Successful Viral Content is Easy!
OPT gives you 10 reasons why viral marketing will work for your business, career or brand:
If you write a passionate, eloquent, or well-researched argument that your niche will agree with, you will gain followers. Fact. There is already an army of people who agree with you so they are ready and waiting to jump in a say ‘AYE’!
You could take the ‘stirring up’ angle and write a well-written piece in answer to another argument or challenge a popular opinion, or spark a controversial discussion and watch the reader comments go through the roof!
Give your readers a promise for development: “5 Days to a more active metabolism,” for example.
Create a “must-read factor” in your headlines that tells your readers they will miss out if they don’t read, such as “10 Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Business.”
Ranked lists (Top Ten, Best 50, Greatest 100, etc.) have the benefit of being both controversial and interactive. Each post sparks an internal discussion within your readers.
Be brave and jump straight to your ‘number one’ selection, instead of creating a ranked list. Stand by your suggestions and justify them accordingly.
Collect the best links from around the internet and share them with your readers. Do the hard work so they don’t have to.
Create a quiz. They are popular for several reasons: they’re interactive, they’re fun, and they’re user-focused. They can also start a discussion.
In viral content and in life, it’s not what you know, but who you know. Name recognition is a powerful thing so get dropping!
Visual representations of mass amounts of data are easy-to-digest while still containing a lot of “meaty” content so get designing a video or visual chart or a tutorial for your niche.
I’d argue that creating your own viral strategy trumps every other type of online marketing. It’s unique and targeted to your own brand and audience PLUS you’ll be doing what “going viral” is all about: doing something remarkably different from everyone else.