I’ve experienced firsthand the exhilarating and sometimes overwhelming experience of going viral on the internet. While viral social content can be a powerful tool for brand exposure and growth, it’s important to understand that virality is often unpredictable and can’t be guaranteed.
In this blog post, I’ll share insights on how to handle viral success, what to avoid, and how to make the most of unexpected attention.
The Unpredictable Nature of Viral Content
My personal and business experience has shown that it’s often the most random, innocuous things that gain traction online, making it almost impossible to plan for virality.
As a digital marketing agency, we can’t promise clients that their content will go viral. However, we can implement strategies to increase the likelihood of content gaining traction:
• Create high-quality, emotionally engaging content
• Optimize for shareability across platforms
• Leverage current trends and topics
• Use eye-catching visuals and compelling headlines and hooks
When Lightning Strikes: Handling Viral Success
If your content does go viral, it can be both exciting and intimidating. Here’s how to navigate the sudden influx of attention:
Do:
- Monitor your platforms closely
- Engage with your audience promptly and authentically
- Prepare your website and servers for increased traffic
- Capitalize on the momentum by creating follow-up content
- Analyze the factors that contributed to the content’s success
Don’t:
- Panic or make rash decisions
- Ignore negative comments or criticism
- Try to force continued virality with similar content
- Neglect your regular content strategy
- Forget to thank your audience for their support
Making the Most of Viral Success
While you can’t plan for viral success, you can be prepared to capitalize on it:
- Have a crisis management plan in place
- Ensure your website can handle sudden traffic spikes
- Prepare a media kit for potential press inquiries
- Have a clear call-to-action ready for new visitors
- Be ready to scale your customer support if needed
When Clients Go Viral: Agency Perspective
As an agency, we can help clients prepare for the possibility of viral success:
- Develop a robust content strategy that aligns with brand values
- Create guidelines for engaging with sudden increased attention
- Implement tracking tools to monitor mentions and engagement
- Prepare contingency plans for various scenarios
- Educate clients on the potential impacts of viral success
Lessons Learned
Having experienced viral success myself, I can attest to its intense and often overwhelming nature.
It’s crucial to maintain perspective and not let the sudden attention derail your long-term goals. Remember that viral success is often fleeting, and it’s more important to focus on sustainable growth and consistent engagement with your audience.
At Mediaura, we focus on helping our clients build strong, sustainable digital presences that can weather the storms and capitalize on the opportunities that come with viral success.
The key is to create quality content consistently, be prepared for unexpected success, and have strategies in place to make the most of increased attention when it comes – expected or unexpected.
