We’ve all heard of the phrase “viral,” but how does it apply to online fame?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, viral can mean: “quickly and widely spread or popularized especially by person-to-person electronic communication. <a viral video>”
“Going viral” (or “virality”) is a buzz word amongst digital and social media marketers, as many brands that go “viral” get mainstream attention which can result in increased brand awareness and even product sales.
Viral content is shared, viewed, “liked” and “retweeted” in extremely high numbers: getting your content to go viral can be your ticket to online fame–literally, overnight.
Once upon a time, virality was attained in an organic manner; people would share things they liked and if it happened to go viral, it was their luck! While this method of becoming “viral” hasn’t completely become extinct, clever marketing gurus exist to help your content become viral.
Unless you can afford the money to hire a marketing or PR firm to help make your content go viral (which is not guaranteed!), your best bet for getting widespread online attention is to share your HIGH QUALITY content with everyone you know! Share with your friends on every social media platform you have, and get your friends/followers to repost/retweet/share your content as much as possible. (Tip: Make sure you don’t overwhelm them–no one likes to be bombarded. Use discretion.)
While your family and close friends are likely to help you with this, the key to getting others you may not know personally to do so is really having good content that is one or all of these things: helpful, entertaining, novel, and easy to consume. Videos, in particular, have the ability to be all of these.
We’ve curated a few blog articles (and a video!) that can help you understand more about going viral and how to produce viral content below:
1. Why Content Goes Viral: the Theory and Proof
3. How to Improve Your Chances of Going Viral
The links offer helpful best practices, but your post suggests that there are tools available to people willing to spend money on promoting their content.
What do the agencies you mention do that a regular person isn’t able to?
Sweet blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!