Do you find yourself in the statements below?
- You want to create content, promote it, and see it thrive with remarkable success.
- You want to reach new audiences and sell more products.
- You want to drive traffic, leads, and conversions.
- You want your content to be so impactful that thousands or even millions of people view it and share it.
If your answers are YES, you are on the right article.
First, we’ll discuss why virality is so great for your business. Then, we’ll talk about how you can use earned, owned, and paid hacks to create and promote viral content.
Why do you need earned, owned, and paid content to go viral?
The answer seems obvious, doesn’t it? You want people to share your content because when your content goes viral, it’s good for business. More people see it, which drives traffic to your website. When more people visit your website, more people become identifiable leads. And when more people become leads, your conversions surge.
In other words, viral content makes your content sell more product, making your business more successful.
However, to create viral content, we first must ask another question.
Why do people share in the first place? After all, if your content doesn’t get shared by the masses, then you don’t have a piece of viral content on your hands. If, however, the content is shared thousands or millions of times, then your business thrives and your growth skyrockets.
And the answer to why people share content is quite simple. It all comes down to social currency. Basically, people share when it makes them look good. People don’t want to look bad in front of their friends. And they also know that their friends judge them based on the content they share.
There are six different things that make people look good.
Earned virality tips
What exactly is earned media?
It’s the stuff you earn through hard work, sweat, and tears. The stuff where you attract attention because you provide better quality or a higher quantity than the competition. Here are a few ways you can use earned media to make your content go viral.
1. Create short content
Generally speaking, short content is more likely to go viral than long content is. This makes sense when you think about it.
Some stats compare the modern human attention span to that of a goldfish. And according to most of those same stats, the goldfish wins. That means short content does a better job of keeping the viewer’s attention throughout the entirety of the content, thus getting more shares and making it more likely of going viral.
Long content, on the other hand, might be amazing. But it doesn’t have as much of a chance of going viral. And the reason is simple. People stop watching or reading because it’s too long and they don’t have the time.
2. Keep it visual
Similar to short content performing better than long content, visual content often performs better than bodies of text.
Think about it.
Have you ever clicked on an article only to find a long body of text on a white background, and then left because you didn’t feel like reading the whole thing? Of course you have. We all have. When content is long and uninterrupted, it intimidates your audiences and makes them far less likely to engage with it.
In fact, conversions increase by 86% when there’s a video on the landing page, and 40% of people respond better to visual info (like infographics) than plain text. And, across the board, infographics receive the most shares out of any other type of content.
Why is this? Because people love to look at stuff rather than read stuff.
3. Run a giveaway
Another less common, but often more effective way to create viral content is by running a giveaway. People love free stuff, and they love gambling.
At its heart, a giveaway uses both of those truths to draw attention and generate brand awareness and engagement.
Owned virality tips
Now we’ll discuss virality tips that revolve around owned media. Owned media is media that you directly own and is unique to your business. Your website, email list, or social media accounts, for instance. How you use these channels greatly increases the chance that your content will (or will not) go viral.
4. Email list distribution
Your email list has loads of virality potential. That’s right. Even if your email list isn’t massive or your open rates aren’t very good or your click-through rate is worse, you can still use your email list to market your content to the people who matter most. The people who already care about your business. Those are the people, after all, who are most likely to share your content.
5. Leverage user-generated content
What exactly is user-generated content? It’s content that your users create that you publish. This is awesome for two reasons.
- You don’t have to create the content yourself.
- It’s easy to make this content go viral.
Some of the top businesses that regularly publish user-generated content are Red Bull, BMW, and even Starbucks. Clearly, those businesses aren’t just doing it for fun. They’re doing it because it works.
Paid virality tips
Now, we turn our attention to the paid promotional tactics. These are the ones that cost you money above all else.
6. Run paid advertisements
Paid advertising has been around for as long as businesses have existed. Sure, it has changed form. But, at its heart, it’s stayed the same.
People pay to reach the people who matter. In return, they hope that they receive more money in return than they spent to reach those people. And paid advertising has been popular for such a long time for one reason and one reason only. It works. But it doesn’t just work to create sales. It can also work to make your content go viral.