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Virality

Going viral is on the top of the wish list of most campaigners. In fact it’s just  another way of saying you want your audience to engage with your posts. ‘Virality’ doesn’t happen to very many posts and no one really knows exactly why a post on Facebook or YouTube catches on. 

Campaigners spend some time ‘reverse engineering’ viral posts and trying to work out why it happened. And while there are some tips, the truth is there is no “magic formula”. Many of the things that work for some campaigns will not work for others and sometimes posts go viral without much planning at all. 

In this section, we will introduce you to some things you can do to increase your chances of virality. Some posts are more likely to go viral than others either because they have certain features or because they work well within social media algorithms. There are therefore both algorithmic and organic ways to be promoted. The best a campaigner can do is try and hack the algorithm by making sure they include the correct content in their post and that it’s correctly timed and executed.

Listen to this podcast with RNTC trainer Issa Shaker on virality.

Algorithmic Promotion

  1. Rich Content: Algorithms prefer content that consists of different media formats (sound, video and images) used at the same time and place
  2. Variety: Use the whole platform instead of just one feature (for example, on Instagram that means using the feed, live, stories, IGTV)
  3. Immediate Engagement: If there are a high number of interactions within the first 5 minutes, you post is more heavily promoted 
  4. Consistency: Regular posting and usage of the platform is rewarded 
  5. Distance: You are more likely to be promoted if you are within 10km of your audience
  6. Response Rate: If there are replies, likes and comments within the first 20 minutes and you engage the audience and stimulate conversation, you can increase the promotion of your post
  7. Appropriate Length: On Facebook, posts linking to articles between 2,000 and 2,500 words get 15% more shares than shorter or longer articles.  LinkedIn goes even longer, getting more shares for articles between 3,500 to 4,000 words long. Make your posts right for the channel and the audience. 
  8. Timing: Here are the global best practices on when to post which type of content:
    • Travel and tourism: Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
    • Media and entertainment: Tuesday and Thursday, 12 to 3 p.m.
    • Food and beverage: Friday, 12 p.m.
    • Retail: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 12 p.m.
    • Professional services: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9 or 10 a.m.
    • Non-profit: Tuesday, 10 a.m. or 4 p.m.
    • Non-retail e-commerce: Thursday, 4 or 9 p.m.
    • Pharma and healthcare: Wednesday and Sunday, 9 a.m.
    • Personal care: Thursday and Friday, 1, 2, or 3 p.m.
    • Technology: Monday and Tuesday, 2 p.m.
    • Education: Thursday, 4 or 5 p.m.

Organic Promotion

  1. Motivational Posts: There are many many motivational quotes or sayings on your Facebook newsfeed or Instagram account. Why do those things pop up almost daily in your networks? People feel a psychological need to share inspirational quotes or motivational sayings. It could be guilt, to impress others, or to send a message without saying what they really mean outright. Whatever the reason, motivational sayings get shared a great number of times. The image below has more than 700,000 shares, 28,000 likes, and reached more than 18 million people. Ask yourself – would you share something like this on your network? (Source)
  1. Amazing News: People like to be the first to share something amazing with their friends. If it challenges the norm, delivers important news, or confirms a myth, all the better. Or even just makes people feel happy and positive like this YouTube video. It was the story of twins born 87 days apart. That seems pretty amazing, which is why it has more than 54,000 views.If you do post amazing facts or images (or videos, for that matter), make sure they are legitimate. Do your research before you share so that it doesn’t dent your credibility
  1. Amusing Posts: Making people laugh is always a good way to get people to share on social media. Laughter reduces stress, increases energy, and creates a bonding moment for people. However, getting a laugh or a share is not your end goal in the campaign. You also want to build people’s recognition of your work, awareness of the issues, and trust. While a funny cat photo might get you 300,000+ shares does it contribute anything?

