How to create a viral marketing campaign

Every marketer dreams of creating buzz with viral content. And with good reason: it’s a highly effective and economical way of raising brand awareness, building a database or establishing a special relationship with existing customers.
Although some content goes viral by chance, a recent study has shown that viral content has certain things in common: it spreads positive messages, arouses strong emotions or has a practical and useful aspect. In other words, content doesn’t go viral by chance. It’s the subject of a real strategy for a successful viral marketing campaign.

First of all, what is viral marketing?

Viral marketing can be defined as word-of-mouth in digital form. Similar to a virus that spreads at exponential speed (hence the name), viral marketing involves sharing a written or visual message with users, who in turn retransmit it to reach a large audience quickly and cost-effectively. In short, viral marketing is an essential part of any web marketing agency’s strategy.
Here are a few steps you need to follow to achieve your goals.

Defining an audience

Most companies that launch a viral marketing campaign aim to be seen by as many people as possible. However, the purpose of this campaign is not to reach everyone, but the right people. By identifying your audience’s profile, you’ll be able to determine which types of content can arouse their interest and trigger emotions.

Taking her by the scruff of the neck

By playing on the emotional register, you have a 28.6% greater chance of getting your target audience to take action. In fact, the feelings an individual experiences after seeing, hearing or reading something that moves them greatly influence their behavior. There are 7 strong emotions: admiration, anxiety, anger, envy, joy, fear and surprise. These are also known as social triggers.

Encourage positive emotions

These include joy (including humor), admiration and surprise. The latter is one of the most effective social triggers.

What about negative emotions?

When it comes to these strong emotions, you need to “handle” them with the utmost care. It’s true that emotions such as anger or fear have the power to trigger quick reactions (web users are quick to comment on social networks). However, we strongly advise against using this stratagem. On the other hand, you can use fear to make Internet users aware of a danger they don’t even suspect.

Creating useful content

By sharing practical, useful information, you increase your chances of a successful viral marketing campaign. Tip: choose a catchy, self-explanatory title. Not only will it arouse web users’ curiosity, but they’ll also want to share your content with their friends and family.

Choosing the right timing

To get your viral content out there when you need it, you need to stay on top of the latest news. Cinema, music, sports, economics, politics… it’s essential to stay informed. To do this, stay connected on Twitter. This tool enables you to discover news from around the world in real time.
Twitter also enables you to keep abreast of the latest trends in your field of activity. So whenever you can make a link between an event and your brand, jump on it (but don’t create viral content around a tragedy or negative event).
Tip: if you’re sharing trending content, don’t forget to use the appropriate hashtags.

Using images

To go viral, content must be visually appealing. That’s according to a study by Buzzsumo. Whether your content takes the form of a blog post, a tweet or a Facebook post, it needs to feature one or more beautiful, full-color images. The study also showed that web users like to share infographics, more than lists, instructions or videos.

Start sharing content

Now that you’ve created your viral content, don’t just sit back and wait for people to spread your message. Set up integrated functionalities to facilitate the transfer of your content:

Social buttons: highlight sharing buttons. Place them above the content. This will increase their visibility by 63%;
Sharing: you can also ask users to broadcast your message by including a personalized call-to-action button instead of a standard one.

In addition, don’t hesitate to call on influential people. They can give you a huge boost by sharing your content on social networks or mentioning it in their blog.

In a nutshell

To create effective viral content, opt for simplicity: a playful infographic, a concise article, a short video , not forgetting to stimulate emotions and add an instructive touch.
https://vimeo.com/305864746
This is an article by Nicolas Finet. Nicolas is a blogger, and also the founder of Sortlist. Needhelp creating your website? Sortlist is an online platform that enables companies to find a marketing agency. Find your agency on Sortlist! Follow him on twitter @nifinet.

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