It goes without saying that every piece of content you create should be well-written, engaging and high quality. But if you want to make the most of your content, then you should also consider ways to make it go viral.
Let me give you an example. Let’s suppose you have a blog post that’s optimized for the search engines to bring in Google traffic. Now imagine if certain percentage of this Google traffic also shares your content with their friends. Now you’ve got a post that’s generating traffic in two ways, which is always a good thing!
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Now, elsewhere in these newsletter issues we talked about creating content for social media. The strategies you learned there apply here as well. Here’s a quick recap of the qualities your content should possess if you want it to go viral:
- Unique: even just one fresh tip or a unique way of presenting “old” information.
- Easy to consume (in just seconds or two or three minutes).
- Easy to share (no hoops such as an opt-in form).
- Seeks to generate positive emotion (even an “oh wow” gets people sharing).
- Eye-catching, benefit-driven and/or curiosity- arousing title that’s intriguing enough to get people to click.
- Includes a call to action telling people to share.
It’s also a good idea to reverse-engineer viral content in your market (such as on your competitors’ blogs and social media pages) to get a feel for what your audience wants. If they share videos like crazy, then you might want to create a video. Or if infographics are their thing, then you might seek to create infographics.
Now let’s fill in the blanks with the other keys for creating a viral campaign…
Distribute it Widely
Sometimes marketers drop their viral content on Facebook and Twitter, and then sit around waiting for the views and shares to start rolling in. However, you have a much better chance of having your content go viral if you initially get it in front of as many targeted visitors as possible.
To that end, promote your viral content in the same way that you’d promote anything else. For example:
- Post it everywhere. This includes telling your newsletter about it, posting it on your blog, and posting it on all your applicable social media platforms.
- Share it in communities. Obviously, you should post it in your own groups or forums. Where allowed (ask first!), you can also post it in other relevant groups/forums.
- Get it in front of influencers. There are some people in your niche who are respected and tend to influence others. Build relationships with these folks and send your content to them.
- Ask your marketing partners to share it. This includes your affiliates as well as your joint venture marketing partners. Coordinate with them to announce the content at the same time. (See the next section for more info on this.)
- Utilize paid advertising. For example, you can create a Facebook ad campaign on launch day to help with that initial big push.
Next…
Launch at the Right Time
There are certain days and times that your audience is most active online. You need to determine these times, and then seek to launch your viral content during these time periods. This helps create that initial surge of shares that will (hopefully) reach critical mass and turn your regular content into viral content.
To determine the best time to launch, first check your traffic data. In particular, pay close attention to the following:
- When you tend to have the most traffic coming to your website, particularly engaged traffic that has the time to do things like comment on your blog posts.
- When your social media content tends to get the most engagement.
- The days/times when you tend to get a lot of newsletter subscribers.
If you can detect a pattern, then you have a good starting point with regards to the best days and times to launch content. However, the best way to know for sure is to test and track your campaigns to see when your audience is most active and responsive to your content and offers.
Include Social Buttons
When you post viral content on your blog, you want to make it super-easy for people to share the content on social media. That’s why you should include social share buttons on your blog. You can get a plugin to make this easy (such as https://wordpress.org/plugins/sassy-social-share/).
Many plugins let you display dozens or even 100 or more social media badges/buttons. Don’t do this, as it will overwhelm visitors. Instead, select a handful of the top social media platforms where you know your audience is active, and only display those buttons. Be sure to include a call to action (e.g., “Your friends will love this too, so share it with them now on your favorite social media page using the buttons below!”).
Incentivize People to Share
The final tip for getting a viral campaign moving is to give people a good reason to share your content. Here are two ways to do it:
- Create rebrandable content. This is where you let other people change the links in your content to their affiliate links. People love the opportunity to make money simply by giving something away to others. (You may reserve this for your existing affiliates only, or you can let anyone rebrand it.)
- Give people something valuable in exchange for sharing. For example, you can give them a discount coupon or a free product when someone shares your content. You can use an app like PerkZilla.com to handle all of this automatically.
Now a few parting thoughts…
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Conclusion
Creating a viral content is a bit of an art and a science. Even those whose sole job it is to create viral campaigns for big companies don’t always get it right. However, if you take into consideration all the tips you just learned, then you have a much better chance than the average marketer of creating content that gets shared!
And now let’s look at a surprisingly simple way to create products…
Keep Reading: How To Find And Use PLR Content To Create Stunningly Popular Products
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