What makes something go viral is a common question beginner content creators ask.
In this video, Coach Craig Rowe shares his thoughts and insights at a business breakfast for small business owners.
So, what makes something Viral?
According to Coach Craig Rowe, a viral piece of content is something that gains considerably more reach than normal and is being shared outside of your normal following on social media. It’s the shareability, he says, that makes something “go viral.”.
According to this definition, viral may therefore look different to different people. There is no exact science or number of views or engagement. What someone considers viral for them, may not be viral for you.
Someone with 1 follower on social media could argue a piece of content reaching 100 people for them is viral. It is relative to the individual and therefore arbitrary.
To further expand, Coach Craig Rowe shares with other entrepreneurs what characteristics he has identified viral content tends to have.
Teach
Viral content often teaches someone something or offers a new experience. While teaching is a great way to spread information and content, your goal should be to leave someone with an outcome or change of state. That is, you want them to leave with a learning experience or feeling they would not have experienced if they had not encountered your content. The more people you can achieve this type of result with, the greater the chance that this content may go viral.
Entertain
Not everyone wants to learn from content; however, many people use it for entertainment. This is what may make short-form content a good strategy to go viral, as it is easy to make something entertaining in a short period of time. If you can make it funny, heartwarming, or perhaps create outrage. Maybe it’s polarizing (that is, taking a position on one thing versus something else), this will leave viewers having to pick sides, which can increase engagement. Video content works well as entertainment, as does review and opinion-type content. The end goal here is to leave the audience feeling some type of positive or negative emotion. Connecting to ones emotions to make your content relatable, abrasive or sticky. It may even leave members of the audience hating you or perhaps becoming a true fan.
Inspire
Viral content tends to inspire people into some form of action. Not alway with a call to action. The ultimate goal shoould be to have someone like your content enough to inspire them to share it with others within their network, in a hope their peers will do the same. This is a key goal to making something go viral. Sharability, which I will expand on a little later in this post.
Bring Value
Content marketers and creators often refer to the concept of a “value proposition,” which is a brief promise of what you are offering to your audience if they watch, read, or listen. Your goal is to deliver on this promise. The problem content creators have starting out is that they don’t understand value. When it comes to content, the easiest way to describe ‘value’ in a viral context is that what you shared is something someone would have been prepared to pay for. But you have kindly given it away for free. This could be informational, educational, entertaining, or both. When education is combined with entertainment, content creators refer to that as “edutainment.”. When something is offered of value tied to entertainment, it is referred to as “valuetainment.”.
Story
The most successful viral content tends to have this one thing in common. A clear structure and story make it easy to consume, easy to repeat, and easy to remember. Stories have been how we communicate for thousands of years. So no surprise, the best content with a chance to go viral will show or share a relatable story. Great stories not only teach us lessons from others experiences, but we often relate to them and inject ourselves into them. When we hear a story sometimes we consider our own past or potential future experiences. A storytelling approach helps build rapport and trust with an audience and helps lay the foundations of a brand, particularly for business. Don’t neglect to share or tell your story. Like-minded people will resonate with it. Most successful people with personal brands often share their “zero to hero” story. These stories resonate because it says to an audience, if I could do this, you can too.
Remarkable
Being remarkable is about having people talk about you (or, in this case, your content) when you are not around. “Did you see/hear that episode of ???” is an example of what is meant here. Viral content can create water cooler moments. But on social media, it also means sharing content between people with similar interests or within referral type networks. Viral content continues to spread and create curiosity when it becomes remarkable. Curiosity and intrigue can be created via word of mouth.
Engaging
Sharability is the ultimate type of engagement you want from your audience. This means it will have a chance of spreading like a virus. Comments and likes also contribute to the social media platforms helping match the right audience with your content. The more engagement in this way, the more the algorithms get to understand to who to put your content in front of. Ensure you engage back with others when they comment on your content, this will also help make you remarkable. Communicating with those communicating with you, will have those you replied to potentially telling others you did so.
Relevant
For the best chance to go viral, the content you create must be relevant to your target audience. If you neglect to understand your audience, you may not be able to duplicate viral success. Understanding who you are making for and why they might watch, read, or listen are questions you should ask yourself before you create. Also, you need to consider what the takeaway will be for your audience. This becomes part of your value proposition. Not all value propositions need to be stated; they can be embedded as part of the creative process. For example, you don’t have to tell someone they are going to get a laugh out of a video; you make the video, and when they get a laugh, you fulfill your promise to them even though it was unstated. If you do this on a regular basis, you will become known for making content that makes people laugh. You don’t have to state it. This approach applies to all you create, your consistency and format will help people understand who you are and what you represent (i.e. your brand).
Trending vs Broad Appeal
Aside from the components viral content has, you also need to understand the concept of trending topics and broad appeal. Trending topics can help you go viral but are usually short-lived, while broad appeal is more likely to potentially have multiple viral moments due to the shareable nature and broader reach and impact of the content. Both work; just consider which approach you want to take before you create your content.
When is it bad to go viral?
There are 3 times it may be bad to go viral:
- When you don’t have a back catalogue of content for people to consume so your success is short lived
- When you go viral to the wrong audience and you become known for something that does not represent you or your brand
- When you go viral for doing or saying something wrong, this can damage you and your brand, extremely quickly.
Conclusion
Many people want their content to ‘go viral’, however,
Coach Craig Rowe suggests that for creators looking to play the long game, having a back catalog of long-form content that is searchable should be the objective.
A viral piece of content may help you gain your 15 – 60 seconds of fame, however, the benefit is lost, if you don’t have content that people may continue to consume beyond the initial piece that went viral.
These core components, identified as things contributing to virality, are also good things to focus on when making content in general. Coach Craig Rowe argues you need to consider how you may be able to make your content tick many of these boxes to give it the best chance of being discovered, to resonate with an audience and to then be shared.
I hope this helped you identify some potential opportunities and components that may help you make better content.
Other Affiliate Links
My Amazon Influencer StoreFront
My Studio Equipment
Live Streaming Software
vidIQ SEO Software for YouTube
As an Amazon Associate, Affiliate Marketer, and Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases when you buy using my links.
