6 Best Tips to Make Your Content Go Viral!

As digital marketing gurus, we know a thing or two about how to make your online campaign valuable and powerful, and we know that one of the best ways to maximise customer interaction and sales is by connecting with them on an emotional level. With so much digital content readily accessible, from videos and images, to stories and articles, your content needs to be more than the loudest or the brightest, and eliciting an emotional response is key to creating a viral online campaign. 

It’s part of our human desire to communicate experiences which we feel personally touched by, and the digital platform has made it easier for that message to spread far and wide- all you need to do istap in to these six core emotions through your online campaign, and let the viewer do the rest! Checkout this "Viral marketing cheat sheet"

1) Surprise

There are very few viral online campaigns that don’t surprise the viewer, so make sure your content has something unexpected to keep them baited. This can be a challenge to the norm, a new idea, a pertinent question, or a shocking fact. Anything unexpected has the element of surprise, so think outside of the box!

2) Fear

Fear is one of our most basic and instinctual motivators, which is a successful tool but can be a mixed bag of reactions. To play it safe, throw in a silver lining or solution to the issue you’ve presented.

3) Joy

Positive content is proven to be more likely to go viral than negative. If you can get people to smile away at their screens, odds are they’ll be inclined to share that experience with others

4) Sadness

As this is usually in response to an unfortunate or disturbing event, it is a difficult emotion to put to use in a viral campaign outside of high profile deaths, entertainment gossip, and news-type events such as natural disasters.

5) Anger

Before you start prodding sleeping dogs I will mention that I don’t mean hostile anger, but more of a strong disagreement or a mild outrage. When people become angry, they form strong opinions which they want to share. The result? Readers interacting with comment boards, and sharing content along with their personal take on the subject. Anger can be aroused by challenging common beliefs or playing devils advocate. However the content must seem genuine and balanced, or else you risk seeming like a hot-headed keyboard warrior and discrediting your content.

6) Disgust

While disgusting content may make a home among small groups, odds are it’s not the kind of material to appeal to the masses and is generally best left untouched. 

If you can create a piece of content with two or more emotional triggers, your odds of virality will greatly increase, as people are far more likely to share content that they are emotionally invested in. Know your target and identify topics which interest them. Be creative- viral content is not just ‘okay’, its powerful, distinctive, and the perfect way to create connections using your online platform.