Are You Packing Viral Content for a Social Sharing Trip?

Having a social media campaign go viral is every marketer’s dream. However, not all

marketers grasp the concept of viral campaigns or what makes content really sharable.

If you hope to have your content go viral, there are a few key things you must
understand and incorporate into your social media strategy.

Write Unique Content

You’ve heard this before I’m sure, but this rather obvious viral tip is worth repeating.
The Internet is a crowded and extremely noisy place. How will your message be heard
above the din? By spreading it through unique content that engages the reader and
adds value to the discussions within your industry.

Yeah, yeah, but how do you write unique content that engages your audience? Two
words: Be yourself. You are unique, as are the opinions, life experiences, quirks and
everything else that makes you human. Use all of you within your content and tell a
compelling story that grabs the reader and begs them to share it with others.

Make Sharing Easy

If you want your content to be shared, you have to make it easy for your audience to
share it. Don’t forget to include social buttons on your Website that allow readers to
add your content to their social accounts, such as Delicious, Reddit, Pinterest and
Google+1. Your readers aren’t just readers. They are brand ambassadors who will
spread your content for you and generate more traffic to your site.

Also, include an RSS feed on your blog. This ensures your readers will always be
notified when you have a new post. Get your readers to sign up to a monthly newsletter,
too. Having a subscriber list means traffic you can turn on and off when you want and
your subscribers are apt to forward your newsletters on to friends and family.

Market to the Right Crowd

Did you know women are more likely to help your social marketing campaign go viral?
At a recent social media event in London, it was noted that women are much more likely
to engage and interact with others while men are much more interested in giving their
opinions. (Uh, this is a recent discovery?) If you want your campaign to go viral, you’re
much better off tailoring it for the fairer sex.

The Oh-So-Sweet Retweet

Bloggers know how significant Twitter is in driving traffic. Getting your readers to
retweet your content is one of the most powerful forms of viral marketing out there;

with one click of a button, your brand and message are spread to thousands of new
followers.

So what’s the secret to getting Tweets retweeted? First, compelling headlines that
focus on the reader and contain language that is clear and simple to understand tend
to be retweeted. Also, tweets that contain links within them are 70% more likely to be
retweeted.

Finally, a well-mannered call to action is one of the best ways to get a tweet retweeted.
It has been documented that the word “please” is one of the words most often found in
the title of a retweet. Your mother was right, mind your manners if you want to go viral.

Getting your social media campaign to go viral isn’t rocket science – it’s simply a matter
of caring enough about your audience to create content that’s so great, people have no
choice but to share it.