11 Tips to Make Your Content Go Viral on Social Media

What is it that makes content viral? If you want your article, blog post, photo, video or other content to reach and engage more audience, you need to know what generates sharing in the first place. The key in creating buzz around content is through achieving a balance between quality and promotion.

It’s easy to assume that your online content goes viral just because it’s visible. But in reality, it is not that easy. You need to put some real efforts on it. It must have something special.

It involves great strategies and tactics behind making a content go popular so it’ll be likeable, shareable, and in tune with what your target audience is looking for. It may not be easy but it is not impossible.

Now, if you’re looking to generate buzz for your business read what I listed down. I’ve put together 11 tips to make your content go viral on social media.

1. Take a human angle.
Think of a content where they can relate and apply it to their own lives. They are much more likely to share it when something is personal to them. Foe example, a content about a nagging girlfriend and understandable boyfriend, everybody will send this to people and say ” isn’t this just like us” or “this is totally different than us”. Always remember that when it is something personal, it gets shared.

2. Share motivational and inspiring quotes.
Another strategy to help gain your customers’ trust is through sharing inspiring quotes. This will help your followers realize that you care for them and provide them with inspiration in the form of these motivational words of wisdom. You just have to research and seek out inspiring quotes that will excite and motivate your followers.

3. Create practical and emotional content.
Practical content are pieces of useful information that they can easily apply in their everyday lives. They include articles, such as “how to”, “steps”, “guides” and other content that are not theoretical but are applicable to their ways of living. Online the other hand, emotional content activates a high-arousal emotion that can be either positive or negative. The key is knowing how to trigger an emotional response.

4. Get noticed by influencers.
It is necessary to identify the influencers in your industry. Reach out and start building a relationship with them by sharing their content and by striking a conversation. Once you have successfully built a relationship with them, they can help you make your content go viral just by simply endorsing it to their thousands or even millions of social media followers.

5. Be visually appealing.
People are more into visual rather than lengthy passages or too much text. Visuals are appealing, easy to consume, and even inspiring. Having a good relevant picture with your content will pick up likes, comments, and shares even if the reader isn’t interested in the subject itself. In fact, images are the key why some social sites like Instagram, Pinterest and The8App were born in the Internet world.

6. Re-post your content to get way more shares.
You can double, triple, or even quadruple shares by re-posting content after about 1 week. Most social media sites display content like stock stickers. Thus, you may also re-post that after about 1 week to get way more likes and shares.

7. Be mindful of keywords and tags.
One of the most important things you should consider for your content to get discovered are keywords and hashtags. People are typing in keywords and phrases to search for stuff. Thus, if you want your content to come up in the top of their search results or news feed, make sure you have the right keywords in the headlines and descriptions of your social media posts. Using hashtags can also help you shoe up in search results.

8. Dare to be shocking and controversial.
When strong emotion is ignited from viewing a piece of content, people naturally want to share it to see how their friends will also react to it. It may be good or bad, yet it can still go viral.

9. Launch a contest.
Contests are great way for spreading the word about something. It is better if you can give away something of value. This can act as a reward to get people to like, comments and share content on your Facebook page or even make your content go viral. Also, to keep your current audience engaged and attract new people, you can make good use of contests and giveaways.

10. Timing and delivery.
The two vital factors in order to make your content go viral are: how and when to deliver your content. The key is to find the best possible time it would be seen by most of your readers. Figure out the best possible time and it must also be delivered in a format that enables  to be shared easily.

Every Facebook Page has its own unique pattern of audience behaviors. To recognize the best time or hours for sharing your content on social media, conduct multiple tests and record your audience feedback. That way, you will have a better idea when to share best.

11. Invest in paid ads.
If you believe you have created content that have the potential to go viral, boost them with paid advertising, such as Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads or Twitter Ads. The advantage of boosting your content with Ad is that it gives it the opportunity to reach a wider and more targeted audience. Furthermore, by doing social ads, you also get to collect useful data and insights which you can use to make better marketing decisions for your future campaigns.

You can follow the tips I listed above but the level of results you get will still depend on you. One of the most important aspects in making your content go viral is by determining what your audience want. If you want them to share your content, it must be worthwhile. That’s why you must know your audiences well.

Also read: 12 Tips to Make Your Blog Post Attract More Traffic from Facebook