searching for these trendy topics on Google, Twitter, Facebook and everywhere else. Keep an eye on the Google News section and check out Google Trends. Google Trends tool can help you explore what people are searching all over the world and how you can get started with using it to harness some traffic for your content to go viral hopefully. News also breaks out first on the trending section of Twitter and Facebook, so pay attention to such trending topics there as well.

4. Find Your Niche

You must know what would you go viral for on the internet?

Accordingly, identify the category of your viral content. Virality is of different types and categories. There are different methods of virality for different products or ideas. You need to identify your approach; then weave content around it. Don’t expect results in one go; persistence is the key to create something good on the internet. 

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5. Infectious Virality

When you get more people to use the product you already use, this type of virality works well, and thus you can build a community around it.  It is similar to word-of-mouth, but here you are referring to the product for yours, and others benefit. Through invitations, you spread infectious virality. Most of the social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn came to the forefront in their initial days in the same way.

6. Outbreak Virality

Your content gains ultra-fast virality if it's shared with other people. Some things are extremely funny that a common psychological state of mind pushes people to share it with the next person. That is why memes and cute animals go viral. 

7. Incentivised Word-Of-Mouth Virality 

To help the company and the customers equally, you can provide a little incentive to people for referring your product to friends and family. It is similar to paid word-of-mouth. It's a win-win as you get new customers and customers get discounts or incentives.

8. Make It Visual 

The attention span of the average web surfer is getting shorter and shorter. So avoid a big block of text from screens to have a better chance of catching the eyes of people. Many graphic design tools help you to create extraordinary content. Major platforms like Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest,  and  Facebook are almost entirely dedicated to pushing around visual content. People are more likely to notice photos largely in the news feed now, so work on catchy visuals.

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9. Positive Emotions

Humour, awe and wonder work extremely well for virality than negative emotions like anger. People tend to share something that makes us laugh or gape in awe.

10. Quirkiness

Let your content stand out. Be unique in your own way; sometimes, bad content becomes viral just because of how uniquely bad it is.

11. Element of Surprise 

Shock or surprise them, jolt them out of slumber. Being normal and usual is behind the rules of virality. As internet users are constantly looking for something new, an element of surprise is one of the good ways to catch their attention.

12. Wow Factor 

By including a wow factor in your shareable content, you can have multiple cycles of viral content. You will effectively reach more people than ever earlier. The most shareable content evokes strong positive emotions by offering practical but actionable advice.

Conclusion

To help your brand get recognition and wider reach, try out these time-tested practices that can enhance the chances of creating viral content. Incorporate some of the practices in your viral content marketing strategy to get expected results, and don’t forget the science behind what makes content go viral