A Guide to Going Viral
Reaching customers and creating awareness is something that determines the success of any business. The access to customers has become significantly easier over the years thanks to the development of social media platforms. These platforms have given businesses a way to reach out to their customers in an effective and efficient manner. This is the reason why it has become significantly important for businesses to come up with campaign ideas for their viral marketing efforts and implement these ideas by teams that have been specifically designed to take care of viral marketing efforts of the business.
All of the famous brands worldwide have successfully built a strong viral presence and that is exactly what you need to do in order to succeed and take your business forward. In this article, we discuss tips that will enable you to design and implement a strong viral marketing campaign thus creating awareness for your business and making a place for it on The Virality Map.
Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience
The first step of making a strong viral presence is doing the background work that will help you understand your marketing goals. This includes identifying and understanding your target audience. As well all know anything that goes viral catches the attention of millions of people. However, you need to specify the audience that your campaign intends to target to guarantee success. Do a detailed analysis of your target audience including the demographics, psychographics,and other behavioral factors.
Once you have identified your target audience, it is necessary to understand the kind of material they are likely to share and be interested in. Find out more about your target audience in order to come up with a campaign that is sure to grab their attention.
Step 2: Pick the Right Platforms
After identifying and understanding your target audience you have to decide on the kind of platform you will be using for your marketing efforts. There are a number of options that are available to marketers in terms of social media platforms. However, the kind of platform you choose will depend on the kind of marketing technique you will be using to move your message across.
Instagram will, for example, give you an option of choosing a picture story whereas LinkedIn can be used if you have written content that you wish to use for your campaign, Facebook can be used for video messages as well as other strategies. While choosing the right platform also keep in mind the interests of your target audience in order to guarantee success. You can seek help from consultants who can help your determine the right strategy to be used when dealing with the different platforms available.
Step 3: Create Engaging Content
Most of the social media platforms suggest content to their users based on their interests and behaviors. This is done by using an algorithm that gives ranking to different content going viral according to the needs and interests of the user. So, in order to reach the target audience, it is necessary for you to create the kind of content that will be surely enjoyed by your target customer. It is also important to keep the content interesting and exciting for the target audience. This can be done by using catchy headlines or using content that will make the audience feel emotionally connected. You can also use the services of different independent creative consultants to help you create the perfect content for your needs.
Step 4: Post at the Right Time
Timing is extremely important in determining the success of your viral marketing campaign. In order to make your viral efforts successful, you need to keep yourself updated about the latest trends and news based on the interests of your target audience. If there is a hot trending topic that seems relevant and beneficial for your post you can plan the posting in such a way that it coincides with the trending topics.
Do not forget to use those hashtags! However, if there is no such trend, you can plan your posting accordingly. Just make sure not to post it at a time of tragedy. Nobody wants their business to be associated with a negative event.
Step 5: Use Ads To Create Visibility
Another way of creating awareness for your business/brand could be by spending some money on paid ads that will help you gain some visibility. This can help your content becoming viral however it will require some amount of investment from your side.
Step 6: Engage Influencers
Using an influencer in order to gain visibility and awareness for your brand is an effective and time-saving strategy. With the advent of social media, there has been an increasing trend of influencers creating awareness of different brands to their target audience. You can use the help of a social media influencer who can help you introduce the brand to the target audience. However, it is extremely important to choose the right social media influencer. This can be done by going back to your research done in Step
Step 7: Track And Measure
It is also imperative to keep track of your viral marketing efforts to ensure effectiveness. Once the viral marketing campaign has started you need to use different analytics tools in order to determine the success. Do not expect yourself to reach your goals with the first campaign. If you find something to be unsuccessful in a particular campaign that does not produce desired results, you should immediately make changes accordingly in the strategy. For this, you will have to keep tracking and measuring the performance of your ongoing viral marketing campaign.
Step 8: Add Calls To Action
Do not leave your audience hanging after grabbing their attention. Make sure you add a call to action factor in your viral marketing campaign that will motivate the audience to take a step. This can be done by offering discounts on their first purchase, offering them free membership or a free trial.
Step 9: Attract More Attention
Once your viral marketing campaign has reached a considerable number of views, you can then move on to attracting more attention for your campaign by contacting different news organizations and bringing their attention to the success of your marketing campaign. However, before contacting any news organization, it is a good idea to work on developing a press release that is sure to get attention and does not lack content and authenticity.
Step 10: Use Content To Create Originality
Nothing great comes from plagiarizing and copying the efforts of others. Similarly, it will not be beneficial for you if you use content for your viral marketing effort that uses the ideas of others. A campaign that lacks originality will not be welcomed by the audience and will have a difficult time becoming etched in their minds. Hence, make sure your campaign uses new ideas and thoughts. If you require ideas and innovation in your campaign you can use the services of creative consultants who are known for creating and designing successful viral marketing campaigns. li
