If you are employed in the field of social media, you may have pondered or been inquired about the method for achieving viral status. It is logical that numerous companies view viral marketing as the key to becoming a social media sensation. After all, it is desirable to have as many individuals as possible view your brand and content.
There’s a sense of urgency. As per the Q4 2022 Sprout pulse survey, 72% of marketers highly regard “staying updated with evolving social patterns” as the topmost hurdle in the approaching year 2023. Therefore, what defines viral marketing in the present scenario? Is pursuing trends still a viable option for brands, or should they concentrate on social media as a component of their larger marketing strategy?
Viral Marketing
The type of advertising known as viral marketing depends on the general public to spread and promote the message of a product or service. When social media users share this marketing quickly and extensively, it is classified as “viral” instead of being limited just to the intended audience.
The pros and cons of viral marketing
It is undeniable that many marketers aspire to have at least one social media video that goes viral on their checklist.
The pros
Boosted brand recognition: Elevating your average engagements from 10-1,000 to 10,000,000 implies that you have dramatically increased your brand recognition and possibly secured numerous fresh patrons or admirers.
Expanding your audience will inevitably result in an increase in fans and followers for your brand. The Shedd Aquarium’s successful “penguin field trips” campaign, for instance, brought in thousands of new followers within just a few days.
With an increase in fans and brand recognition, there are greater opportunities for sales.
Getting recognized as a highly popular brand involves getting featured in Adweek and other articles similar to this one. Through viral marketing, your brand and marketing team can achieve widespread recognition and establish themselves as pioneers in the industry. The Shedd Aquarium, mentioned earlier, is a popular local attraction that has managed to reach people from all over the world, even in Antarctica.
The cons
Your expectations regarding the reception of viral campaigns may not be met as they are designed for generating excitement, which occasionally doesn’t result in the desirable feedback.
Once your content is published, you no longer have complete control over it. Anyone with access to a computer can republish and leave their own comments without your permission.
Acquiring more fans does not necessarily lead to an increase in customers as gaining new followers and receiving more comments does not always result in higher sales.
It’s common to receive countless new messages in your inbox, often on a daily or hourly basis, when your content goes viral.
To effectively monitor messages for viral marketing purposes, it’s important to avoid social media burnout. One solution is to utilize a tool such as Sprout, which enables you to gather all messages from your various channels and conveniently manage them via a central Smart Inbox hub.
Advantages of Viral Marketing
Viral videos offer numerous impactful ways to improve your marketing strategy, and failing to utilize them means neglecting a significant opportunity to boost your marketing efforts significantly.
Any business can enjoy significant benefits from viral marketing thanks to the advantages outlined below:
Marketing has become costly in present times, and improving it can result in a significant expense on your part.
By utilizing a viral marketing strategy, the concern regarding expenses can be eliminated, as it is likely the most economical marketing approach. Since the users are performing the majority of the work, the costs associated with viral marketing are minimal.
Viral marketing offers a crucial benefit of being highly cost-effective while reaching numerous audiences. This marketing strategy has limitless possibilities, as the content can be shared by anyone with anyone. Small enterprises can also target a vast customer base.
When content becomes viral, the user’s choice is not forceful, resulting in a more favorable interaction that differs from traditional forms of advertising.
Viral marketing can be a powerful tool for reaching numerous customers if you are able to generate innovative content that effectively promotes your brand. The effectiveness of this approach is indisputable.
Where to start with viral marketing
1. Reflect on why you want to go viral in the first place
Do you aim to increase your mentions or brand awareness and attract customers? By aligning your viral strategies with your overall objectives, you can create valuable content instead of randomly putting something together and hoping for success.
Having a plan for your content is essential, and this is also the case for viral campaigns. Marketers used to claim that viral content can spread in any way, but that’s no longer true. Nowadays, not all publicity is beneficial.
2. Become a master of social media reporting
Recall our prior discussion about how your audience significantly impacts the content that is spread. Whether you aim to generate or collect viral material, it is crucial to be aware of what connects with your audience.
To begin with, which social media metrics should you observe to determine the top-performing content?
- Audience engagement
- Keyword traffic and performance
- Page impressions
- Clicks and reach
- Demographic data
By analyzing various social media metrics, you can identify content that is likely to be shared. This could be anything from a video to a meme. The analytics tools in Sprout allow you to evaluate the success of individual pieces of content and overall campaigns.
You can commence constructing upcoming campaigns by drawing inspiration from successful past endeavors.
3. Make sure your content is primed for sharing
Ensuring your content is optimized for easy and rapid sharing may seem obvious, but it’s crucial. Don’t restrict your social campaigns to just your company’s primary account. Instead, think about how far your message can spread, from blogs and newsletters to events within your network.
Next, come up with ideas for the most suitable social media platforms to promote your content. For instance, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram could be great options to share image-based content. YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram would be ideal for viral videos.
