5 Steps To Making Viral Content

When it comes to content marketing, making it viral is all it’s about. You want the content you painstakingly created to be seen and noticed, to be appreciated by as many people as possible so that it opens further windows of opportunity. But talk is cheap while the doing part is a real challenge.

Here’s 5 steps you can take to begin making viral content:

1. Who’s your target?

You’ve got your arrow strung up on your bow and ready to release. Where’s your target and the mark you need to hit? When it comes to content marketing, there is no ‘one size fits all’- regardless of what you are selling. Always start with identifying the WHOs and be as specific as you can go (Age, Gender, Interests, Experience etc) then progress onto the WHAT. Once you figure out the demographics of your target audience, then you need to decide what type of content you want to market.

Content Marketing and finding the correct target audience requires a level of personal touch. Find out what your target audience needs, what they want, what platforms they use and what is important to them. Tailor your content according to what they require and get the results you need.

2. Emotion

Don’t be afraid to pull on some heart strings. Thrill your audience, delight them, and appeal to their passions! Or frighten them and make them weep! One common trait shared in viral content marketing is that they often evoke strong emotions from either positive or negative ends. The more passionate of an emotional response you can draw out, the likelier your article/video/ad will be shared.

3. Smooth Reading

Easy reading and digesting of information also serves as an important factor here. Picture yourself as a reader- are you really going to spend time reading through an essay filled with complicated jargon that you don’t understand and would often have to pause just to check the definition? Or would you prefer to go for articles that are well written, smoothly dictated and comprising of familiar, common words?

No matter how relevant your content is, it’s not going to be effective if most people struggle with comprehending. You don’t have to simplify your content drastically but take a look at your content and regulate it by including common words and breaking up complex sentences.

4. Consistency

Consistency is another crucial element when it comes to viral content marketing. Sites with content regularly updated generally do a lot better than those who have unexpected posting schedules so make sure you have a consistent marketing strategy to keep your viewers engaged. Stick to that schedule and carry on publishing regularly.

If you are going to be away for an extended period of time, say a vacation, there are actually productivity tools online that can help you still meet that schedule- like Hootsuite.

5. Publishing time

Get your timing down right- it doesn’t matter how flawless or good your content is if there is no one around to reach them! So monitor carefully and find out when the optimal time to post your content is.

For example- if you run a corporation website selling business products or services, then the optimal time would be considered on weekdays in the morning around 11 AM.