If you really want to give your business a boost, one of the quickest ways to do it is with viral content that works in your favor—but it’s certainly not the easiest approach. Absolutely no writer, firm, or professional can guarantee you a piece of content that goes viral. If it were that, “easy,” it wouldn’t be such a rare, glittery unicorn. However, there are ways you can stack the odds in your favor, like knowing the foundational characteristics viral content has in common.
For example, maybe there was a special event that got a "viral-level" status in your industry and you want to know how to replicate it. Perhaps you know that a certain speaker in your field always draws a big crowd, and the right content around him or her will give you an edge. However, it’s not enough to know which topics, celebrities, events, and releases are trending right now. Viral content is part what the actual content is and partly how it’s presented.
What are a few things all viral content has in common? Consider this your cheat sheet:
1. It’s relevant
There are very few instances when evergreen content goes viral. Instead, you need to be presenting the latest information that’s highly relevant to your audience. This doesn’t need to be information that’s not available anywhere else, (that would be pretty tough to pull off on a regular basis!), but it could mean taking a dry, complex study and turning it into an infographic with layperson terms. It’s how you spin content that gets it noticed.
2. It scares, shocks, and/or entertains
Things go viral because people feel it’s so important the information gets passed along that they sign up to be, "freebie," brand ambassadors. These people want as many other people as possible to know about this latest danger. Like, if a recent study showed that bananas actually lead to a lower IQ, (they don’t, by the way), or if Star Wars Kid has some fresh competition that literally is making people ROFLMAO at work. People are naturally social, helpful, and also, well, malicious. Give them material they can’t help but gossip about, and they’ll (mostly) do the work for you.
3. It’s shareable
With number two being said, people are also lazy. It’s your job to make this content shareable so all your audience has to do is click a button to share it. This means the content should have options for sharing on social media. You tack on the “right” social media, blog, and other share options, and if the content itself features responsive design and mobile readiness, it will show up well and rather quickly no matter which platform or device is being used.
4. It’s short
People are much more likely to grab something, “on the go,” that’s easy to digest than to dedicate themselves to a lengthy undertaking. Your viral content might very well link to a bigger study, but a short teaser is what’s going to reel people in. People are busy, attention spans are short, and you should assume that every one of your readers is checking out your content while in line for a cup of coffee on their smartphone. Cater to those users.
5. It embraces as many people as possible
Often, your audience is incredibly niche, but if you want to go viral you can’t have an exclusive club. Virality depends on reaching as many people as possible. It’s a numbers game. It means asking as many people as possible for their number instead of holding out for, “the one,” before you make your move.
Viral content is a surefire way to inject your online business with some exposure, but make sure it’s doing you a favor. After all, you want people laughing with you, not at you.