All creators want to make their content go viral. Why wouldn’t we? It is a creator’s dream come true to wake up, grab their phone and see that they have received hundreds of thousands of views overnight. The problem is that it rarely happens like that. It isn’t random, it takes work. Hard work. Planning, strategy, creativity and and being savvy with your platform(s) of choice. Today’s topic: how to make your content go viral.
Plan for Success
If you are creating content and just posting all willy nilly, you are setting your post up to fail. Followers have schedules, so you have to know who your followers are. Are you in a gamin niche with a lot of teenage and younger followers? Posting during school hours can guarantee that they won’t see what you post. Is your niche quilting? You may have followers who are full time mothers, elderly, etc so posting late at night may not be the best choice. Use analytics tools to see who is viewing your content, which time zones they are in, what times your posts get the most views, etc. There are several tools you can download, but most platforms have analytics you can your right out of the box.
Work the System
you have to work the algorithm. Working with the algorithm can help ensure that content you post will go viral. For example, the Instagram algorithm favors frequent posting, use of stories and high engagement in the comments. The more engagement your posts get in the first hour, the more chance you have of your post hitting the explore page.
Do your Research
Are you ranking in hashtags? Are you checking to see if you can rank in a certain hashtag or are you simply hashtagging every word that pops into your head? Look at the frequency of a tag’s use. Does it have several million posts attached? That means that people use it heavily, so unless you have several hundred thousand followers, you don’t have the “hashtag power” to rank in those – as soon as you post, your post will get lost in the millions of other posts using that hashtag.
Pro tip: If you don’t have a lot of followers, build your “hashtag power” by trying to rank in smaller tags and building followers. If #joker has over a million hits, but #jokermovierocks only has 50,000, then tag the latter. you have a better chance of people seeing your post, which gives you a better chance of gaining followers from it.
Make them Laugh, Make them Cry
Does your content evoke emotion? The most popular content tends to be content that causes a reaction, be it laughter, disgust, sadness or anger. There is a reason that channels about cats and dogs do so well – they are cute and evoke loving and funny reactions. You don’t have to post about cats with fruit on their heads, but posting something that evokes emotion can help you go viral.
Tell your Followers what to Do
Are you encouraging followers to engage with your content? Calls to action are great for creating engagement, and as I mentioned above, engagement is a key metric in the Instagram algorithm. You may have noticed that in videos and posts now. Creators tell you to like and subscribe. They ask questions and tell you to respond to the questions in the comment section. They are creating engagement, which builds a sense of community. not only are you working with algorithm, but you are creating a community of dedicated followers.
While there are other tips take into consideration, those mentioned above can definitely help you to go viral. In the comments, let me know if you currently use any of these. now that you are ready to make viral content, you can grow your YouTube channel.
Author: Donnell Peavy