6 Ways To Ensure Your Social Media Posts Go Viral

Every social media user dreams of having their post go viral, however, a business owner truly knows and understands the worth of a viral post. It is a way to reach a huge audience that may eventually lead to lots of potential customers or clients. 

However, having your business post go viral is no easy feat. It requires a combination of skill, knowledge, and even luck. While for some posts it may be obvious as to why they went viral for others it isn’t. One may never fully comprehend the reason those sports memes or cat videos went viral other than the fact the audience simply loved them. 

Despite that at times luck plays a crucial part in posts going viral, there are some techniques you can utilize to ensure that your posts gather a huge amount of attention. 

Whether you decide to hire a social media post designer or aim to do it yourself, combining some of the strategies will increase the chances that your post will draw the attention to your business that you want it to. 

The Emotional Factor

One thing that is common amongst all the posts that ever have gone viral up to date whether they be memes, videos, infographics, or stories, is the audience connects to the content. The fact a viral post is able to gather so much attention is that it has succeeded in reaching the audience at some emotional level.

Therefore when designing any form of post for your business, place great thought into figuring out what sort of content will attract the audience most. 

When Coke launched its #ShareACoke Campaign, the audience loved it. It wasn’t just the encouragement to share the beverage with a companion but also the fact your could share it in a “personalized” packaging with your friend. 

Create A Hook

Every social media platform has made it easy to share posts with the simple click of a button. Although it takes merely a second to click that button, creating the motivation for the audience to carry out that click requires some skill.

If your infographic requires a heading, use that to attract your audience’s attention. Instead of the heading “How to look healthier?” use the heading “10 ways to look and feel healthier.” The numbers often do the trick. 

Use catchy words, attention-grabbing imagery, or awe-inspiring text that will leave your audience not only pleased but have the urge to share it further on other platforms.

Make Them Laugh

It is well known that laughter is the best medicine. It is a great way to release those endorphins and feel less stressed. With daily lives being stressful as they are, most people often look to social media to catch a break and relax.

For this mindset, design your post since humor works great. Share a joke, create a meme, use sarcasm about the latest news, the popular debates, or the newest trends. Humour is an excellent way to please your audience and encourage them to share a good time with someone else.

Use The Opportunity When You See One

Watching the Superbowl game is one of the most popular days all across America where you can expect most Americans to prepare for the day with gatherings of friends, BBQ, snacks, drinks, and…Oreos. 

During the 2013 Superbowl game, half of the Superdome (the venue where the game was being held) was left in darkness due to a power outage. 

The social media post designers of the Oreo Cookie used this opportunity to quickly put out an ad on Twitter with the image of a simple delicious-looking oreo cookie with the tagline “You can still dunk in the dark.” The tweet went viral in just a few moments and gathered attention in the masses. 

Why? Timing. The social marketing team for the famous cookies brand knew how to connect with the audience when they were experiencing the blackout and used the chance to promote their product at that exact moment. 

So keep up with the latest news, trends, and campaigns and find out what the world is into at the moment, discover what topics are being discussed worldwide, and use all that to connect it to your business better via your posts. Use ongoing popular hashtags to further increase the chances of your posts going viral across social media platforms. 

Engage Your Audience

Who can forget the popular debate of 2015 on the color of that shoe whether if it was pink or gray? The dress picture that followed soon after was worthy enough to get even a Wikipedia description as “The dress” and to this day people haven’t come to the consensus on if it was gold, blue, or black.

Due to the intriguing nature of the post, the dress picture had gathered a 10million tweets in only a week, and famous celebrities around the world joined the debate including other brands, who used the popularity of the post to promote their own products in creative ways. 

A great way to make sure your audience spends more than just scrolling through your post is to engage your audience. When you have them solve puzzles or post quizzes or ask them to complete the sentence, the interest of the audience is piqued and they are more like to spend more time viewing your post and sharing it further. 

Select The Appropriate Medium

As the number of social media users has grown exponentially over the past decade, there have been viral pictures, videos, memes, and even stories. This goes to show that all mediums have the potential to go viral if they are prepared with the right ingredients. 

Before even taking the steps to create a post, social media designers should put great thought into what the business aims to convey or share through their post. While some content may be shared best in the form of a picture (like the shoes or dress debate), some posts work best in the form of stories. Motivational text or awe-inspiring stories often gain traction fast as humans naturally look to others for guidance. 

Recently “short video” has been the trend. With every platform providing a way to share videos nearing 60 seconds or so, popular challenges or behind-the-scenes videos, or even how-to videos have gained constant popularity recently.

Conclusion

When creating a post that you hope to go viral, all the ingredients must be used in the right combination to ensure the success of that post. In order to get the recipe just right, you need to be well aware of which audience you are aiming to target and what it is that they wish to see. 

A well-strategized post that succeeds in gathering lots of attention has the potential to increase your businesses’ recognition and awareness to a large audience.