What does it mean for a social media post to “go viral”?
A social media post is considered to have “gone viral” when it spreads quickly and widely across social media platforms. This usually happens when the post resonates with many people and they share it with their own networks, exponentially increasing its reach.
Some key signs that a social media post has gone viral:
– It receives an abnormally large number of likes, shares, comments, etc. within a short time frame.
– It gets shared by influencers, celebrities, media outlets or other accounts with large followings.
– It spreads beyond the original poster’s own social network to other platforms.
– It sparks online conversations, memes or user-generated content.
The goal when trying to go viral is to create content that taps into an emotional reaction, cultural moment or collective experience that makes people want to share it. However, virality is difficult to predict and control. Often posts go viral seemingly at random.
Why do people want their social media posts to go viral?
There are several potential benefits for a person or brand when their social media post goes viral:
– Increased reach and exposures: A viral post can be seen by millions of people across the globe. This greatly amplifies the reach that a person/brand normally has.
– Boosts online engagement: Virality leads to more likes, shares, comments and overall interaction. This algorithmically boosts the post’s visibility within social platforms.
– Drives real-world action: A viral post can motivate people to take actions like donating to a cause, buying a product, attending an event, or changing a behavior.
– Creates buzz and awareness: Virality generates interest and chatter around the person or brand who posted it, bolstering their public image and awareness.
– Generates leads/sales: For businesses and creatives, a viral post can directly translate to more customers, clients and revenue.
– Ego gratification: Some share viral content for the social recognition, status or ego boost of having a super popular post.
What type of content tends to go viral?
Studies indicate several characteristics often found in the most viral social media content:
– Positive emotions: Posts that make people feel happy, uplifted or hopeful spread more than negative content. Humor is probably the number one emotional driver of virality.
– Awe or amazement: Content that astonishes people or creates a sense of wonderment is highly shareable. This could be an incredible talent, strange observation or unusual animal.
– Anger or outrage: Sometimes a post that sparks indignation, political outrage or moral anger can spread quickly as people react. However, positive content still travels faster overall.
– Practical utility: Posts that directly help people or provide useful information tend to be passed on more. This includes shareable news, life hacks, recipes, health tips, etc.
– Popular trends/memes: Content that taps into the latest popular meme or social media trend often benefits from the spike in related interest and conversations.
– Strong visuals: Posts with eye-catching or striking images and video spread far, especially easy-to-consume content like infographics.
– Relatability: Content that many people can personally identify with tends to resonate broadly. Posts about everyday experiences, nostalgia, relationships, pets, etc can catch on virally by hitting an emotional note with the masses.
How can you create viral social media posts?
While there is no secret formula for creating a viral post, here are some best practices shared by social media experts:
– Know your audience: Identify specific interests or shared emotions of your target audience that you can tap into. Tailor content accordingly.
– Tell a story: Craft your post with a compelling narrative, moral or character arc that draws people in rather than just stating facts. Use drama, conflict, resolution.
– Use humor: Funny posts are highly shareable. Memes, jokes, amusing observations and witty captions can all go viral.
– Feature adorable animals: Posts with cute, funny or surprising animals are essentially viral catnip and spread rapidly.
– Make it visual: Use engaging photos, graphics, illustrations or video content whenever possible. This makes posts more eye-catching and consumable.
– Leverage trends: Connect your post to trending stories, hashtags, holidays, events or meme formats to increase visibility and relevance.
– Encourage sharing: Ask viewers to tag friends, retweet, use a branded hashtag, create their own versions, etc to actively spread the post.
– Promote across platforms: Cross-post your content across different social platforms to maximize exposure to different audiences.
– Involve influencers: Get social media influencers with large audiences to share your post with their followers to trigger viral effects.
– Post consistently: Regularly post engaging content to build a larger audience over time, which will increase your chances of eventually going viral.
What are some famous examples of viral social media posts?
