How to go viral: top 10 tips and tricks

Today, trying to get your brand or content noticed among all the publications and competitors is a real challenge. Fortunately, there are many ways to go viral that will help your company or brand to attract attention a wider audience.

But going viral isn't as easy as it sounds. It takes a great deal of time, effort and strategy to ensure that the campaign you decide to publish goes off without a hitch. And even then, there's no guarantee that your strategy will go viral and that you'll achieve your goals. That's why we've compiled this guide on how to go viral, with tips on how to make your campaign a success, and how to keep it that way. reach as many people as possible ! So, are you ready to increase your visibility?

1. Plan your digital strategy before you publish

Planning your strategy before publishing is the key to success.one of the first steps to get your campaign noticed. By defining the best strategic plan for your campaign, you'll be able to achieve optimal results. This includes : 

• determine the type of messages you need to publish
• how often you need to publish them

Next, it's important that you find a catchy name for your campaign ! This will be the title of your social media campaign, and this name will help people understand what it's about and give them an idea of what they can expect from the content it contains. 

Pay-per-click advertising can help you gain visibility, so check below to see what you need to consider before embarking on a pay-per-click campaign.

Don't forget that you'll be even stronger if you manage to go viral organically. Bear in mind that paid advertising can in this case support your campaign but keep in mind that it shouldn't be your only means of visibility. This means that you may not be able to activate a paid campaign, but even so, your visibility is still important.

There are many elements to consider in the strategy for going viral. For this article, I've decided to highlight two of the most important!

Know your audience

Before you start publishing, it's essential to think about who you're targeting and how you're going to get in touch with them. This means define your target which must meet an objective that you have determined (see point below).

This target may also vary according to the social networks you use. You won't reach the same target if you post on Facebook, LinkedIn or TikTok, for example.

To go viral, you need to take this point into account. Your message must speak to your target audience, and they must feel that it's being addressed specifically to them.

It all depends on timing

Timing is also a very important factor in going viral with your campaign. Choosing the right timing is a crucial choice, and quite a broad one: there's thehour at which you publish your campaign, which can have an impact, but also the seasonality.

Some content will work better in winter than in summer, for example, and content shared at 5pm may have a better organic impact from launch than a campaign published at 12pm.

To know what to do in terms of timing, you need to know your market and analyze statistics your different channels can give you.

2. Decide on your goal

Another important step in planning your strategy is to set a post-campaign objective or goal. Before you can go viral, you must first decide what your goal is. There are different types of lenses like grabbing people's attention, building brand awareness and increasing engagement, or even generating leads.

• If your goal is to increasecommitmentthen you need to focus on content that is interesting and engaging for users.
• If your goal is to generate leadsYou need to determine what your target audience looks like. Are they mainly men or women? Do they have a specific demographic profile? What age bracket do they fall into?

These are all important questions that will help you create a strategy that will work best for your campaign! Your objectives also enable you to determine CTAs (Call To Action) to place in your campaigns. Where do you want to take the people who see your campaign, and what actions do you want them to take?

Finally, having precise objectives also helps you measuring success (or not) and measure your success. profitability.

3. Stay consistent in your digital strategy

It's important to follow a consistent content strategy and publish new articles regularly. The more often you publish your content, the more likely you are to attract a wider audience. If you over-promise and under-deliver, your campaign will go the way of every other failed campaign. So, before you publish, ask yourself, "Will this post be different from the others?" If the answer is no, don't publish.

Think about your brand image, and stick to it so that your target audience can quickly see that it's you. The more your brand image is strong, the more people will recognize you at a glance, and every one of your publications will resonate with the people you reach!

Consistency is a crucial aspect of going viral from a digital point of view.

4. Be creative

If you're not creative, don't expect to go viral. This is a very competitive industry, and it's easier to stand out if you think outside the box. If your posts are linked to every other post on social media, you're less likely to get noticed. Try to make your content stands out from the crowd by being creative, new and unexpected! In addition to the various points mentioned below, you should also take into account two other important factors: "stay authentic" and create content to "instant gratification".

How do I curate viral content?

Knowing what to share and how to share it is never an easy task. So the easiest way is to see what's already working on the web. Then it's up to you to bring your creativity to bear, so that you don't do exactly the same thing as your competitors, but stand out from the crowd.

There are many platforms for keep watch to see what works and help you go viral. Here are just a few of the platforms, some of which have free access so you can try them out and see if they work for you: Scoop.it - Feedly - Buzzsumo

Google has also developed a simple tool that allows you to receive alerts on certain topics that interest you. It's obviously not as sophisticated as the tools mentioned above, but it's a good start: Google Alert.

Offer something unique

Drawing inspiration from what already works is all well and good. add your own personal touch and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Put forward your point of view or approach to raise awareness or reach your target in a different way, be consistent with your company or brand and the message you want to bring. Adapting a buzz from another sector to your market is a great way to be unique and ride a trend that's already working elsewhere.

Form an emotional bond

Incorporating emotion into your campaign increases engagement and adherence. Studies clearly show that emotions drive action. To make a decision, human beings use their reason, but also their emotions. 
That's why it's important to take the emotional factor into account when creating your campaigns. There are two main types of emotion, divided into positive and emotion negative.

