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5 Content Types That Can Help Your Business Go Viral
When used to talk about things that are published online, the word viral refers to content that people consume and are then compelled to share with others. For a business, the benefits of publishing viral content include increased awareness about their brand, more visitors to their website and improved search engine rankings as a result of more people linking to their site.
Although there’s no way to guarantee that a specific piece of content will go viral, there are best practices you can follow to maximize your chances of success. So without further ado, here are five viral marketing tips you’ll want to keep in mind:
1. Inspirational Stories about Real People
Humans are hardwired to respond to stories. And given how moved we all are by emotion, it’s easy to understand why human interest stories are such a powerful recipe for viral content. What’s great about this specific kind of viral content is it can help create a very positive association with your brand.
2. Quizzes
Blog posts are the most common type of online content. While the right type of blog post can definitely go viral, it’s worth noting that there are other forms of online content. Quizzes are the perfect example. BuzzFeed and other publishers have perfected this type of content. The great thing about quizzes is not only are they very engaging, but it’s easy to build in a viral hook that makes people want to share them with friends after taking them.
3. Motivational Content
Some of the most popular pieces of content on YouTube, reddit, Instagram and other social platforms are focused on motivation. The reason is most of us need a kick in the pants every once in awhile and are well aware of that fact. So when a piece of content has a strong message that’s very motivating, the people who enjoy it want to then share that same positive feeling with others.
4. Long Pieces Packed with Value
A lot of viral marketing tactics focus on crafting content that’s fun, entertaining or brings out different emotions. As we discussed above, those approaches can definitely work really well. However, you don’t necessarily have to go down that route in order for content to go viral. Another strategy is to craft “epic” pieces of content. By choosing a topic and then publishing the longest & most authoritative piece of content on it, you can make it go viral within your industry. This strategy can also work really well to rank for highly competitive keyword phrases.
5. Infographics
Even though they’re by no means a new type of content, infographics are still very popular. That’s why including at least one in any viral marketing campaign is a very good idea.
If you’re looking for a way to monitor the content you publish to see how well it performs, take a look at our social media management dashboard and all of its very useful features.
This article is an original contribution by Michelle Hummel
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