Facilitating seamless sharing is a wise approach. Simplify the sharing of your campaign to ease the process for your audience by doing the following:
- Providing several different routes to share (like the above penguin video published on Twitter and TikTok)
- Giving away free products or services
- Finding the common motivations of your main audience
- Asking questions that get viewers or readers thinking and talking
- Never restricting or gating your content
4. Use hashtags to spread the word
Pairing hashtags with content fosters increased social sharing. Including a hashtag in a campaign is a savvy tactic to heighten its visibility and recollection, and simplify the sharing process for your target community.
Creating a hashtag is valuable for monitoring the mentions and shares of your campaigns. Hashtag analytics can aid in discovering other pertinent hashtags that your audience is utilizing and assessing the results of your own hashtags.
5. When in doubt, consider trend jacking
One could argue that the simplest method to increase brand recognition without achieving viral status is by trend jacking. This entails attaching your brand to a meme, pertinent pop culture allusion, or viral trend. It has become a fundamental marketing strategy for those seeking to tap into the viral market.
Consider the “It’s Corn” trend that has been discussed multiple times. Examine how other brands like Sprout, Shedd Aquarium, and Grammarly incorporate this popular sound to share their own narratives.
By engaging in social listening, you have the ability to promptly identify these types of trends and determine their significance to your audience.
6. Humanize your content
Although a simple piece of advice, it is crucial to create content with a human touch to make it go viral. Generally, the viral content has an organic, personable, and relatable appeal. To reach the younger generation of millennials and Gen Z, who have a say in what becomes viral, authenticity is a must.
When content is made more human-like or authentic, brands usually receive a higher number of shares. Adding elements that eliminate the corporate feel of your content is an advantage.
Tips for running a Viral Marketing Campaign
Producing content that resonates with your audience is a challenging task, requiring careful planning and execution. In a highly competitive market, crafting distinctive and compelling content is essential to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack.
Following are the specific Viral Marketing Hacks that you must consider while creating content for your campaign-
Target the Right Audience and Channel
The first and foremost consideration when creating content is identifying your intended audience and determining the platform on which they are most active.
For a message to go viral, it needs the right push, as it won’t happen on its own. Choosing the proper channel is crucial because it can affect the outcome significantly. If you do not select the correct medium, your efforts may be futile.
Incorporate videos into your content.
Video marketing content is the most powerful tool in creating a viral campaign. We tend to be more receptive to video content, making it highly shareable. Thus, video content has the potential to go viral in no time.
By uploading videos on Daily Motion and YouTube, your friends and audience can watch and potentially share them if they find the content compelling, increasing the likelihood of the video going viral. Essentially, other websites, social media platforms, and blogs may also showcase the video, fostering trust among viewers. This increased engagement is an important aspect of the process.
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Offer Valuable Things for Free
It is human nature to appreciate complimentary items, as who wouldn’t? It is unlikely that anyone would refuse to accept items that come at no expense. The term “Free” has the potential to lure several patrons towards your brand, making it an efficient approach to draw traffic.
The inclusion of the term “free” has been a common tactic in various triumphant marketing endeavors. In the initial stages, you may not generate revenue, however, once you establish a solid customer base, significant profits can be attained. Providing complimentary items may be necessary to capture the attention of potential consumers and attain substantial success for your enterprise.
Make an Emotional Appeal
The primary strategy for “viral marketing” entails creating content that triggers an emotional response, as this is what typically leads to widespread sharing. Content without emotional resonance is unlikely to achieve virality.
The focus is on feelings. However, you may wonder how to produce this type of content. To compose emotional content, the following steps are required:
Create content that is filled with love, passion, excitement, or something that will provoke thought. Regardless of whether the main idea is intelligent or foolish, strive to produce material that will evoke intense happiness or passion in people.
Your content is likely to go viral if you effectively target emotional triggers. In order for people to share it, your content must possess originality and creativity. It must also strike a chord with the viewer’s lifestyle or mindset.
Integrate Sharing, Embedding and Downloading
Make sure sharing, embedding, or downloading your content is easy. With this help, the chances of your content going viral are huge.
In order to enable the listed features, it is necessary for you to produce content.
Share with ease.
It is effortless to integrate into their website.
Easily access and download the content.
In marketing, a basic principle states that the more straightforward your content is, the greater the appeal it will have to your audience. By limiting barriers to sharing and downloading, and ensuring your content is engaging, your audience is likely to spread the word.
Expanding your social outreach will be a positive outcome of this. Essentially, the goal is to broaden the scope of customers you can connect with. It’s imperative that your content can attract and engage a diverse audience.
In order to accomplish this, you need to possess a social circle that enables you to distribute the material.
Develop a social account so you can provide the content to a number of people when you first publish it, as it will be more beneficial.
Side notes
One of the key factors that can make a campaign go viral is providing value to your audience and establishing an emotional connection. This can enhance your brand’s visibility, extend your business’s reach, improve lead generation, and raise potential sales.