Now it's up to you to choose the type of emotion you want to use to go viral.

Pay attention to video length

If you're making video content, get to the point. Social network users are often in a hurry and don't have much time. 

So think about making videos in short format in which you convey important information in the first few seconds. It's all about engaging your target audience and making them feel concerned right from the start. Asking specific questions right at the start of your video, for example, is a good way of hooking your target audience.

5. Create a contest to go viral

A contest is a great way to go viral. If you do the product promotionoffer some of your items as a reward. 

You can easily create contests on Facebook, Instagram or any other social network by posting them on your company profile. The great thing about contests is that they're easy for brands to manage and execute, so they often don't need expert help. What's more, contests are less time-consuming than other digital marketing methods, requiring less effort with minimal risk of failure. 

For example: a travel brand could organize a contest in which it would choose a winner who would receive free plane tickets all over the world next summer! The contest consists of giving something away in exchange for an action from a user you've defined. It's up to you to offer something interesting that makes as many people as possible want to take the time to follow your conditions of participation.

Before entering a competition, you need to estimate return potential and the return on investment it can generate for you.

6. Use influencer marketing to boost your campaign.

Influencer marketing is a strategy that can help you achieve your goals and raise awareness of your brand. Influencers are people who have a large following on social networks and can help spread awareness of your brand and content. By collaborating with influencers, you can generate buzz for your campaign. It's also a much more cost-effective way of getting your campaign noticed.

Don't embark on influencer marketing without first analyzing the influencers you want to collaborate with. Think first about the community that follows the influencer, so that it matches your potential customers. Without this, you run the risk of hitting the water, or at the very least, you'll have trouble making your campaign profitable.

An influencer, generally depending on the size of his or her community and commitment, will ask you for a budget that can quickly turn out to be high. So it's up to you to invest in the right person!

7. Don't forget paid advertising

Finally, consider using paid advertising tools like Facebook, Instagram or YouTube ads if you have a corporate budget earmarked for these types of services.

Paid advertising is an excellent way toincrease reach of your content. But it's not for everyone. With paid advertising, cost and ROI are factors to consider. If you're not sure whether paid advertising is right for you, contact one of our digital strategy experts which will guide you best decision to take.

Organic content can go viral without even having invested a budget in paid advertising on social networks, but it's obvious that sponsoring or setting up a well thought-out advertising campaign can only help you achieve your goals.

8. Stay organized and communicate frequently!

For your campaign to be a success, you need to stay organized and be constant.
Consistency is often overlooked on social networks, yet it's one of the key elements that will help you go viral.

It's quite possible to go viral on social networks with a single publication, but let's be honest, it's still very rare! And even if it does happen, don't stop at your first buzz - keep riding that positive wave.

Virality is built up. Take your favorite artist, for example. He didn't make a name for himself with his first song or sketch. He worked at it over time.

9. Create a strong call to action

Going viral also requires a strong call to action. The call to action must be strong, clear and concise. It must speak directly to the audience, and thespur to action accordingly.

For example, if you're selling a product, your call to action might be "Buy now". 

As well as getting people to take action, it's important that your call to action doesn't offend or frustrate your audience. If you put too much emphasis on the message you want people to remember, they may find it difficult or unappealing. So make sure the message isn't too direct, and that the tone of your campaign is positive and inspiring.

Many campaigns have opted for a lighter approach that doesn't overemphasize the objective the company wants to achieve. This makes the campaign less aggressive and therefore more commercial, thereby increasing engagement.

10. Always be ready to pivot and improve

You should always be ready to pivot and improve your strategy if your campaign isn't going as planned. This includes adding other elements to your campaign, such as advertisements or interesting facts about your company or product.

It's also important to keep a small budget aside so you can reallocate it to another campaign that wasn't originally planned. Another important tip is that you should always think outside the box. The world is full of creativity and brilliant ideas, so don't be afraid to ask others for help. If you can't come up with an idea on your own, look for inspiration on social networks or Google common mistakes made by companies that have gone viral before.

Keep in mind that there's no point in sticking to a campaign that isn't working. You're busy spending your time (and maybe money) on a strategy that may not achieve your objectives. It's therefore important to question themselves by analyzing the potential reasons for this situation, and adapt what you think you need to adapt to get there.

Don't take this as a failure, but rather as a lesson that will enable you togo to and understand what works and what doesn't. And if you've reached this point, remember to take up each of the points mentioned above.

Conclusion

Going viral takes hard work and discipline: you can't just go viral! If you take all the above points into account, you'll have everything you need to succeed. 

1. The key is to be well prepared, defining clear and precise objectives for a specific target that you need to reach by choosing the most appropriate communication channel (e.g.: the various social networks have a very specific audience).
   
2. Create content that is consistent with your brand image and your target audience, but with a touch of originality that will make you stand out from the rest of your competitors' content.
   
3. Continuously analyze your results to continually improve your campaigns and get the most out of your campaigns and go viral as quickly as possible