It’s the holy grail of marketing – “make it go viral.” Yeah, well, easier said than done – it’s all just a matter of luck, right? Wrong. While it’s not as simple as baking a cake, all viral content does share various ingredients that can be utilized to create viral content and put your brand on the map. And if you understand the science behind creating content that goes viral, you can increase your shares, likes, and brand profile. Here’s how.
Appeal to Super Sharers
By the numbers, it stands to reason that for something to go viral, each viewer needs to generate at least one other viewer. But motivating the masses to share your content is a rather overwhelming objective. Fortunately, there is something called the super sharer. Research published in the Harvard Business Review shows that over 80% of the sharing that makes something go viral is actually caused by super sharers who share TONS of content to large audiences. So how do you appeal to super sharers? Two ways:
- Social Motivation
Beneath the surface, there are a myriad of motivations that lead people to share content. From supporting a cause to looking smart, way down deep, it has to do with social status. We all want to appear smart, so we tend to share things that make us look smart. We want to be in the know, so we share things that have a sub-culture, because we enjoy being part of a group. We wish to be perceived as caring, so we share things related to our favorite causes.
- Psychological Response
Research suggests that content that evokes strong emotions is more likely to be shared. And the more intense the better. Even though positive emotions tend to result in more shares, extremely intense negative emotions also drive shares and reactions. Common denominators for viral content typically include anticipation and surprise – for example, you knew something was going to pop up and scare you in that video, but you didn’t know it would scare you THAT much. So you share it with all your friends.
Quality
There’s no shortcut to quality content, and as it turns out, building quality into your videos, memes, and blogs is also one of the best ways to ensure they go viral. According to research by Jonah Berger, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, quality narratives pull people in and make them feel like part of the story, thus resulting in their tendency to engage with and share this content.
And the more useful something is to someone, the more likely they are to pin it for later or share it to help their friends. This is why list blogs and helpful how-to articles or videos are so shareable. It really comes down to contributing valuable content that hits the right psychological chords. The science is quite conclusive – viral content comes from helping and building people up, stirring up their emotions, and making them part of the story.
If this blog helped you understand a little more how to create viral content, share it with your friends and help me make this puppy go viral!
