Create A Viral Campaign 101
Going viral for good reasons is a dream every marketer has every once in a while (if not every single day). There is conversion in numbers, so how do you tap into the virality aspect? Today we’re going spill all the tea on why, how, and when to go viral with your marketing!
Why Viral Campaign
Traditional marketing relied on word of mouth and today in this digital world we still rely on word of mouth but the digital way (reposts, retweets, shares). Imagine your campaign getting 10M views, 5M reposts, 2M retweets, and shares. This means that, many people relate to your campaign and feel compelled to share with others. You gain more traffic and visibility in a short period.
Viral campaigns generate significant buzz without draining your budget, thereby maximizing ROI. Dollar Shave Club's quirky video has attracted attention, creating buzz without a huge budget.
Reliability is reinforced. When your content goes viral, it wins consumer trust and builds brand reputation through widespread adoption. Wikipedia has gained users' trust and become a trusted source thanks to viral word-of-mouth recommendations.
How To Create a Viral Campaign
Take a second to remember your favorite commercial. Why do you still reference it to this day? There were elements in the campaign that made it a memorable one. Let’s dive into how to come up with one:
Grab attention
Consumers are surrounded by countless content every second they spend on the web, whether on computers or mobile devices. To grab their attention instead of scrolling past your campaign, you need an immediate way to grab their attention and stop them in their tracks.
Having a visual element in your digital marketing content can be helpful. Additionally, you need to engage your target audience with a message that can instantly translate to bold, funny, wild, cool, or something in between.
2. Engage in a conversation with your audience
Chances of going viral are high if you speak with your audience because this encourages them to engage. Viral marketing works best when it’s designed for the audience to interact and easily share.
Including a call to action (CTA), telling users what action they should take after hearing your message is important. Increase your chances of successful viral marketing campaigns by including opportunities for the audience to comment, create their own content, or otherwise play along.
Your goal is to ensure your viewers don’t take their eyes off the screen until they’ve shared your content with their own networks. If your campaign can engage media outlets as well, that’s all the better to help you gain publicity.
3. Use Emotions
Emotions have a big influence on how consumers behave. Your viewers are more likely to engage when you provide viral marketing content that elicits a strong emotional response.
Consider a few examples of well-known viral content. They might have caused you to cry or chuckle. Perhaps you find them to be particularly uplifting or nostalgic. Sometimes, the celebrity you already follow or like may have shared the content. Whatever advertising campaigns come to memory, it's probably because they had some effect on you.
When trying to go viral, bland informational commercials don't work well, so make sure you're making your viewers feel something that motivates them to take action. Look at P&G's lucrative "Thank You, Mom" advertising campaign as
4. Make it Short And Sweet
One thing all viral marketing initiatives have in common is that their contents can be encapsulated in a single word or phrase. Multiple CTAs or overarching messages may confuse or divert your audience, which will decrease the effectiveness of your campaign as a whole. Your viral message will be more memorable and approachable if it is kept to one straightforward takeaway.
Your entire piece of text should also be fairly straightforward. Avoid stuffing your text with hashtags when posting on social media because this might make it look cluttered and detract from your main point. Videos should ideally be no longer than 30 seconds—just long enough to convey your point clearly. Remember that creativity shouldn't be limited by simplicity. When coming up with ideas for your viral marketing strategy, consider unconventional ways to convey your message.
5. Have Clear Objectives
Make sure your team is working behind the scenes during a viral marketing campaign to improve your targeting, re-engage audience members, and keep the audience focused on your brand. You must have marketing goals directing you to adjust your plan in real time in order to execute this properly.
Marketing objectives need to have a clear, quantifiable aim. Your statistics will be able to tell you if adjustments are necessary or if you are on the correct track in this way. Consider the number of individuals you want to reach in the first hour and the number of shares you want after three weeks. How should the campaign affect the bottom line for your business, and how can your group measure the campaign's success?
Performing some market research on any previous advertising efforts run by your competitors can further assist in defining a reasonable target.
Viral marketing campaigns are doable following these five steps, also don’t forget to add a little dose of luck. How are you planning your next campaign?