  1. Quizzes/Games: Very few people can resist joining a simple game like a quiz, especially one that provides (or claims to) a glimpse into your personality. Quizzes have been the most engaging type of content on Facebook, generating the most shares. People have an inherent desire to compare themselves to other people. The most popular quiz for 2014 was “Can We Guess Your Real Age?” and it got close to 6 million shares. There are quite a few sites that offer ready-made quizzes you can embed on your social networks, or you can create your own. It doesn’t have to be very complicated as long as it is something you wouldn’t hesitate to take yourself.  (Source)

  1. Advocacy Posts: Social issues make people interested. Especially if they can do something to help support you.
  1. Warnings: Bad news can travel fast, especially on social media. Warning people about something you know that can affect them in any way will spread like wildfire. Twitter is especially useful for this, so much so that government agencies use it. However, you need to act responsibly when using social media to deliver warning messages to your audience. Verify before you spread someone else’s message.
  1. Hashtags: To reach people that aren’t in your networks, hashtags can be very useful. Anyone who uses or searches your hashtag can view your post and potentially share it. Hashtags began on Twitter, but are best known on Instagram. Using hashtags doubles your engagement on Twitter and Instagram, which usually means shares as well. On Facebook, hashtags can actually reduce reach. (Source)

  1. Throwback Posts: People love looking at blasts from their pasts. You might be familiar with Throwback Thursdays on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Baby pictures, old movies, and fashions from a bygone era is always good for a laugh as well as a twinge of longing for simpler times. You can link your campaign to this sentimentality by linking to something in the past of your target audience and inviting their comments. Of course, you need to choose videos or images that are relevant and will evoke a positive response from your audience.

Viral Videos

Online video consumption is one of the most popular internet activities worldwide. Improvements in mobile technology and broadband networks have helped make watching videos become a significant part of users’ online experience.

A viral video is a video which gets shared a lot during a period of time and people start talking about it. It has impact and could achieve a change of attitude. It is not measured by the amount of views but rather by the engagement and buzz it creates.

There is no such ultimate formula for making viral videos. However, we can see some patterns in viral videos which could help us increase our chances

Emotion:

All viral videos create a certain emotion. This emotion is what makes us share the video. Here are top emotions which are successful among viral videos:

  • Humor
  • Impressive
  • Shocking
  • Sweet
  • Crazy

In general, positive emotions work much better than for example depressive videos.

Story:

Every story has an emotion, if your story doesn’t generate an emotion on the viewer it is then probably not going viral. The story is the most important element in making a viral video. Strong storytelling techniques could for sure increase your chances.

What is Trending and Why?

Look around you, keep an eye on viral videos, take a moment and try to analyse why this video went viral? Read the comments and if you do this long enough you will start seeing some patterns. Patterns which might help you make your own viral video.

  • Duration: The viewers of today are becoming more and more critical. Usually within the first 5 to 7 seconds they decide if they want to continue the video or stop. So how do you start your video? How do you make sure they stay with you?
  • Subtitles: Most videos are watched without audio. You have a much higher chance of people watching your video if you use text and subtitles.
  • Findability: A creative title – description – tags and a thumbnail photo: All these elements play a role not only in the seo of your video but with the chances of people clicking to watch it. So give this element enough time and don’t underestimate its importance.
  • Catching the moment: If you publish a video about a singer just after they performed at a huge award ceremony, the chances that people will see it is much higher than before. Depending on where you live around this globe, there are certain days and hours per week with the highest internet activity. Use these moments to publish the video because the first hours after publishing are important. YouTube for example will consider your video as important or even trending if it gets a lot of attention the first hours after publishing. And then this will cause YouTube to suggest it more often which will create even more attention and the ball will then start rolling. 
  • Promotion: Because of the crazy amount of videos published every minute, standing out with your own video becomes a challenge. Promoting your video and giving it a small push will increase your chances of being discovered faster and if the video is good enough, it will get shared and shared organically. But this first promotional push could help. If the video is not good enough for people to share. This push will only generate some views and then there.

Exercise: Review this list of the decade’s top viral videos and pick 2-3 to do a closer analysis. Why do you think these videos went viral? What elements do they contain that made them appealing to such a large audience?