Viral content – it’s the dream of the marketing world.
But for many, it’s a cross between the “impossible dream” and, if they put a ton of effort into the process, the viral dream changes into the viral nightmare!”
In most cases, I’ve found that those who are working to go viral, fail, unless they’re part of a highly-connected and cooperative group of people who have huge audiences and are willing to promote each others’ work to their audience.
Frankly, if you’re not part of a group like that, I don’t believe that “going viral” should be one of your objectives. If it happens, it’s nice, but don’t bet the farm (i.e. make viral a key part of your business strategy) unless you’ve got a group of highly-followed friends who state in advance that they’re willing to share your work with their audience.
So, what makes content go viral? There are 6 things you need to make content go viral:
- Connection
- Scarcity
- Share Buttons
- Skimability
- Practical Utility
- Consistency
Let’s talk about that first one. I have seen many attempts to go viral that flamed out because the originator was only connected to people who had very little influence in the marketplace. Great content rarely goes viral unless someone picks it up who is highly influential in their marketplace. I’ve oftentimes seen less than great content go viral simply because the right people promoted it.
Long story short – work on building content that meets the six criteria mentioned above, focusing first on working to build real influence by connecting with other highly connected (and influential) people!
Is there anything else that should be included in this list? What do you think of this list? Let me know by posting a comment below, and don’t forget to like, share, tweet and pin this post!