Viral marketing is a great way to get your prospects and customers sharing your marketing messages and content. I’ve put together 10 strategies you can use to create more buzz for your brand.
1. Create something unique.
People aren’t going to share something they’ve seen a thousand times before, so seek to create something unique. This doesn’t mean it needs to be 100% unique. For example, instead of inventing a new strategy in your niche, you can add a twist to an old strategy. You can even present old information in a fresh, new, and exciting way. These steps all contribute towards making your content unique.
2. Make your content easy to consume.
People don’t have long attention spans, which is why most content that goes viral is short and easy to read, listen to, or watch. For example, a two-minute video is much easier to consume than a ten-minute video.
TIP: This also means you shouldn’t put viral content behind obstacles, such as making people join a list before they can watch, read, or listen to your content.
3. Ensure sharing is easy.
One of the easiest ways to launch viral content is on social media platforms where it’s easy to share the content with a click of the button. If you do put it on your website, be sure to include social sharing buttons and a “tell a friend” script so people can share in seconds.
4. Evoke emotion.
People are motivated to share when you touch them on an emotional level. Some of the top emotions found in viral content include joy, delight, surprise, and happiness. Evoking certain negative emotions (such as anger, fear, and disgust) may also work, depending on your topic.
5. Use pop culture references.
This doesn’t work for every niche, obviously. However, if you can create an “inside joke” with a pop-culture reference, you might boost the viral effect. Take a look at actor George Takei’s Facebook Page for a good example of viral content that often incorporates pop-culture: https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei.
6. Reverse engineer successful viral campaigns.
The idea here is to follow people in your niche who tend to launch viral campaigns on social media, and then take note of those that get a lot of likes, shares, and comments. Then reverse engineer these campaigns to figure out what makes them successful. For example, perhaps you’ll notice that simple funny memes play best in your niche, or perhaps inspirational videos are what motivate your audience to share the content.
7. Experiment and test.
There is no exact formula for creating viral content. That’s why viral marketers are constantly launching viral campaigns to see what works. Sometimes you’ll swear something will go viral and it won’t, while in other cases something will surprise you by taking off. So keep creating a lot of content, as you’re bound to have some successes.
8. Promote your viral content like crazy.
When you launch viral content, you need to get it in front of as many people as possible right away. The more people who see it when you launch it, the more quickly the viral effect takes hold (due to social proof). So be sure to promote your content using social media, telling your list, asking your marketing partners to share it, and even purchasing paid advertising (such as Facebook ads).
9. Include a Call to Action.
You can increase your share rate by specifically telling people to share your content. For example, “Click here to share with your friends and give them a good laugh – they’ll thank you for it!”
10. Incentivize sharing.
Still another way to kick start the viral effect is to “bribe” people for sharing. For example, give sharers a really cool gift (like an ebook, video, or app) if they share your content.
TIP: You can automate this strategy using tools like SocialShareMonkey.com, which unlocks a gift after someone has shared your link on social media.