Here are a few standout examples of posts that “broke the internet” and went massively viral:
– NASA’s Golden Record post – This 2017 post about the Golden Records aboard the Voyager spacecraft captured people’s imagination, earning over 300,000 retweets.
– The dress color debate – A 2015 Tumblr post asking whether a dress photo was blue/black or white/gold sparked heated online debate, with the post earning over 1 million notes.
– Chewbacca Mom video – This 2016 Facebook Live video of a joyful mom wearing a Chewbacca mask got over 180 million views and helped kick off the Facebook Live trend.
– Obama Hope Poster – Shepard Fairey’s iconic 2008 “Hope” poster came to symbolize Obama’s groundbreaking presidential campaign and was widely shared online.
– Friends reunion selfie – This 2014 Oscars selfie with Ellen Degeneres and a star-studded crew of friends was at the time the most retweeted tweet ever on Twitter, with over 3 million RTs.
– ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – This viral charity campaign took social media by storm in 2014, with over 17 million videos shared on Facebook alone to raise awareness for ALS.
– Kylie Jenner record-breaking pregnancy announcement – The Instagram post announcing Jenner’s pregnancy was liked over 19.7 million times, shattering the record for most-liked Instagram post at the time.
What should you do after your post goes viral to maximize the opportunity?
Going viral provides a huge opportunity to grow your brand or platform. But you need to have a strategy to capitalize on the momentum. Here are some ways to make the most of post-virality:
– Ride the wave: Post follow-up content that taps into the viral narrative while buzz is still high.
– Interact with new followers: Take time to engage and connect with the influx of new followers generated by your viral post.
– Promote your other content: Redirect attention to your back catalog of posts and content that new audiences might have missed.
– Spotlight team members or subjects: Showcase the people featured in the viral post more prominently while interest is piqued.
– Consider paid promotion: If budget allows, put some money behind further boosting engagement on the viral post when visibility is already high.
– Develop related merchandise: For brands – capitalize on the viral moment by creating branded merchandise related to the post like t-shirts, mugs, stickers etc.
– Don’t overdo it: Be careful not to appear like you’re milking the viral post. Keep providing value.
– Monitor analytics: Study traffic sources, engagement metrics and audience demographics the viral post is generating to optimize future content.
– Leverage press opportunities: Use your newfound virality to secure features in press outlets, interviews etc to extend your exposure.
– Convert engagement to lasting followers: Encourage viral viewers to follow your account or subscribe to your newsletter to retain them as lasting audience members.
What risks are there in trying to go viral?
The allure of going viral can lead some to prioritize sensationalism over integrity when creating content. There are some risks to be mindful of in aggressively pursuing virality:
– Lower quality content: Trying too hard to manufacture a viral moment can result in shallow, derivative or manipulative content that lacks authenticity.
– Damaged reputation: If a viral post promotes misinformation, poor values or controversy it can backfire and end up hurting your brand image.
– Fleeting fame: A viral post leads to a temporary spike in buzz and metrics, but it doesn’t guarantee any lasting benefits on its own.
– Bandwagon hopping: Jumping on trending memes or news in a way that comes off as inauthentic or opportunistic can turn off audiences.
– Wasted resources: Investing too much time or money into engineered “viral bait” content means missed opportunities to create something more meaningful.
– Social media fatigue: When every brand tries going viral it can contribute to a sense of fatigue or annoyance among social media users.
– Devalued platform currency: The more brands treat social platforms like self-marketing billboards, the less organic community can flourish.
Conclusion
Virality is a coveted but elusive state for any piece of social media content. While the phenomenon can seem random at times, there are certain best practices around crafting compelling, emotive, useful content that taps into the zeitgeist that can increase the chances of sparking a viral response. Even without going specifically viral, these principles of understanding your audience, telling human stories, leveraging trends and encouraging sharing can bolster the reach of any social media marketing effort. Brands who strategically play the long game with social platforms, rather than treating them as vehicles for one-off viral stunts, tend to see the most lasting benefits.