Brands always compete to get to the #1 spot and invent more and more ways to have their content go viral. However, viral marketing is often not about inventing something new but about using already existing trends to your benefit.
Remember this dress that raised the debate of a lifetime because no one could tell for sure what color it is?
Many brands were quick to hop on board and use this trend to promote their own products. Dunkin’ Donuts, for example, made themed doughnuts using the colors that sparkled the dress controversy:
Image credit: Twitter
In its turn, Tide tried to end the controversy by suggesting that the dress would have never had a weird color had the person who made it used Tide Plus Color Guard:
Image credit: Twitter
As you can see, in both cases, brands didn’t invent anything new, but their content still managed to go viral. Just take a look at how many retweets and likes both posts have.
What can you do to achieve such results with your viral marketing campaign? Let’s take a look.
1. Focus on Your Target Audience
No matter what type of marketing campaign you’re about to run, having a precise definition of your target audience is extremely important. However, in viral marketing, the role of the target audience is even more crucial because your audience will be the first who will share your content with others and give it a push to go viral.
Let’s say you want to launch a viral marketing campaign about the new innovative methodology of learning Italian, and you’re developing content on this topic. Then, your campaign should only target students who not only learn or can potentially learn Italian but would also share such content with others.
So, when working on your viral marketing campaign, make sure you study the demographics of your followers on social media along with their current content preferences and which of your previous posts they liked the most:
Judging from the content that got the most reach and engagement, you can get ideas for your viral posts, and your followers will be more likely to share them faster.
2. Monitor Internet Trends
The viral success of the brands that we mentioned in the introduction came to them because they effectively leveraged a social media trend.
You can do the same simply by going on Twitter and checking the current trending topics and hashtags:
On the hunt for general internet trends, you can also set Google alerts for a specific keyword and get notifications every time relevant news comes up:
Internet trends come and go very quickly, so make sure you follow them closely to not miss the trend that would make your viral marketing campaign a success.
3. Post Your Content at the Right Time
The virality of your content depends on how timely it is and how well you understand the activity of your followers on social media. It is important to know precisely when they go on social media to scroll the feed.
To find more about the activity of your followers, you can check the Analytics tab on a respective social media platform, where you can see the graph with different times when it is better to target your audience with your content:
Such activity logs are quite convenient because they show your audience’s active time on social media according to your time zone. With this information, it will be easier for you to schedule your posts, which will improve their reach, ultimately benefiting their viral potential.
Viral Success Doesn’t Happen Overnight
Contrary to popular belief, viral marketing involves a lot of preparation and prior analysis. You need to thoroughly analyze the results of your previous campaigns and take a look at what your competitors did in terms of viral marketing efforts to find what would work best for you.
Before posting, you need to know who your target audience is because these people will be the first ones to give your viral content a push. Your content should also go up at the right time to make sure that as many people as possible see and start sharing it. And, of course, content can hardly go viral if it’s not attached to a certain viral trend. So, make sure you monitor the trending online topics and create alerts to stay updated.
Kate Khom is a passionate writer who likes sharing her thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, she works as a real estate agent, you can check her website. She likes everything related to traveling and new countries.
Viral marketing stock photo by W. Scott McGill/Shutterstock
