"Going viral" is what happens when a number of unique people see a post from a story published or shared by a social network contact and feel compelled to share or repost it. This story comprises of comments, likes, responses to an event, sharing, and answers to questions.
Any business would want more views, more traffic, more subscribers, interactions, and followers for their online presence. If they have something that goes viral, then it can easily get a huge number of unique shares and views in just a short span of time, and without much effort.
A viral Facebook post is something that all digital marketers dream about and is totally free. Here are some secrets to help you go viral on Facebook.
Content should not be boring. If you want your content to go viral, you definitely have to come up with something unique. The content of your post should not be boring or similar to what is already present on other sites. Make people excited or offer them something that will force them to think. Do something that stimulates their emotions. If you're posting a story, make it inspiring, powerful, and moving. Use a tone that is real and authentic. While the tone used can be casual, it always has to be compelling.
Focus on current trends and events. If any post relates to current issues and events, people are more likely to be interested in it. People love fresh, relevant content, and these types of content are viewed and shared more. A search engine can help with this. Check the latest Google trends and its news section. You may also need to look for keywords as they can help people find your content faster.
Integrate other social media. Aside from Facebook, you should post your content to different online platforms like YouTube and Twitter to help drive traffic to your site. These social media platforms can be viewed across various devices and has convenient functions for sharing.
Get noticed by celebrities. Celebrities have a massive audience, and when they share something, it often goes viral simply because of who they are. Unfortunately, getting the attention of celebrities is not an easy task, but still you can do this with the quality of your content. Try to tag celebrities whenever you think they would be interested in something.
Try videos. There are no guidelines on how your content must look like in order to go viral, so feel free to use any content type that you're comfortable with. Videos have a huge potential. If you have uploaded any video on Vimeo or YouTube and it is easy to discover by others, people will promote it for you if your content is good.
Start contests. Contests are the best way to interact with users. They can be posted on Facebook to engage your followers, who you can then encourage to share the contest on their page. Contests such as best picture or question-and-answer ones will attract lots of comments and likes, which in turn can help your content go viral. In most social media campaigns, these can be used by brands to engage with new people.
Inject humor. It is a fact that people visit social media sites for fun. They love laughing and feel happy to share anything that is funny. If you have a knack for comedy, use it to grab the attention of your readers. If it's good enough, your content will have a good chance of getting shared.
Use images. As we all know, the average attention span of a regular user has gone down. Using bold images as info snippets or memes might help your message get noticed more than a big block of text.
Submit to Reddit. If you can make it to the first page of Reddit, then you can instantly get thousands of viewers. You just have to submit your post to Reddit, and if your content is good enough, other people will vote it up. With enough upvotes, you get published on the front page. This task is a bit tricky and it is suggested that you take your time to interact with the Reddit community before posting your links there for self-promotion. After that, if your post makes the front page, your chances of going viral on Facebook will go up.
